Hi there, I’m Emily! 👋 Welcome to Hired Humanities, a biweekly newsletter devoted to helping humanities students build careers on their own terms.
As the end of 2020 is mercifully coming into focus, I've been reflecting on the early days of the pandemic. Did you feel a sudden pressure to use all of your newfound time at home being productive? I certainly did, but it took me a bit to realize that the feeling wasn’t new.
For me, the pressure to be productive in graduate school was like being on a treadmill. If I ever stepped off of it for a break, an overwhelming sense of fear would inevitably take over, pushing me to jump back on the machine and crank up the pace to make up for the time that I lost. I equated needing time to rest or do anything besides study as weakness, and if I ever indulged that weakness, it meant that I didn't have what it takes to finish the marathon and get that coveted trophy of a tenure track job.
Photo by Ocean Ng on Unsplash
This never-ending cycle of work/guilt/panic/work crowded out basic activities from my life (like actually jumping on a treadmill), so it seemed impossible to dedicate any amount of time to exploring other career options while I was still in the thick of my PhD program. But as I came to the realization that academia wasn't right for me, I discovered that I did have the time I need— it just required me to put myself first and reject the expectation that I must devote all my time to academics.
In today's newsletter, we're talking about how to carve out time for career development when you're struggling to get off the academic treadmill. My hope is that even those of you who have already left academia will still find some of these tips useful for cultivating time to reconnect with what you want out of your career.
Shift your mindset
Between staying on top of course work or writing, departmental commitments, and perhaps working a part-time job to stay afloat, graduate school has the tendency to suck up all the waking hours of even the most enterprising student. Sadly, being so busy tends to mask one of the greatest benefits of being in graduate school: flexibility.
While the amount of work may be overwhelming, many graduate students have large chunks of unstructured time during the day with little oversight. Few occupations offer that kind of flexibility, and whenever you can, you should make that work for you.
It certainly isn't easy to get there, but shifting your mindset from “I have no time whatsoever” to “I have the flexibility to choose how I spend my time” gives you permission to prioritize activities that actually advance your career instead of spinning your wheels studying for a few more hours.
Start embracing the flexibility where you can. Want to attend an introduction to marketing webinar in the middle of week? Do it. See an internship in the admissions office that piques your interest? Apply for it. If your university has a career development program, challenge yourself to participate in one event per academic quarter or semester. It’s one of the quickest ways to broaden your horizons, plus you never know what connections you’ll make with like-minded students outside your department.
Put your time in perspective
If you're finding it difficult to shift your mindset, try tracking your time for a week to see where it goes. There are some great apps developed for this purpose, or you can do it the old fashioned way and keep a running list in a notebook.
After you've taken inventory, ask yourself what it would look like to spend some of your unstructured time each week on career development. Would you really fall behind on your coursework, or would it just mean spending less time skimming your Facebook feed? Would it make such a negative impact on your writing that your advisor would notice?
Asking yourself questions like those above will help you tease out how much time you feel you must spend on your academic work versus how much time you actually need to complete assignments. Getting into the habit of assessing your schedule will help you recognize how much time you can realistically redirect to other activities without compromising your academic standing.
Aim for consistency, not perfection
It can be tempting to apply the same "all or nothing" thinking to carving out time for career development as your graduate work.
When I started exploring non-academic careers, I had grand visions of sitting down for 3 hours each Saturday with a cup of coffee hammering out job applications, but I quickly found that I needed those weekend mornings to recharge and take care of my physical health. I felt terrible for being incapable of dedicating several uninterrupted hours to the task of figuring out my career, which made me want to throw in the towel. Yet instead of calling it quits, I tried my best to set my academic perfectionist tendencies aside and aimed to spend between 30-60 minutes each week on career development.
Setting a low bar for time commitment and focusing instead on consistency is a complete game changer. Not only does it release you from stifling perfectionism, but it also sets you up for success. It's much easier to find 30 minutes to spare than hours-long chunks, so you're much more likely to accomplish your goal. And, if you keep at it over the weeks, you'll become more and more accustomed to prioritizing your career development.
You don’t owe anyone an explanation for how you use your time
I'm willing to bet that some of you feel like your time is under a microscope in graduate school. Your peers might be constantly comparing notes about how much time it took to prepare for an exam or how far along they are in their dissertation. With all the talk about how busy everyone is, it’s hard not to believe that dedicating a few hours to something outside the “life of the mind” each week will make you the pariah of your department.
But guess what? You don’t owe anyone an explanation for how you use your time. Not your professors, not your peers— I seriously mean no one. No regular job requires you to tell your boss or colleagues how you live your life outside of work, and neither should graduate school.
You are not obligated to share with your department that you’re exploring other career options, but if you decide to share, you do not need to justify why or how you’re doing so. If your peers question how you’re able to make time for an internship or for a part-time job, tell them you’re investing in your future and shrug it off as best you can.
A parting note
Thanks for tuning in this week! Please don't hesitate to drop a line if you have questions or feedback. And, if you think someone else in your life would love to receive this newsletter in their inbox, feel free to spread the word.
Have a safe holiday weekend,
Emily
Reading List
A few of my favorite links
💻 Speaking of career development, General Assembly has some great online workshops on a range of business topics. It’s an awesome way to learn more about a new field without committing to an intensive— and expensive— course.
⭐ Congrats to my friend and mentor Ida for reaching a major milestone with her own newsletter, tiny driver! Ida’s writing is a beautiful example of how academics can write for broader audiences.
⚖️ I can’t stop thinking about this New Yorker article about two metal detectorists in the U.K. who discovered a Viking hoard. It’s a crash course on both English history and law.