Academic ironies

Top 5 advantages that PhDs have outside of academia (save these for your next interview): 1. We know how to teach ourselves. Every PhD has a story (or five) of how they had to learn a new topic in a few days. We know how to teach ourselves with minimal supervision - we were trained how to learn. It's a powerful skill. 2. We know how to communicate. We were trained on writing and public speaking. And we've practiced. A lot. We've written hundreds of pages on our research. We've given dozens of talks to people inside and outside of our field. 3. We know how to think critically. PhDs conduct original research - research that expands human knowledge. We've read hundreds of sources to create novel ideas. We know how to ask questions and evaluate information. 4. We know how to manage complex projects. We all spearheaded a multi-year research project from start to finish (i.e., a dissertation). We know how to get things done on time, even if we've feeling overwhelmed. PhDs are nothing if not stubborn. 5. We know how to accept and learn from feedback. Imagine incredibly smart people criticizing every facet of your work. That's academia for you. PhDs don't crumble under feedback. We know how to receive it and leverage it to improve our work. Remember: no one knows PhDs like we do. Most hiring managers know nothing about PhDs, dissertations, the professoriate, or academia. It is our job to explain our academic work and the immense value we can bring to a company. Communicate it well and you'll win your job search. 💛 P.S. - What's your biggest PhD advantage? Anything else you'd add?

Shoutout to anyone who moves to another country to follow their dreams. Adapting to lang/env/cultural differences whilst studying/researching is not easy. It can be difficult for those who have never done this to appreciate how big that is. It's incredibly impressive.