This month, Broadly Textual is proud to welcome back two outstanding graduates from the English Graduate program at Syracuse University (and previous contributors to the blog), Dr. Staci Stutsman and Dr. Melissa Welshans. Each week in March, our returning contributors will discuss their experiences within their PhD program, the skills they gained during their studies, and how they utilize those skills in their current careers outside of the traditional tenure-track professorship track.
Read last week’s post from Staci.
When asked to write a series of posts on how my PhD work prepared me for a more diverse career path, I knew that I wanted to be helpful while still acknowledging the truth behind finding any sort of employment: so much of it is about luck, not skill and worth. Yes, I have a lot of skills that have made me a good fit for my current job as a tutor manager. They are not necessarily why I was hired, though. I got the job because I was in the right place at the right time. Then, I had the aptitude that allowed me to do well in the role once there. So, to that end, I’m going to discuss two related but ultimately separate things in this week’s post: 1) how to help bolster your luck on the job market and 2) which skills helped me thrive once I had a foot in the door.
So, let’s start with this “luck” business. I am not implying that it was pure luck per se. Rather, I happened to know some people and was able to leverage those connections into a fruitful position. As I’m sure anyone who is on the academic job market knows: getting a tenure-track job is only partially about your actual knowledge and prowess. It’s also about fit, timing, and who you know. This is also true in the other markets. While a non-academic job landscape is much more robust, it’s not all rainbows. You still send out countless resumes to no avail. You still get rejected. So, my main advice for how to translate your PhD experience into a job outside of academia will sound familiar and cliché but, alas, it’s what really does the trick: network.
When I decided to pivot, I first needed to figure out what I wanted to do. While I loved tutoring, I knew it couldn’t sustain me as a full-time career. I thus researched and made a list of all of the different types of jobs one could get while still in the realm of education. I started applying for support staff roles across Bay Area colleges. These sort of jobs would allow me to impact students’ lives while still getting the work-life balance associated with a 9-5 job. I sent out dozens of cover letters and applications and received zero replies. I could not seem to get my skills to translate into an attractive application.
While I was getting very few bites, other opportunities were starting to pop up related to my tutoring side gig. My tutoring manager asked if I could help out with some administrative work. The counselor of one of my students wanted to collaborate with me. It started to become more clear to me that, like in academia, this is how you open doors for yourself. There’s only so much a resume can do. You have to immerse yourself in the field you want to enter in whatever way you can. Put yourself in the position so that you can be in the right place at the right time. Say yes to stuff. As much as possible, go to talks or events in your new desired field. Pick up side gigs (as much as your budget and energy levels can allow). Acknowledge that you are pivoting to a new (if not adjacent) career and have to do some of the grunt work you did the first year of your PhD because, while you have a very advanced pedigree now, you still have to prove yourself. I was very privileged to have a gap year in which to do this. My side gigs paid well (way better than adjuncting!) but they didn’t come with health insurance. I was lucky enough to get that through my partner. This gave me the space and freedom to collect opportunities. So, I give this advice with a grain of salt, an acknowledgement that this isn’t everyone’s situation, and gratitude for the fact that I had that space.
I kept working away at my side gigs, saying yes, and waiting. Then, just by chance, the tutoring company I was working for opened up a salaried staff position. Because I had been such a strong tutor and because I had been helping them out with admin work, they offered it to me. I was organized and hard-working and that’s what they were looking for in an admin support team member. It was ultimately as simple as that. I had been doing good work and I was in the right place at the right time.
It was only once I was in the role that I could really start showing the breadth of my skills and begin to leverage those into a more substantial position. Because of my teaching background, I was able to start helping out with more high-level tasks: interviewing new tutors, training them, and helping them create curriculum for their students. I was well-suited for these responsibilities because of different things I had done as a PhD student: designing and teaching my own courses, serving on a hiring committee for a tenure-track position, training new graduate TAs, acting as a teaching mentor, and organizing an undergraduate conference and multiple conference panels. My research and writing skills also opened up new opportunities to me. I became the company’s resident editor who gives final edits on any communication going out to a large audience. I also advise on strategy for large projects as I am able to think about their scope and the necessary pacing they require. For instance, I just finished launching our online tutoring platform. I helped research the software, trained tutors on how to use it, and advised on marketing it to parents.
Because of my initiative on projects like this and because of my ability to participate in more high-level tasks, my role quickly evolved from an administrative one to a managerial one. After a couple of months, I was promoted to the role of Tutor Services Manager and I am now in charge of hiring, training, and managing a cohort of around 150 tutors across the Bay Area and L.A. Though I do not teach students, I get to teach and mentor teachers. I get to use my aptitude for planning and organization to help them thrive and get students the assistance they need. I get to work from home and have flex time to go to the doctor when needed, which is great for pacing myself and finding the balance I need with lupus.
I don’t share my story to say that this is typical or that your path has to look exactly like this. Essentially, it just worked out. The timing happened to be right for me and, because of the skills I gained through the PhD, I was able to easily adapt to and redefine my role. I’m also very lucky to be a part of a small company that has allowed for this advancement. So, my advice for those looking for positions outside of academia would be this: figure out what you love about academia, what skills you have that would allow you to do that in some capacity elsewhere, and where that elsewhere is. Once you’ve done that, just show up as much as you can and make sure you’re showing everyone the best version of yourself and your skills. There’s only so much a resume can demonstrate about your aptitude.
As I used to tell my writing students and now tell the tutors I mentor: show, don’t tell.
Staci Stutsman holds a BA in English from Western Michigan University (2011) and a PhD in English with an emphasis in film and media studies from Syracuse University (2017). She is currently the Tutor Services Manager at Tutor Corps, a tutoring company based in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, where she hires, trains, and manages a cohort of 150 tutors.