<p>I think some academics aren’t outside-of-the-box thinkers, which may be why they get stuck once they’re out of academia. They might not consider looking for jobs in completely different fields from the ones in which they trained. My husband ended up in a field with many engineers and they’re often shocked to find out he isn’t an engineer. I don’t think it’s just hard work or luck that helped him. I think what sets him apart from other colleagues of his who didn’t get tenure and had a hard time finding jobs is a mindset or personality trait–don’t know how to describe it, but it’s not a trait of mine. Part of it might be what’s I’d call excessive optimism; another part of it is being driven to finding a solution. I’m sure I’m not making it clear but it seems to me that there are just people with forceful personalities who always end up doing just fine even when the odds are against it.</p>
<p>dstark - I merely asked if she would consider, the choice was up to her. I think if she felt strongly about her education then she wouldn’t give it up for a job. She had to think about why she is getting her degree. There is no way we would hold a job for anyone. Our job requirements clearly didn’t say we were looking for someone with PhD. She told me that she was having a hard time finding jobs which required PhD. As a matter fact, she felt she was missing out on many good jobs because people felt she was over qualified.</p>
<p>The original article is basically crap. Of course it does’t even bother to cite a source, but we had this exact “talking point” on a different thread 6 months ago. Quoting my post form there,</p>
<p>"So if we actually read the article, we have the following numbers:</p>
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</p>
<p>These numbers are utterly negligible. I’m not surprised they’re using the “tripling” language, rather than the actual increase, since 20 thousand people is absolutely nothing.</p>
<p>Just for fun, the number of PhDs in the US is somewhere between 1.5 and 2.5 million (based on the 2000/2010 census). So we’re looking at an increase from 0.65% or so to 2.24%, at most. "</p>
<p>It’s not really terribly surprising that the number of food-stamp eligible people increases during a recession across all educational levels. Of course, the increase in food-stamp usage in highly-educated people is extremely small compared to all other groups. Numbers are pretty important.</p>
<p>It is well known that MAs generally have a better time in the job market than PhDs.</p>
<p>When talking about unemployment rates, it is crucial to differentiate the sector. The region is also essential. During this recession, some sectors experienced massive unemployment in certain regions. But this information is rarely reflected in the “news,” and frankly, I believe the powers that be (government and media) don’t really want to let us know. But an unemployment rate thrown out there - “7%” - is just not that meaningful.</p>
<p>Bromfield, you mention a couple of points that are interesting to me: your husband originally found his job after the academic denial through the “career services/old boy network.” Let’s not underestimate this. When I was attending a job skills center, the most important thing one could do they said, the lynchpin, was networking. </p>
<p>And the other thing you alluded to is personality. Personality is not that changeable, and some personalities are more successful in any given culture. I think one of the best things our students can do is assess their personalities and really try to come up with a work plan that is in harmony with their own inclinations.</p>
<p>I used to teach in a college. What you said is true for the first semester you teach this course, by second semeter I worked full time as an engineer while still be able to teach the class at the college.</p>
<p>tigerdad, it’s true, you wouldn’t have to develop the curriculum again, but it’s still a ridiculously low amount of pay, especially since there’s no guarantee that you’ll be rehired. And for this college the course certainly wouldn’t be offered more than once a year.</p>