As you know we love to encourage guest postings on this site and in particular from younger portfolio workers. I was involved in being  interviewed a while ago by icould, which is a website designed to give encouraging examples to undergraduates of people who have designed their careers for themselves. I also gave a keynote at a Vitae conference in the autumn for researchers who needed or wanted to look at alternatives to an academic career so I was very intrigued to get this guest posting from Tara Miller in the US who is promoting portfolio careers as a desirable alternative for academics.

Whether or not you choose to believe it, higher education is in a state of crisis. With the seemingly never-ending global recession, universities are not only losing money, but they are also undergoing nothing short of a revolution in its traditional structure. By this I mean that HE institutions, which once stood somewhat outside the market and could viably trumpet the notion of “learning for learning’s sake” are giving way to a business-driven model of academia. Where does that leave us academics, those of us who have or are considering devoting our lives to the study of arts and social sciences? It basically leaves us in the dumpster as far as academic careers are concerned. That’s the bad news.

Now for the good news.  Whatever mysterious passion it was that drove you to pursue a rigorous, almost decade-long course of study in a specific discipline can propel you into a portfolio career. That’s right. If you have spent most of your formative years in academia and want out, there are plenty of options for you if you know how to approach them creatively. And since creativity is your strong suit, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Assessing your overall skills to understand what portfolio career opportunities await you is the most important first step. As a PhD candidate, you likely spent many years reading and writing. A lot. This ability to process large quantities of dense information and communicate this information in a coherent, knowledgeable way is one of your biggest strengths. After all, which industries don’t value these highly sought after research and writing skills? What’s more, you’ll invariably have given many presentations. Remember the intense preparation of oral exams? What about presenting your thesis to a panel of experts? Giving presentations and the oral communication abilities they entail is another valuable skill in virtually any job market. Most importantly, however, in our increasingly knowledge-driven economy, you have a singular skill that very few people possess after all those years reading and writing.  You’ll have come away with the ability to identify problems and proffer extremely creative, wide-ranging solutions. You can argue your way into and out of virtually anything.

Now that we’ve established your remarkably extensive skill set, you may want to know specifically what’s out there for former academics. Well, as with all portfolio careers, the sky is virtually the limit if you have what it takes to put yourself out there. The Chronicle of Higher Education published an article detailing the careers of a few former academics in freelance media. One academic broke into documentary filmmaking, while another found herself in an exciting freelance career in broadcast journalism.  A host of career options, noted on Columbia University’s career resources for PhDs and MAs web page, outlines careers as consultants, analysts, publishers (both academic and non-academic), think tank researchers, and more. The best part is that all of these careers have significant freelance potential, meaning you can easily acquire contract work that pays well without having to commit to any one line of work.

There is, however, a downside to all of this career promise as a PhD looking for work outside the Ivory Tower. The greatest obstacle you’ll encounter is when you first embark on your portfolio career journey. This is simply because, having spent upwards of seven years pursuing your academic passion, you’ll probably lack any significant job experience. In this sense, you’ll be at a disadvantage, and many PhDs looking for work often note that their degree can be a burden. The most important way to counter this paucity of experience is to be open to taking on projects initially for free to build your portfolio, while perhaps financing your start-up efforts with a steady part-time job. Also, be sure to develop a client-based strategy that effectively connects your broad skill set to whatever project you want to take on.

Other than these pointers, take the cogent advice of Deborah Fryer, doctor-of-comparative-literature-cum-film-script-translater-cum-documentary-filmmaker, as noted in the Chronicle of Higher Education article:

” ‘Follow your heart and don’t be afraid. It is so easy to put up obstacles about how we aren’t trained to do that, we can’t afford to take the risk, we are too old to change careers. Life is too short to not live your dreams.’ Ever the scholar, she quotes Goethe: ‘Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness had genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.’ ”

For more resources, check out these sites: PhD.org’s Non-Academic Careers, The Real Life PhD Blog, and Leaving Academia.com

This guest post is contributed by Tara Miller, who particularly enjoys writing about psychology degree.  She welcomes your comments at her email Id: miller.tara23@gmail.com.

Portfolio Careers – essentially doing two or more jobs for different employers begins by reframing work around YOU and playing to your greatest strengths. Are you suited? do you know what your strengths are? Can you sell yourself and your brand? Can you network well?

This is an introduction to a career style that may positively change your life forever…