I Am Walter White

I Am Walter White

Well, let me contextualize that statement a bit. I am not the Walter White of “Felina,” the final episode of Breaking Bad, instead I am the Walter White of season one, episode one. That Walter White was a sympathetic figure, a man who’s potential was almost boundless, but the world just would not give him any breaks. Yes, of course some aspects of Walt’s life were the result of his own actions. One cannot deny that, and this situation fits the parallel I will attempt to make below.

The millennial generation gets a lot of bad press for being entitled, lazy, and a plethora of other derogatory adjectives that follow closely in meaning to these. However, not everyone in my generation (I am technically at the very beginning of the millennial generation, depending on what metric you use, but 1981 generally falls into that category) wants things handed to them on a silver platter. In over a decade of post-secondary education I proved that I am willing to work hard and produce excellent results along the way. Not a single PhD that I know (and I know a lot) has a different work ethic either.

In general, it seems that people do not want to complain about job-hunting because it makes them seem whiny, entitled, and heaven forbid a potential employer sees one’s thoughts on the matter. Perhaps I’m myopic, but this seems like a recipe for disaster because if one cannot vent their frustrations the entire process continues to snowball and get worse rather than better. If a potential employer read this post and viewed it as a bitter that's probably not someone I would want to work for anyway. This is an attempt to problematize and explicate issues that many PhDs face.

I’ve earned a B.A., graduating cum laude, studied intensive French at a Francophone university, earned a PhD in history, and have a number of publications in various print and online media, including a monograph based on my doctoral dissertation. At present I am padding my resume with business courses at my present institution (more about this below). Along the way I have developed professional caliber analysis, project management, writing, and editing skills, just to name a few. One does not complete all the school I have without becoming a quick learner, so I can become a subject matter expert on most topics in short order, plus I am very tech savvy and can learn new software quickly if necessary. Based on my experience and what most employers say they want based on job ads it would seem someone like me would have an easy time finding gainful employment.

When I first went to graduate school the dream was to get a full time, tenure track teaching position. I knew the odds were slim at the outset, but I was convinced that I could beat the odds, like so many naïve graduate students. I started grad school in 2004 and by 2008, after returning to the States after 9 weeks of research in Europe, I knew that a full time teaching gig was out of the question. There are many reasons for this and anyone who follows the trends in higher education will know about these. A few highlights for anyone not familiar: public universities have had their state funding slashed in recent decades and are forced to do more with less. This means that fewer tenure track positions are created, and in fact the total number of tenure lines is generally decreasing. Higher education in America is slowly turning into a glorified professional school system where law and business programs lead the way and more intellectually stimulating and rigorous disciplines fall by the wayside. Not only are programs unevenly funded, but about 70% of post-secondary instructors are now continent faculty, meaning they have no job security and little compensation. A quick google search on adjunct working conditions should provide anyone interested with enough fodder to be sufficiently sick by the situation.

Despite all of this, I still wanted to work in higher education. After 10 years in college it was the industry I knew the most about, the one where I was most comfortable, plus I had a PhD, which was supposed to be the equivalent of the higher ed union card. The lure of access to an academic library was also very enticing. Therefore the plan was to get my foot in the door and work my way up to a position that was rewarding and challenging.

Since I have prattled on long enough I will not bore you with the details of my work history in higher ed, but the point is that I have reached the point where it is time for me to move on from the academy. It’s a difficult decision because I love the institution where I work, and on a philosophical level I am very committed to the idea of a university education. However, my relationship with my current institution seems to be unrequited love. Suffice it to say that hiring practices leave something to be desired and the tendency to prefer external candidates over internal candidates is disturbing. Personally I have reached the point where I’ve been snubbed enough times that the writing is on the wall.

I’ve had careers coaches tell me not to take the hiring process personal, and that’s great advice. It’s also very true that who you know is often just as, if not more important that what you know. So here I sit looking for my exit strategy. I am targeting a variety of positions along the lines of business analyst, copywriter, content creator, social media, and things of that nature. Basically something at the associate to mid-senior level, based on conversations with career advisors who understand how my skill set translates to the business world.

There has been a lot of talk in recent years that Denver, where I live, is the next Silicon Valley. That may be a bit premature, but there are a lot of IT based companies and start-ups in the area. The funny thing is that businesses claim they love to think outside of the box when hiring people. Tech firms especially seem to pride themselves on hiring the best and brightest and teaching them the specifics about what makes its given industry run.

I only have anecdotal evidence at this point, but I can say that in the current economic environment that this is decidedly not true. In fact, it seems that hiring managers in every industry are afraid to think outside the box in terms of hiring based on potential. There is nothing more frustrating than applying for a job at a great company for which one is more than qualified, only to be told that they are moving in a different direction, and then the position for which you were just denied is plastered all over LinkedIn and the like.

Most job postings emphasize written and oral communication skills. I've talked to countless people in the business world (and there has been plenty of proverbial ink given to the matter too, like here) who lament the inability of those entering the work force to communicate effectively. What does a PhD have in the way of communication skills? For a humanities PhD, writing probably comes pretty easily. If you can write a book, including formulating the requisite arguments, etc. it's obvious that this person is a pretty good writer. Is this not the type of person a company wants to write convincing copy for their marketing campaign? 

How about teaching and conference presentations? Well if there's a better indicator of oral communication skills I'm willing to listen. Not only does one have to be an effective communicator to be successful at conferences or in the classroom, but many times this is done in an environment that ranges from apathetic to hostile.

It is very difficult to change industries in this economy and not get frustrated, at least in my experience. The catch 22 here is that companies often want more experience, but then no one is willing to provide it. Even getting an entry-level position is a challenge because hiring managers see the PhD at the bottom of the resume and are threatened, turned off to the applicant, or both.

I realize that a lot of this may seem like WIMS (woe is me syndrome) and bitter whinging, and while this is certainly undergirded with frustration it is also an attempt to reveal the problems that many people of my ilk face. What other course of action does one have when the potential is there and s/he has done all the right things, including networking and adding relevant skills sets? (Back to the question of business school. In my limited experience with business school at this point business students, even at the graduate level, are far inferior in terms of critical thinking when compared to students in the arts and sciences. Unless one is at a top 10 business school I see no reason to even bother. To say b-school is soft is an understatement.) When one of the educated elite applies for over 45 jobs in the span of month and only gets one interview (for a job that would be a very good fit) and even that does not bear fruit, what’s next? Surely the situation is even worse for individuals who do not already have a full time job.

Those of us that are trying to move away from the academy and are doing all the right things can keep doing those things and hold out hope for a progressive hiring manager to give us a shot. What really needs to happen, in my opinion, is that more needs to be done by the higher education industry as a whole to promote the PhD and how it translates to work outside of the academy. The only place that seems to truly appreciate the value of the PhD is precisely where there are no jobs for PhDs, i.e. that academy.

There are no easy answers to these questions. In reality I’m not asking for anything other than an opportunity to prove to others and to myself what I am capable of doing. Until something breaks my way, assuming it ever does, I will continue to be Walter White.