Ph.D. Career Trends
The post originally appeared on PassioInventa, a site run by graduate students to serve as a platform for science communication.
Many people assume Ph.D.-trained individuals work in two predominant areas: academia or industry. Most professors have Ph.D.s, and academic careers are considered to be the “default” or even preferred path during one’s graduate training.
The other major career bucket Ph.D.s fall into after their training is industry. What do we mean by “industry”, though? Many assume an industry Ph.D. works in pharmaceutical development or some other research and development (R&D) role, and some, indeed, do. However, there are so many additional roles Ph.D.s can fill in industry as well as in government, nonprofits, and academia that don’t fall into the neat buckets of academic or industry scientist.
The other major career bucket Ph.D.s fall into after their training is industry. What do we mean by “industry”, though? Many assume an industry Ph.D. works in pharmaceutical development or some other research and development (R&D) role, and some, indeed, do. However, there are so many additional roles Ph.D.s can fill in industry as well as in government, nonprofits, and academia that don’t fall into the neat buckets of academic or industry scientist.
What do Ph.D.s do for work? Let’s look at the data.
A wealth of career data for Ph.D. recipients is collected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in its Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) and Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR). The SED focuses on recent Ph.D. graduates each year (Table 1) while the SDR captures employment information of individuals with Ph.D.s in science, engineering, or health fields, regardless of when they received their degree (Table 2).
A wealth of career data for Ph.D. recipients is collected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in its Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) and Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR). The SED focuses on recent Ph.D. graduates each year (Table 1) while the SDR captures employment information of individuals with Ph.D.s in science, engineering, or health fields, regardless of when they received their degree (Table 2).
Table 1: Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) data on primary work role for 2018 Ph.D. graduates in the life sciences, physical/earth sciences, and engineering. R&D, Research & Development
Table 2: Survey of Doctoral Recipients (SDR) showing primary work role of individuals with life sciences, physical/earth sciences, or engineering degrees in 2017. R&D, Research & Development
The data collected by the NSF demonstrate that anywhere from 34.1% to 37.3% of science/engineering doctorates ultimately perform work beyond R&D and teaching (Table 2, Something Else column). That number might surprise current graduate students and postdoctoral trainees who often consider their career options limited.
Ph.D. employment trends are changing: The elephant in the room
A great challenge in graduate education and career/professional development is ensuring Ph.D.-trained researchers understand that the “traditional path” of securing a faculty position is becoming more difficult to follow. This trend was summed up well by Schillebeeckx et al 2013 (reproduced below), who show that the cumulative number of Ph.D.s awarded in Science & Engineering fields has grown rapidly compared to available faculty positions over the past few decades.
A great challenge in graduate education and career/professional development is ensuring Ph.D.-trained researchers understand that the “traditional path” of securing a faculty position is becoming more difficult to follow. This trend was summed up well by Schillebeeckx et al 2013 (reproduced below), who show that the cumulative number of Ph.D.s awarded in Science & Engineering fields has grown rapidly compared to available faculty positions over the past few decades.
This chart includes data collected through 2011; the startling trend has unfortunately continued. More recent data can be accessed from the SDR & SED on employment trends for Ph.D.-trained scientists and these data continue to show the decline in the percentage of Ph.D.s working in tenure-track faculty positions. The trend is most apparent in the SDR data where employment in academic positions is broken down by tenured faculty, those on the tenure track, and those in positions not eligible for tenure. In addition, the data is categorized by those who received their Ph.D.s <10 years from the survey (representing early career researchers and postdocs) and those 10 or more years post-Ph.D.. The change in the academic employment landscape for these recent Ph.D. graduates (Table 3) illustrates the radical shift occurring in Ph.D. employment at 4-year educational institutions.
Table 3: Percentage change in recent (<10 years from degree) Ph.D.s employment at 4-year educational institutions in the United States from 2010 to 2017, calculated from NSF SDR data.
Growth in non-tenure track employment among science Ph.D.s
Where are these Ph.D.-trained scientists going? While some are moving into career fields outside of academia -- in fact the 2017 SED data showed private sector employment of science/engineering Ph.D.s (42%) was nearly on par with educational institution employment (43%) -- many are working in non-tenure track positions that could include lecturers, adjunct faculty, research faculty, or postdoctoral positions. Table 3, above, shows the 2-3x growth in these non-tenure track positions in a period of just 7 years.
Further examination of the 2017 data showed an astounding 17.1% (~1 in 5) of those with life science Ph.D.s employed at 4-year academic institutions were postdocs.
Where are these Ph.D.-trained scientists going? While some are moving into career fields outside of academia -- in fact the 2017 SED data showed private sector employment of science/engineering Ph.D.s (42%) was nearly on par with educational institution employment (43%) -- many are working in non-tenure track positions that could include lecturers, adjunct faculty, research faculty, or postdoctoral positions. Table 3, above, shows the 2-3x growth in these non-tenure track positions in a period of just 7 years.
Further examination of the 2017 data showed an astounding 17.1% (~1 in 5) of those with life science Ph.D.s employed at 4-year academic institutions were postdocs.
What is a postdoc and should I pursue one?
"A postdoctoral scholar (postdoc) is an individual holding a doctoral degree who is engaged in a temporary period of mentored research and/or scholarly training for the purpose of acquiring the professional skills needed to pursue a career path of his or her choosing."
-National Postdoctoral Association
While completing a postdoc has been a natural step toward securing a faculty career, it has also, unfortunately, become a holding place for Ph.D.s who have not been able to secure faculty employment. In addition, remaining a postdoc for too long may have serious effects on one’s lifetime earnings potential. In fact, many Ph.D.-trained individuals should probably not pursue a postdoc but a lack of information on career opportunities for Ph.D.-holders leaves many to default to the postdoc path.
| My own story navigating the academic career path I was one of those individuals on this default postdoc path. I had a great graduate school experience at UNC Chapel Hill and felt encouraged to stay in academia and pursue a postdoc with the goal of learning a new scientific technique (PET imaging of the dopamine system). My ultimate goal was to land a tenure-track faculty job. |  |
Completing my graduate training in the lab of a recently-hired faculty member certainly showed me that landing the faculty job is only step one on the path to the idealized tenured professor position. An equally difficult step is being productive to obtain tenure. A faculty member who obtains tenure needs to publish papers, secure grant funding, mentor effectively, perform service for one’s home department, and often teach.
While the public sees a faculty job as pretty cushy -- and maybe after securing tenure it gets a bit more cushy (or at least secure in terms of your salary) -- the path to obtaining that tenured position is an arduous and tenuous one. There are so many places where one can fall off this pathway of postdoc -> assistant professor (on tenure-track) -> tenured faculty.
Collaborative work from the Future_PI Slack group which I have been involved with shows that every year, very qualified individuals who apply for assistant professorships don’t succeed.
The average person (and most family members of graduate students) really has no idea the challenges Ph.D.s face in launching their careers. I know I was certainly not the first person whose parents inquired when I would be “done” with training and get a “real job”. They meant well but, like many people, assumed once someone has a Ph.D., aren’t they “done” and on the quick path to fortune?
While the public sees a faculty job as pretty cushy -- and maybe after securing tenure it gets a bit more cushy (or at least secure in terms of your salary) -- the path to obtaining that tenured position is an arduous and tenuous one. There are so many places where one can fall off this pathway of postdoc -> assistant professor (on tenure-track) -> tenured faculty.
Collaborative work from the Future_PI Slack group which I have been involved with shows that every year, very qualified individuals who apply for assistant professorships don’t succeed.
The average person (and most family members of graduate students) really has no idea the challenges Ph.D.s face in launching their careers. I know I was certainly not the first person whose parents inquired when I would be “done” with training and get a “real job”. They meant well but, like many people, assumed once someone has a Ph.D., aren’t they “done” and on the quick path to fortune?
Acknowledging my faculty career doubts and discovering alternative career paths during my postdoc
I spent 4.5 years as a postdoc at Vanderbilt University and it was a really wonderful time. I felt I grew as a person, contributed important work to my field of neuroscience, and gained leadership experience in the Vanderbilt Postdoctoral Association. And while I went deep down the path toward obtaining a faculty position (even getting an onsite interview back in Spring 2018), in the back of my mind I had doubts about being a faculty member; that path just didn’t feel right. Having access to career/professional development programming at Vanderbilt helped me learn about other career paths for Ph.D.s.
I now work in career and professional development helping current graduate students and postdocs at North Carolina State University. You can read more about my personal career exploration journey and transition to postdoc affairs in my series of NIH BEST blog posts.
I spent 4.5 years as a postdoc at Vanderbilt University and it was a really wonderful time. I felt I grew as a person, contributed important work to my field of neuroscience, and gained leadership experience in the Vanderbilt Postdoctoral Association. And while I went deep down the path toward obtaining a faculty position (even getting an onsite interview back in Spring 2018), in the back of my mind I had doubts about being a faculty member; that path just didn’t feel right. Having access to career/professional development programming at Vanderbilt helped me learn about other career paths for Ph.D.s.
I now work in career and professional development helping current graduate students and postdocs at North Carolina State University. You can read more about my personal career exploration journey and transition to postdoc affairs in my series of NIH BEST blog posts.
Career exploration is where it all begins
Part of the search for a post-Ph.D. or post-postdoc career is a search for yourself. This sounds kind of intimidating - and it is. But trust me when I tell you people like me do make it through a challenging career search, and along the way they often discover what is most important to their wellbeing and happiness. Seems like a pretty nice outcome after navigating the hard, twisty road to a career.
Part of the search for a post-Ph.D. or post-postdoc career is a search for yourself. This sounds kind of intimidating - and it is. But trust me when I tell you people like me do make it through a challenging career search, and along the way they often discover what is most important to their wellbeing and happiness. Seems like a pretty nice outcome after navigating the hard, twisty road to a career.
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