Here are the 7 mistakes my friend, academic writing coach Dr. Anna Clemens (@scientistswrite), sees supervisors and PIs make in the process of co-writing papers with their PhD students and other mentees.

A thread. 🧵 @scientistswrite #1 Not teaching your mentees the steps that are part of the paper-writing process

🙆 The main reason novice writers procrastinate on writing a paper is that they don’t know how to get started and break this huge and overwhelming project into manageable chunks.

It can seem to folks in academia that making the transition to work beyond is this ✨ big mystery ✨.

HOW does anyone with a PhD or other terminal degree actually DO that?

Let me break it down for you 🧵👇🏻 I teach PhDs and other academics this process, and have done for years now. I call it the PhD career clarity system (to match up with my PhD Career Clarity Program 😄).

And it’s simple, just four steps:

What do you call it when someone will not have anything to do with dried chickpeas that aren't labelled "gluten-free" but refuses to wear a proper mask during a raging pandemic & generalized health crisis? Hypervigilant about gluten (which: fine!) but laissez-faire about viruses? (yes, I'm frustrated with a family member who will not upgrade from cloth masks no matter what I say or do)

Many PhD advisors claim that they can't help their students and postdocs find a job outside academia.

Here are five reasons why that's wrong and what advisors can do and say instead.

A 🧵! Reason #1: "I've spent my entire career in academia."

Academia is not hermetically sealed off; it's part of the wider world.

You have interacted professional and personally with others kinds of folks at unis, orgs, govt, industry, more.

Your network is broader than you think.

I have committed myself to going to an in-person wine & cheese networking event for scientists tomorrow (I am not a scientist) because they invited me and that was nice and you never know: it might be fun. I'll be masked so no wine for me, only talking.

What advice do you have? I feel a bit like I'm going in undercover to experience the kind of thing my clients are doing! It's like research.

I'm self-employed.

100% of my income comes from clients - individuals, institutions, other organizations.

Here's what I typically charge for standard things (US$):

$1500, online workshop or prez, 60-90 minutes
$497, PhD Career Clarity Program, 12-month access
$175, 1:1 consult I don't have big contracts or regular clients (who pay me multiple times), so there's a ton of precarity to my situation.

I choose this; I'm not asking for sympathy!

But it's why I market my services every day, and I'm so grateful so many of you RT and like and recommend me! 👏🏻

Oh no I'm watching a Christmas movie and the main character is a psychology PhD and it is about as accurate about the academic job market and publishing as you'd imagine lol.
m.imdb.com/title/tt501452…
I'm only 12 minutes in. Will persist. Two-body problem alert!

Would you come to this talk? Draft abstract. (I don't love it yet but think I've got the basics right??)

How to Transform Your Graduate Education into An Awesome Post-Pandemic Career

[screenshot incl abstract] Added:

"This stress negatively affects their mental health, saps their creative energy, and distracts from the academic work they’re in graduate programs to do."

If I was writing more casually I'd add "Terrible!" as its own sentence after that.

Ugh!

If you'll be on the job market, for any job, there are a bunch of important things to do beforehand.

In academia we don't think too much about them. When it comes to the wider world of jobs, you'll never be able to focus (and thus have employers focus on you) without these.

🧵 What do you value in your life and in your career?

Related, what's most important to you in a work environment, in your working relationships?

What are the essential elements of a work culture in which you'll thrive?

Folks often expect there to be a list of PhD-appropriate jobs, esp linked to their discipline or area of study. There is such a list, and "professor" tops it. Depending on your field, "senior scientist" or "lead researcher" might come next. Beyond that, few roles *require* a PhD. That's just how it is, and that's probably good, as it avoids credential creep.

There are plenty of jobs that could suit *you*, as someone who's got a PhD. Folks in or hiring for these positions may or may not be focused on the PhD as a relevant credential or useful experience.

Did you leave a PhD program and then enroll in a different, better-for-you one? Or switch advisors? I know lots do. Stories requested. Asking for a follower in a less than ideal situation.

https://twitter.com/K_Leonard_PhD/status/1074800899053228037?s=19

I thanked my favourite band in my PhD dissertation acknowledgements. Who, or what, did you thank that is perhaps surprising? #phdlife #phdchat What a fun thread this is!