• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Coaching
  • Academic Writing Studio
  • Library
  • About
  • Contact
  • Books

Jo VanEvery

You are here: Home / Archives for non-academic careers

non-academic careers

2 hot air balloons ascend majestically across some mountains, their peaks covered in clouds, but the sunshine shining onto the colourful patterned sides of the balloons.

Creating A Satisfying Academic Career – Part 1

Posted on September 13, 2024 by Jo VanEvery

 Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Creating A Satisfying Academic Career It is not an exaggeration to describe the current context in higher education as dystopian. Whether you are already employed in academia, permanently or precariously, or whether you are seeking academic employment, the situation is distressing. Is it possible to have a satisfying […]

Read More »

A lot can happen in 10 years

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

A new start. Ten years ago today, on January 7, 2003, I arrived in Ottawa with a suitcase and my ruby iMac with the intention to find a job so that I could move my whole family here. I had been living in the UK since September 1988, having initially gone as an undergraduate exchange […]

Read More »

Why you get hired

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

What will you contribute to the success of the organization?

This is the primary question every person or committee who has ever hired anyone is trying to answer.

As with any other writing you do, audience matters. The people doing the hiring are the audience for your job application materials. They need to be written in such a way that they can find the information they need to answer this question.

Read More »

Yes, you have career options

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

An article on Embedded Sociologist from the American Sociological Association, inspires some thoughts on the value of organizing scholars working outside academe within scholarly associations. Links to other such groups are encouraged in the comments.

Read More »

You aren’t looking for a job for life

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

You are not behind. You haven’t wasted your time. It’s easy to think that you made a mistake somewhere along the line. Studying for a PhD was a wrong turn. Most people have their career figured out by the time they are 30. You should have learned these career research skills when you were younger. […]

Read More »

Job hunting in times of change

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

It’s not just that the labour market is awful right now. Higher education is changing More students. Less public funding per student. Major shifts in the balance of public and private funding, even in public institutions. Stable or declining numbers of full-time, permanent faculty positions (what gets called “tenured” and “tenure track” in North America). […]

Read More »

On the road to an academic career

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Jo VanEvery 2 Comments

If an academic career is on your list of possible post-PhD paths, there are a few things you should know. The de facto requirements for an academic position have increased. It is unreasonable to expect that you will have all of these additional requirements at the same time as you are awarded the PhD. For most people, there is going to be a period of some other employment between finishing the PhD and getting that secure position. In this post, I lay out some options.

Read More »

Shifting the career focus in doctoral education

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Jo VanEvery 11 Comments

On Wednesday November 17th, 2010, I spoke to graduate students at Carleton University about careers after grad school. This post is based on part of what I said. It is directed not only to graduate students but also to the faculty that advise them. For most doctoral students, the tenure-track position is the daisy in […]

Read More »

Sessional Teaching: What if you decide it’s not worth it?

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Jo VanEvery 1 Comment

So what if you need to pay the rent but you’ve decided that maybe the particular sessional teaching opportunities available are not worth it. They aren’t going to give you experience you need, and they’ll take too much time away from other things that are more important to your career development.

What are your options?

Read More »

A job search is a 2-way process

Posted on April 5, 2010 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

In my last two posts, I suggested that you can decide what kind of academic career you want, and that it’s a good idea to get information and advice from a variety of sources, including informational interviews, to help you figure that out and learn more about the kind of academic career you want. When […]

Read More »
  • Home
  • Coaching
  • Academic Writing Studio
  • Library
  • About
  • Contact
  • Books
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy Policy

Footer

Find this helpful?

You can support the work that makes this free content possible on Ko-Fi

Search the site

© 2025 Jo VanEvery | Privacy Policy

Proudly powered by WordPress