Learning About Alternative Careers After the PhD

I am a fourth-year English PhD candidate, and I think often about what my life will look like after I finish my degree. Where will I live? What work will I do to provide a good life for myself and my family? It can be hard for students pursuing humanities PhDs to answer these questions because a difficult academic job market makes our futures uncertain.

The 2023 Humanities Without Walls Career Diversity Workshop allowed me and 25 other humanities PhD students from across the country to explore these questions. During the two-week intensive, we attended panels and site visits to companies across the Twin Cities. Panelists with humanities PhDs shared the satisfaction they have found in fields from healthcare to higher education administration and reminded us that the skills we are developing in graduate school are valuable in many industries.

As a Humanities Without Walls fellow, I learned that I am an agent in my career search. I can identify my values and the issues that matter to me and then use my research skills to find a career where I can do that work.

Most importantly, I learned how essential it is for graduate students to have access to programming like this. Humanities Without Walls ends in two years, and the session I attended was its last Career Diversity Workshop. Graduate programs can do a better job building on the foundation that HWW and other career diversity initiatives have established, facilitating more connections with alumni in diverse career paths and encouraging students to identify their values and then determine which path is right for them.

The last site we visited during Humanities Without Walls was the Medtronic office in Mounds View, Minnesota. We picked up guest passes at the front desk and gathered in a sleek, white conference room for a workshop about resume and cover letter writing. Two hiring managers shared that they have had success hiring humanities (including English) PhDs from the University of Minnesota as technical writers, instructional designers, and program development officers.

As Humanities Without Walls emphasized, earning a PhD is a valuable professional experience. Career diversity programs like Humanities Without Walls are important because, as I learned, they help PhD students reflect on that experience and learn how to articulate it to hiring managers.