Fear of Failure is Not the Issue

by

[Disclosure: I was lucky enough to have a postdoc offer, which I took up very soon after submitting my thesis.]

Having read this article and commentary in the THE, I can’t help feeling that somehow the issue (for me) is the reverse of what has been portrayed. Perhaps I have missed the point, or I am too close to the issue. As an early career researcher, the topic of academic career progression comes a very close second in my list of priorities. Of course, my research interests are my top priority (academically speaking), but the freedom to pursue ones research interests is lost without a career within which to pursue them.

The article in question, ‘Making other plans’ (published anonymously), provides a frank view of the reality many PhDs are confronted with when they attempt to stay in academia; that “not everyone who completes a PhD gets an academic job”. Having secured a first postdoc position, the author discusses the possibility of having to leave academia once his or her current position ends. With fewer jobs available for each successive rung of the academic ladder (the Royal Society illustrated that less than 0.5% of UK science PhDs will end up as professors, and only 3.5% even as permanent academic research staff), the author rightly portrays a bleak and difficult situation that PhDs will more likely face than not; having a non-academic ‘plan B’.

I cannot disagree thus far. It is true that most PhDs, therefore, will need to pursue a career outside of academia. However, there is one aspect that the author approaches differently from my own view. At first I couldn’t put my finger on it, but then I read the accompanying commentary by Phil Baty. This commentary picks up on the idea that it is somehow ‘taboo’ to seek a career outside of academia after completing a PhD. Both authors imply that there is a conspiracy within higher education to push the idea that PhD=permanent academic career, and that discussing or considering the alternatives is frowned upon and avoided. This hit a nerve with me, for reasons I will get to.

In the original article, the anonymous author admits feeling the regret of not having established a plan B earlier. For example, the author suggests earning a teaching qualification alongside a PhD, for easy transition into secondary education. The author regrets that help and advice is unavailable for PhDs thinking about non-academic options, and Phil Baty (in the commentary) picks up on the idea that there is a taboo that needs to be broken. The idea that PhDs should not be made to feel like a failure for pursuing other options; that we could all be making better-informed choices about which direction to take with our PhD.

Again, I cannot disagree with the idea that more alternative career advice would be beneficial for PhD candidates and early career researchers. Who couldn’t benefit from well-informed and relevant career advice? However, what that leaves me with a bee in my bonnet is that somehow PhDs are mislead into thinking they will automatically become a professor, the idea that the system makes us stay by offering false promises of an unobtainable career, and the idea that we are somehow sucked up by the system and spat out once we have provided our supervisor with our best years of research. This seems completely backwards to me. If I had been given other career advice, and told honestly how dire the prospect is that I will ever get to call myself ‘Prof’, I wouldn’t have done a thing differently, and I am still not intending to change. Of course, it depends on why you are still in academia in the first place, but I am still here because I still have a burning desire to pursue my research interests, to collaborate with other academics, to share in the growth and accomplishment of my students and colleagues, and because there is just nothing that I want to do more. I don’t love everything about the daily realities of my job, and the weighty pressure of finding the next short-term contract (and the one after) is constantly present. There is also a nagging voice inside that reminds me that I may (as so many women do) decide, or be forced, to leave academia in favour of settling down with a family. It will probably be disappointing if I have to leave, but I feel like I would be wasting precious time if I started preparing for that possibility now. Yes, I may need other qualifications if I want to change direction, and no, I don’t have an infinite pot of money to keep me going while I retrain, but I will remain optimistic and throw my full efforts into academia. If my time is limited then I want to hold on for as long as I can, and I don’t think I can do that if, mentally, I have already given up.

Yes, we should be allowed, and possibly encouraged, to take our PhDs elsewhere. Yes, we should be proud of what we have accomplished and throw ourselves enthusiastically into our alternative careers without shame. But no, this is not the problem that young academics face. In my opinion, fear is not what is holding PhDs and postdocs in academic limbo. It is not stigma that stops us leaving, it is the desire to stay!

The fact is, I do it because (right now) I love it. I will come up with a plan B when the time comes (and it will more than likely come), and I will feel no shame.

  • MVEG001

    I love the passion behind this blog. But I must disagree on one point – preparing for other opportunities while you pursue your academic career. It is not a waste of time… The 95%+ you refer to, will have to find a new career path. Of the UK postdocs that leave research (for different reasons), 85% actually WANTED TO STAY. If they had been given the opportunities to cross-train, get work experience and gain valuable transferable skills in other areas (e.g. business, teaching, policy, project management), I bet they would find the transition to Plan B a lot easier. They would certainly be more competitive on the job market. Academia does require unwavering devotion, focus, hard work and a dash of good luck, but research training needs to be much more diverse and prepare students/postdocs for a variety of careers post-PhD.

    • Katie

      Thank you very much for taking the time to comment. I think it’s really valuable to get a range of perspectives on this issue.
      I fully agree that preparing for careers outside of academia is a very good idea. Also, I think you are right that the research training itself should offer more opportunities for work experience and transferable skills in order to make researchers generally more employable in other areas. This would go a long way towards making the transition easier and removing the ‘taboo’ that the original Times Higher Education article author discussed (although I still don’t feel there necessarily is a taboo).
      What inspired me to write this post in the first place (though I don’t think it actually came across very well) is that I felt like the THE article would inspire an almost self-fulfilling negativity in any PhD students reading it. Although I think that diverse training for PhD students is a hugely positive thing, and I also cannot dispute the figures regarding how many of those PhD students will be able stay in academia for their entire career, I think that telling them that the only way they will make it anywhere is by concurrently training for a separate career (such as teaching) only addresses part of the problem. I think there should be more focus on how can we change the shape of academic and other research careers so that many more of those 85% who wanted to stay actually get to stay.
      It is such a loss to society as a whole that more of those talented and capable researchers cannot do what they love and have trained for because the funding and jobs are not there to support them.
      It is also such a challenging and emotionally-charged issue, particularly for those who are currently in the distressing position of having thrown everything they have into preparing for a career that seems to be completely out of their reach. I will most likely regret not having a wider range of experience and training when I also find myself in that situation, but (partly through denial) I just can’t bring myself to invest much energy in retraining yet. I certainly don’t assume that I am one of the lucky few who will make it, so I think that for now I am just wishing something would change!

  • http://www.senseworlds.com/bewilderness/ Anthea

    Interesting post and thank you. The issue of shame and fear of failure for not getting a post after a PhD should be raised and discussed. Why? I think that it really arises since those of us who successfully obtain PhDs do want to remain part of the academic world and if they can’t find a position, for a variety of reasons often beyond control, they feel ashamed and derided by their colleagues/peers. You’re right in stating that diverse training needs to occur for different career tracks post PhD must during the PhD training…but also the system itself needs to rethink its shape and its long term future since as the loss of 85% of researchers to a system is a tragedy and a waste. If we heard that a business kicked out the same number of its trainees every year then we’d ask how on earth does it end to survive in the long run?? It doesn’t make economic sense for a society to invest in people as teachers and researchers to train that number of people only to kick them out at the end?

    • Katie

      Hi Anthea, Thanks for your comment.
      I agree that it is important that this topic keeps coming up for discussion. I think your comment is along the lines of what I was originally trying to get across in this post – that the main issue facing new PhD graduates is that there are not enough academic and research posts for those who have trained hard for that career. I agree that it can be such a waste of talent to lose these people to other careers.
      Since I wrote this post I have had a lot more time to think about the issue and it is a complicated one to solve. I think that many things need to change. For example, I think there should be an increase in the exposure to non-academic careers at all levels of higher education, including undergraduates. I also think that there needs to be significant funding available for new researchers to develop their track record, to allow them to compete for the available jobs (of which there should be many more), and that there should be more flexibility allowed for researchers to develop their early career in many different settings inside and outside higher education, without the fear that there will be no way back into academia later. I am still thinking about this, and may come back to it in another blog post soon.