This career guide surveys the rewarding job opportunities that can be found outside academia. Experienced professionals from a variety of nonacademic fields offer insider tips to help readers establish successful careers.
After years of hard work and many long hours, you've finally finished your dissertation and earned your doctorate. You've persevered through many challenges, but one dilemma still lies before you: What will you do with your degree? Many graduates go on to pursue academic careers -- but academia isn't for everyone.
This career guide examines the rewarding opportunities that await social and behavioral science doctorates in nonacademic sectors, including government, consulting, think tanks, for-profit corporations, and nonprofit associations. Jennifer Brown Urban and Miriam R. Linver have gathered experienced professionals to provide an insider's look into their respective fields. They explain why they chose their paths, the challenges they overcame, and how they applied their PhDs to make a difference in the real world.
Chapters offers tips for leveraging support from mentors, conducting job searches, marketing your degree and skill set, networking, and preparing for interviews. This expert guidance will help you decide what career is the best fit for you.
Jennifer Brown Urban, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Family Science and Human Development at Montclair State University, where she also codirects the Institute for Research on Youth Thriving and Evaluation. Dr. Urban is trained as a developmental scientist with specific expertise in youth character development and program evaluation. Dr. Urban is currently principal investigator (PI) on several grant-funded projects, and her most recent research focuses on character development and innovative approaches to program evaluation and planning. She uses mixed-methods approaches in her own research and has mentored many undergraduate and graduate students in designing and executing applied research projects. She developed and has taught a doctoral professional development course for several years and is passionate about mentoring students.
Miriam R. Linver, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Family Science and Human Development at Montclair State University and codirects the Institute for Research on Youth Thriving and Evaluation (RYTE Institute). Previously, Dr. Linver was a postdoctoral fellow and research scientist at the National Center for Children and Families, Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research reflects Bronfenbrenner's ecological paradigm, focusing on the contexts of child and adolescent development. She has expertise in the importance of the home environment for infants, children, and adolescents; the ways school and out-of-school experiences matter for children and youth; and flourishing and character development as key outcomes. Dr. Linver is co-principal investigator on several funded projects in the RYTE Institute focused on program evaluation and character development outcomes in youth. She enjoys the challenges and rewards of mentoring and collaborating with undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and colleagues.
