A few weeks ago I discontinued (temporarily, I hope) my skype career consultations, particularly those related to the fraught question of whether or not to leave academia. I discontinued these because I’ve been dealing with a health issue that, while thankfully not serious, has been a wake-up call to me to seek a better and more sustainable work-life balance. Don’t be alarmed! This will have no impact on any of the document related work I am doing or will do for current and future clients, or webinars, or blog posting. It’s just the skype consultations that are being reduced at present.
In any case, after I made that announcement on the TPII Facebook page, Chris Humphrey of the website Jobs On Toast, got in touch to inquire about the clients who had been seeking consulting on the decision to leave academia. That prompted the dialogue that I have reproduced below. I like the Jobs on Toast website and blog, which is dedicated to providing, in Chris’ words, “Positive and practical support for PhD careers outside academia.” Chris gives good advice for Ph.D.s contemplating non-academic careers, and also provides a resource list of other websites to visit. One thing Chris and I have in common is the goal to make the non-academic career less a sign of ‘failure’ than a sign of entrepeneurial spirit. He did it, I did it, and we’re both vastly happier that we did.
