Great point here and great data to back it up. It’s harder than ever to get an academic job. So, let’s train our ms and PhD students for jobs inside AND outside the academy. https://twitter.com/ZJAyres/status/1259187692660838405

I’d love to see these “ECR’s aren’t more affected by covid than others” and “it’s always been harder, now is no harder than before” style takes gtfo and never come back.
The academic market is a hard place and we are doing disservice to our trainees by not preparing for alts.

I try to help my students (mostly UGs at this stage) think about career opps, what is next for them, etc. I like to encourage a gap year between UG and grad/prof school so they can try something and see if they like or (or just think about what they want).

This isn’t for everyone, which is fine (I didn’t take a gap- but should have!).
The point here is that we can help the next gen be more flexible and prepared for many job opportunities!

How? This might be a good place to brainstorm. How does your department help prepare students for possible jobs outside the academy?

For starters, if you have a weekly or monthly seminar and you are inviting diverse folks from academia, industry, government, NGOs, scicomm, and sci-Ed (for example), you are missing a big (and easy) opportunity!

What else can we do?
Career coaching, networking, teaching how to market yourself and skills, thinking about what you like and don’t like, what you want (and don’t), utilizing IDPs, etc. The tools exist! We must use them.

I’ve wrestled for many years about moving beyond the academy and I’ve had chances to do so. I’m still here mostly because I love teaching, mentoring, and research. But I’m also here to improve this system because it is WHACK.

If you made it this far, I’d love to hear what you think we mentors, PIs, departments, and universities/colleges can do to better prepare and familiarize students with non-academic careers!