Career Prospects With A PhD

You may be wondering, "What are my career options with a PhD?" or "Will I even get a job with a PhD?"

Welcome to the internet! If you’ve been googling about the PhD at all, you’ll see lots of chatter about how bad academia is, or how difficult it is to get a job even with a PhD.

First, let’s get some facts.

Getting a high paying job is always somewhat difficult. Resume scanners and technology means many submissions go unread. Regardless of your degree.

But I digress.

Let’s focus on the PhD.

If you want to see the job placement rate for PhDs check out the data from the National Science Foundation. They survey all of the PhD graduates and collect statistics. (hey, if you’re not willing to look at the data, the PhD probably isn’t for you).

Let me give you the bullet points:

• Upon graduation with a PhD roughly 75% of STEM majors have definite commitments.

• Upon graduation with a Humanities and non STEM majors, roughly 60-75% have definite commitments.

• This doesn’t mean in the next 6 months (the typical job finding timespan), these non-committed PhD won’t have a great job, it just means at graduation they are still undecided.

• People with PhDs (and professional degrees, eg, MD)  have the highest average salary and lowest unemployment in the US.

Yes, it can be difficult transitioning from your PhD to your new career. But, isn’t it difficult transitioning from undergrad to a new career? 

A PhD offers you many options to have the career you deserve.

It’s up to you to take advantage of them.