Career Services Office

Resources for Self Assessment and Career Exploration

Books | Articles | Web Sites
Listservs/Electronic Newsletters

Books

Basalla, Susan and Maggie Debelius. "So What Are You Going to Do With That?": A Guide to Career-Changing for M.A.s and Ph.D.s. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001.

Bolles, Richard. What Color is Your Parachute? Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 2003.

Feibelman, P.J., A Ph.D. Is Not Enough! Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1993.

Fiske, Peter S., Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide for Scientists. Washington, D.C., : AGU, 2001.

_____. To Boldly Go: a Practical Career Guide for Scientists. Washington, D.C.: AGU, 1996.

Goldman, Charles A. and Massy, William F. The Ph.D. Factory: Training and Employment of Science and Engineering Doctorates in the United States. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company, Inc., 2001.

Robbins-Roth, Cynthia., ed. Alternative Careers in Science: Leaving the Ivory Tower. San Diego: Academic Press, 1998.

Rosen, Stephen and Paul, Celia. Career Renewal. Burlington, MA: Academic Press, 1998. Government Research Directory, Edition 20. Gale, October 2006.

Schiebelbein, Joan. Putting Your Graduate Degree to Work. Edmonton, Alberta: University of Alberta Press, 2001.

Tiegler, Paul and Barbara Barron-Tiegler. Do What You Are. New York: Little Brown and Company, 2001.

Articles

Self-Assessment

Johnson, Mary. "What Else Can I Do? And Other Frequent Questions," Chronicle of Higher Education, June 27, 2003. chronicle.com/jobs/2003/06/2003062701c.htm

Heiberger, Mary Morris and Vick, Julie Miller. "Feeling Stuck?" Chronicle of Higher Education, November 21, 2003. chronicle.com/jobs/2003/11/2003112101c.htm

Wagner, Robin. "All I Really Need to Learn I Learned…in Graduate School?," Chronicle of Higher Education, January 18, 2002. chronicle.com/jobs/2002/01/2002011802c.htm

Yin, Sandra. "Know Thyself," Chronicle of Higher Education, December 10, 2003. chronicle.com/jobs/2003/12/2003121001c.htm

Career Exploration

Basalla, Sue. 'Should I Go to Law School?' Chronicle of Higher Education, January 24, 2004. chronicle.com/jobs/2004/01/2004012301c.htm

Bryant, Rebecca. “'But I Have No Skills',” Chronicle of Higher Education, August 18, 2005. chronicle.com/jobs/news/2005/08/2005081801c/careers.html

Campbell, Al. "Dizzy With Alternative Careers," Chronicle of Higher Education, July 25, 2003. chronicle.com/jobs/2003/07/2003072501c.htm

Evans, Catherine. "Cappuccino Dreams," Chronicle of Higher Education, September 19, 2003. chronicle.com/jobs/2003/09/2003091901c.htm

Johnson, Mary Dillon. “The University as a Nonacademic Employer,” Chronicle of Higher Education, April 23, 2003. chronicle.com/jobs/2003/04/2003042301c.htm

Kajitani, Megan Pincus, and Rebecca Bryant. “A Ph.D. and a Failure,” Chronicle of Higher Education, March 24, 2005. chronicle.com/jobs/news/2005/03/2005032401c/careers.html

Kajitani, Megan Pincus, and Rebecca Bryant. “Should You Finish?,” Chronicle of Higher Education, June 10, 2005. chronicle.com/jobs/news/2005/06/2005061001c/careers.html

New, Elizabeth. "From Humanities to High-Tech," Chronicle of Higher Education, September 10, 2001. chronicle.com/jobs/2001/09/2001091002c.htm

Wagner, Robin. "A Hot Market for Social Scientists in Market Research," Chronicle of Higher Education, January 19, 2001. chronicle.com/jobs/2001/01/2001011901c.htm

Zea, Eduardo. “Searching for My Future,” Chronicle of Higher Education, February 26, 2004. chronicle.com/jobs/2004/02/2004022601c.htm

Transitioning to a Nonacademic Career

Newhouse, Margaret. "Making the Transition to a Nonacademic Career," Chronicle of Higher Education, October 9, 1998. chronicle.com/jobs/v45/i08/4508beyond.htm

Newhouse, Margaret. "Transferring Your Skills to a Nonacademic Setting," Chronicle of Higher Education, December 4, 1998. chronicle.com/jobs/v45/i16/4516beyond.htm

Newhouse, Margaret. "How They Did It: Landing a Job Outside of Academe," Chronicle of Higher Education, March 12, 1999. chronicle.com/jobs/v45/i28/4528beyond.htm

Wagner, Robin. "Recasting Yourself for Nonacademic Jobs," Chronicle of Higher Education, February 18, 2000. chronicle.com/jobs/2000/02/2000021801c.htm

Wagner, Robin. "Giving More Than Lip Service to Nonacademic Careers," Chronicle of Higher Education, February 16, 2001. chronicle.com/jobs/2001/02/2001021601c.htm

Web Sites

The Ivory Doghouse - A collection of links, news, and research about the academic job market in the humanities and arts, and the trends affecting it.

Ph.D.s Work - This site explores numerous career opportunities for PhDs in business and provides numerous personal success stories. PhDs Work chronicles the transition of four literature PhDs from SUNY Stonybrook. These narratives are more in-depth than most other sites and are frequently updated.

Sellout.com - Sellout is an encouraging, information-rich resource dedicated to helping graduate students realize the value of their skills. Created by an English PhD from Boston University, this site recounts his transformation from graduate student to technical writer and beyond. It also includes an extensive list of answers to frequently asked questions.

Ph.D.s.org: Science, Math, and Engineering Resources - A rich resource of relevant articles on career development and academe, as well as of numerous postings of science-related postdocs and jobs. Not just for scientists.

Beyond Academe - Geared toward history students in particular, this site contains information of interest to both graduate students and faculty. It includes an FAQs section designed to help historians learn more about job options outside of academia and tips on transforming a CV.

Science's Next Wave - The most comprehensive PhD career development Web site available. Of particular use is the Career Transitions section, which contains over three hundred narratives of junior scientists making the shift from academia to the business, government, or nonprofit sector. Some of the articles are quite extensive, and they cover a range of opportunities, including biomedical engineering, science journalism and technical writing, scientific entrepreneurship, nanotechnology, market analysis, public policy, biomaterials, environmental science, consulting, etc.

Stereotypes of PhDs in the Humanities & How to Combat Them - This site explores the negative reception to the PhD in some quarters, suggests why, and suggests ways to minimize such reactions.

Listservs/Electronic Newsletters

WRK4US Listserv - An e-mail discussion list on nonacademic careers for people with graduate education in humanities, education, and social science disciplines. Topics include weekly "guest speakers" on specific career-fields, as well as ongoing discussion among list members. The list population consists mostly of graduate students, full-time faculty, adjunct faculty, and ex-academics working outside the academy, but anyone may subscribe. Subscribers are welcome to ask questions, share information, give moral support, and network. The list is now hosted by the Humanities at Work program.

Graduate College Career Services Office Newsletter - The University of Illinois GCCSO offers a bi-weekly newsletter which provides students with information about upcoming events, highlights career options outside academe, publicizes relevant nonacademic job postings, and provides links to germane articles from the Chronicle of Higher Education (related to both academic and nonacademic careers).