What else could I do?

[workitworkitworkit]

I'm a mid-career academic (mid-40s, female, Chair in a social sciences subject at a mid-ranked (non-RG) university).

I'm recently divorced and going through a big reconsideration of my life choices. As with many of us, I'm so tired of academic life, the endless admin, the student-as-consumer, the pointless metrics, the difficulty of finding any time for the research and writing that made me become an academic in the first place. But I'm not sure that the alternatives are any more appealing. I don't want to set up a small business or consultancy, I don't want to be on precarious contracts (e.g. third sector), and ideally I don't want to live in a big city (with a couple of exceptions).

I suppose my dream job right now would be something that could be fully remote, quite secure, and reasonably well-paid (£40k+). Does anything like that exist? Does anyone have bright ideas or advice for exiting academia for a happy ever after? I'm open to all ideas!

I am in a very similar boat to you. I am retraining to do another career that is likely to be self-employed and/or precarious third sector which is what you are wisely trying to avoid! What about the Civil Service? A lot of their jobs seem to be hybrid/remote, you could use your research/management skills.

Thanks @tartandress maybe...but I fear civil service would be out of the frying pan and into the fire in terms of pointless admin and managerialism...I suppose it will depend on the role. Sometimes I think that the job I really want is the one I'm already doing, just 30 years ago!! Good luck with your retraining plan. Are you doing it PT alongside an academic job? That must take a huge amount of discipline.

Hi OP, I am in a very similar place to you, however every time I think about this I conclude that the better option for me is to stay in academia but go PT.
Honestly the thought of starting from the bottom in another industry and never being able to reach the salary I am on now (I'm A&H so prospects are limited) is not appealing at all, I am not so desperate yet (although I might get there eventually!).
I think it will greatly depend on the department/place, but would it be possible for you to limit yourself to teaching a couple of courses/convening a programme/doing an admin role that you know inside out, do that for 2-3 days a week and then establish a firm boundary which means that the rest of your time is yours?

So you're trapped by your salary requriement?

What would you put down on a "skills" cv?

How would you feel about two days a week in London?

https://housesofparliament.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/appcentre-HouseOfCommons/brand-2/candidate/so/pm/3/pl/14/opp/4947-Knowledge-Exchange-Manager/en-GB

Similar boat. Post-92 A&H and every year now there are threats of course closures with compulsory redundancies, but we get the voluntary severance before that so about 4 months each year of not knowing if you’ll have a job-all the whole having to do open days and teach.
Im nearly 60 though but only been FT employed for 20 years so virtually no pension and still mortgaged (messy divorce and 20 years plus single mum).
i doubt I could get a job let alone one that pays what I need. But if anyone has any ideas please pass them on

Thank you everybody. Interesting (albeit a bit depressing) that we are all feeling/thinking the same way.

@aridapricot that's a good idea and one that I hadn't really considered. I might be able to make part-time hours work, at least for long enough to transition out to something else.

@kistanbul thanks for the link. That particular job wouldn't work for me but it is a good example of something I could do (but it's a one year fixed term, which is a risk I wouldn't want to take)

@MedSchoolRat unfortunately yes I am trapped by needing to earn enough to live and retire on. I wish I wasn't as my ideal scenario would be a little cottage in the country and a hobby business that didn't need to make a profit. But that's not going to keep me afloat. As for a skills CV, there are so many skills involved in my current job - one of the reasons I want to leave is the feeling that I'm doing multiple jobs at the same time : writing, research, constructive persuasive arguments, expertise and authority in my areas, teaching, pastoral care and support, mentoring, lecturing, public speaking, media engagement, public engagement, higher education policy and strategy, line management and leadership, budget management and grant management, grant writing... I don't think my problem is a lack of transferrable skills. On reflection one problem might be the difficulty of choosing a single one of those areas and doing it as a 9-5. Maybe @aridapricot idea of going PT is the way to figure this out.

@LatelyOfShalott sorry about your position, that is how I see the future for many of us unless there is a major rethink of HE finance - that we will be in a constant state of precarity and job insecurity. Not a pleasant thought. I hope you find something.(let us know if you do 😀)

Interesting (albeit a bit depressing) that we are all feeling/thinking the same way.

Not me. I am not thinking/feeling those things. I still like my job (in academia, research) very much. I am fairly certain my income is and always has been far below OP's.

I only mentioned skills based cv because it is the start of figuring out which transferable skills are your strongest ones.

Sorry if I misunderstood your comment @MedSchoolRat Can I ask what role you are in? Your username suggests you are in medicine/STEM? We may have very different experiences of academia if so, given that STEM is very much exempt from a lot of the culture wars and staffing cuts that make A+H and SS so demoralising at present. I also wondered, if your salary is <40k, does that mean that you are in a pure research role rather than R+T? I'd love to have a permanent pure research position, even it did require a big salary hit (as it is more likely that I could tolerate doing it for the rest of my working life). But that sort of role doesn't really exist in social sciences. Grant buyout helps but can't remove all teaching/admin, and that tends to be underweighted and take up much more time than we are allocated, squeezing research to the margins.

Also, I may have a higher salary these days, but it certainly hasn't always been that way. The years I spent in low paid postdocs are precisely why I need to earn more now if I want to have a livable pension in retirement....

(ps @MedSchoolRat just realised that my reply sounds like I am offended or disbelieving that you might be happy in your job. I'm not! It's actually very encouraging to know that some people are still happy in academic life. I also used to love it. Academic research was all I wanted to do, but it's a dream that has been gradually going sour in recent years. Maybe my question should be 'how can I fall back in love with academia'!)

What about academic publishing? You might be able to go in at an editor level, given your experience. My company is fully remote.

@Swearwolf That's a great idea. I would definitely be interested in academic publishing. I'm already linked with several publishers through editorship and editorial board roles, though I'm not sure how this would translate into job opportunities.

Can you tell me more about this kind of work? What is involved on a daily basis? Are there many opportunities available? Job security?

@workitworkitworkit well, it's different everywhere but maybe take a look at The Bookseller job pages to see what's out there. I commission research books in a humanities subject, I came to the company as an assistant but not everyone does. My main function is bringing in new books, keeping an eye on market trends and talking to people about their research, then developing the books as they progress. We have colleagues working in similar jobs on our journals.

As you have publisher contacts already, it might be worth a chat with one of them about it.

have you considered looking for a similar position at a different university? just having a change of scene might give you a new approach to things, but you'd still have the security (?) of an academic contract and the good bits of university life.

Also, do think hard about whether you really want a job that is 100% remote. I know it seems lovely to avoid a commute, but I often think it is the informal chatter with colleagues / students and tea breaks etc that make my work enjoyable. In any remote position, you just get the dull bits and not those social connections. So even 1-2 days each week in a real office with real people can be a good idea.

Yeah I earn about £40k when I can work FT (often can't), nominally a pure research role but there are moments of marking, pastoral care, interviews, grant writing, project management, public speaking, media engagement, at a medical school. My degrees are in the quantitative end but also social sciences.

"Above my paygrade" is one of my happiest outcomes, though, when it comes to all the things I don't have to do. You are paid much more to do the stuff I don't want to do.

Also this will depend on the discipline but mine OP is not just taught at universities - there is an increasing number of "private providers", others which are connected to the public sector (e.g. in the Army), others which offer qualifications by examination, etc. Sometimes they seem to like candidates who have letters behind their name, for kudos reasons (although whether they'll grant you actual research time is another matter!). Could be a way of still remaining in your field and making sure that your teaching skills are being put to use.

@workitworkitworkit I am part-time so that creates a bit of time for the retraining. It is absolutely true that at our career stage, you can work part-time and earn better than full time in a lot of other sectors. The sensible thing for me would be to just work part-time and enjoy my life! But unfortunately the pull of doing something else for the last 20 years of my career has proven too strong (and I am loving the training and excited about the future). Great idea to go part-time and see how that feels. I know a lot of people say it's impossible to be a part-time academic but IME it can work well. You just have to be ruthless about not logging on on your day/s off.

thanks everyone for useful food for thought. @tartandress I also don't particularly like the idea of coasting for 20 years. It dawned on me recently that I am exactly half-way through my working life (assuming retirement age of 67). From that perspective, it makes total sense to retrain and have a whole new career. I just don't know what I would want that new career to be! Going PT might give the breathing space I need to think that through and consider other options, as well as a chance to focus on research a bit more and decide whether I want to give it up or recommit & 'lean in' for another two decades....

I am a big believer in trying out new pathways. If the road opens up in front of you, then carry on... Why not just start applying for some un-related roles and see if you get shortlisted? You will get invaluable information about how your experience and skillset is perceived in the outside world.

I moved out of research into professional services roles in unis - would that interest you? Many unis have PS roles part or fully remote now.

Not sure how mobile you are but would you consider non-UK academia? I just left the shitshow of my old UK institution for one overseas and things are much, much better. Things are not perfect and every system has its downsides, but if you're up for living in another country, with everything that goes with that, then it could be an option to consider. One way to test this would be with a full buyout fellowship. They're competitive but make a lot of applications (look for ones that don't require references immediately so you have nothing to lose but time in making the applications). Then you can test the waters while being bought out for your teaching. Or do a 3 month one over summer if you can swing that. Brexit visa wise, the university sponsors your visa normally. FWIW I keep meeting people who left the UK for positions elsewhere and find it overall much better, even with all the new problems this creates. Horses for courses: you've got to want to be a foreigner, which is absolutely not for everyone. To consider for yourself and others! Life's too short! I'm now surprised I stayed as long as I did at my old dept. Good luck! The other option is research management. Several friends do that. Got to get the right job but some of them are cool jobs, especially if you're in a fun city that actively makes you happy.

I was just about to type this - come and join us in PS! There are plenty of former academics who have made the switch and greatly appreciate the work-life balance!

For those of you who went into PS, which areas/ roles? I applied for a few PS roles with no luck. I’m in the humanities and over it, but I’m on a decent salary (£70k) and the main breadwinner so career changing to a much lower salary isn’t an option

@Flockameanie I'm in research development. Most of my team have worked in research previously. Most skilled roles in PS are in the Grade 7-8 range though (~£40-60k), so it would take quite a few years of moving up various ladders to get to Grade 9, which you would need for your £70k+ salary requirement. Perfect for the OP's requirements though.