Welcome to "Careers outside academic research: A collection of real-world examples"
Why this collection?
The majority of PhD holders does not stay in academia, but pursues careers in a variety of fields. In fact, only 15% of people with a PhD stay in academia1.
Yes, that's right... only 15%!
But when asked where they would like to work, 47% of young scientists interviewed in the WiNbus studie2 answered, that they would like to pursue a career in academic research and teaching.
1According to the Bundesbericht Wissenschaftlicher Nachwuchs 2017 (BuWiN 2017)
2 Briedis, K./Jaksztat, S./Preßler, N./Schürmann, R./Schwarzer, A. (2014): Berufswunsch Wissenschaft? HIS: Forum Hochschule, Hannover
The majority of PhD holders does not stay in academia, but pursues careers in a variety of fields. In fact, only 15% of people with a PhD stay in academia1.
Yes, that's right... only 15%!
But when asked where they would like to work, 47% of young scientists interviewed in the WiNbus studie2 answered, that they would like to pursue a career in academic research and teaching.
1According to the Bundesbericht Wissenschaftlicher Nachwuchs 2017 (BuWiN 2017)
2 Briedis, K./Jaksztat, S./Preßler, N./Schürmann, R./Schwarzer, A. (2014): Berufswunsch Wissenschaft? HIS: Forum Hochschule, Hannover
So it's not surprising that many young scientist struggle with finding out which career path outside academia they would like to pursue and some turn into "permadocs" (=postdoc after postdoc after postdoc, with no end in sight).
Young scientists often do not know which career options exist, and they cannot imagine that there might be fulfilling and challenging jobs outside academic research. This is why I started this collection of real-world examples: To show you that there are many options out there, and to give you some inspiration for your own career planning!
How to use this collection
I have asked people with a PhD to fill out a questionnaire (anonymized) about their current job position and their career paths. Please note that currently most of the questionnaires are in German, but English ones will be added in the future. I have created this collection mainly for doctoral researchers and postdocs in Germany and Europe, as career paths in other countries may differ.
The questionnaires are grouped according to the scientific background of the interviewed person. So you can look up career paths of people with a scientific background that is similar to yours - but I recommend also taking a look at other examples, they might be relevant for you as well.
The quality and usefulness of this collection depends on the willingness of people to contribute their CV and experience - I am working on adding more real-world examples to this collection. You can help by sharing this project with your network!
I have asked people with a PhD to fill out a questionnaire (anonymized) about their current job position and their career paths. Please note that currently most of the questionnaires are in German, but English ones will be added in the future. I have created this collection mainly for doctoral researchers and postdocs in Germany and Europe, as career paths in other countries may differ.
The questionnaires are grouped according to the scientific background of the interviewed person. So you can look up career paths of people with a scientific background that is similar to yours - but I recommend also taking a look at other examples, they might be relevant for you as well.
The quality and usefulness of this collection depends on the willingness of people to contribute their CV and experience - I am working on adding more real-world examples to this collection. You can help by sharing this project with your network!
Share this project!
If you know somebody who works outside academic research and has a PhD, please encourage them to contribute to this collection! The more examples it contains, the more useful it will be!
You can share one of these links with them:
https://thescientistcoach.de/questionnaire-career-paths/ (English questionnaire) or
https://thescientistcoach.de/fragebogen-karrierewege/ (German questionnaire)
Thank you for your help!
If you know somebody who works outside academic research and has a PhD, please encourage them to contribute to this collection! The more examples it contains, the more useful it will be!
You can share one of these links with them:
https://thescientistcoach.de/questionnaire-career-paths/ (English questionnaire) or
https://thescientistcoach.de/fragebogen-karrierewege/ (German questionnaire)
Thank you for your help!