No. PhDs must be aware of employment reality

I’ve asked many of my PhD friends whether they recommend people pursuing a doctoral degree. Almost every time, the answer I heard was negative.

Discussing career paths with PhD students creates the same anxiety as asking: “How’s your thesis going?”

Sure, it is hard to find an ideal job with a fresh PhD degree. Some academics may even refer to it as a crisis. I prefer to accept it as a reality. The time of landing as a faculty member right after graduation is long gone.

Still, those referring to it as a crisis are contradicting statistics.

Let’s look at the job prospects of the “one in five” opportunity of being a university professor. According to the Department of Employment and Social Development Canada’s website, the number of new job openings of university professors and lecturers are expected to be similar to the number of new job seekers in the country between 2017 and 2026.

The job outlook is mostly fair across the 13 provinces and territories over the next three years.

As a result, the extreme difficulty of finding an academic job may only apply to doctoral graduates without relevant work experience. Master’s and bachelor’s degree holders can face the same struggle.

Some PhD graduates want the government to get involved by funding programs to help them find work. Part of the problem with that is it may take money away from other needed areas for graduate students.

Although career prospects for PhDs are an important evaluation criterion for program funding, we need to ensure that basic science research projects, which don’t provide immediate economic benefits to society, don’t lose their funding as a result.

Researchers in these disciplines, too, probably face a hard time when they first enter the job market, yet that doesn’t mean their research is not worthy of being funded by the federal or provincial government.

As well, while focusing on the future needs of PhD graduates in Canada is helpful, we should also remember that a substantial number of PhD candidates are overseas students who plan to return to their home countries after graduation.

That doesn’t mean that governmental programs that offer employment guidance are not welcome.

While Employment Ontario provides training and services across the province for newcomers and professionals, the programs are not targeted to PhD graduates.

Support should not stop at securing an employment offer. Job security issues also need to be addressed.

For example, more funding should be allocated to universities that host a higher percentage of permanent faculty positions.

PhD unemployment is a worldwide problem and there’s no easy solution.

So it is important to change the view that a PhD degree is a guarantee of a profitable career, and people must understand that before committing to a PhD program.

Passion and expertise don’t always transfer to instant pay cheques, and often people with specialized knowledge have to be patient for their perfect opportunity.

Search early, and search internationally.

Don’t just limit your scope of job applications in North America because the entire world is open for you to research and explore.

As Herb Childress said in his book The PhDictionary, “your job search doesn’t start when you’ve completed your PhD.”

It starts when you choose your supervisor, research topic and doctoral program.