Blog CLXXXVII (187): "You Got Your PhD...Now What?"

Many schools know that there is a job crisis in history.  Some schools have more resources than others to do something to help their students and alumni.  One of those institutions, is the the New School, and it turned to its alumni.  The problem with this fact is that these efforts get far less visibility than sessions at conferences.  The internet and video allows us to watch the proceedings of this session: "You Got Your PhD...Now What?"

None of these scholars are from history, but they are from fields in the humanities and social sciences: anthropology, economics, and sociology.  They represent some pretty diverse career paths: business, non-profits, consulting, and government service.  The participants are: David Michaelson, President and Chief Research Officer, Echo Research; Rick McGahey, Director of Impact Assessment, Ford Foundation; Charles Clark, professor of economics, St. John's University; and Cheryl Pahaham, chief municipal financial analyst, New York State Comptroller's Office.

Each tells a biographical story about how they ended up doing something non-academic with their Ph.D. and none of them, except Clark, have ended up doing work that seems like a natural fit for their degrees.  These stories are useful and they also list websites that people wanting to follow a similar path might to find job postings. As a result, this session is quite helpful.