People with doctorates who don't work in academia

[DoctorDee]

Do you use your title? I finished my PhD last year but so far haven't called myself Dr at all- obviously I wouldn't use it in conversation but even where there's a drop down menu I tend to pick Ms out of habit rather than Dr.

Just wondered what other people did? I'd like to use it a bit more. Not sure whether to put it in my work email signature- it is related to my work but I don't need a doctorate to do my job, iyswim.

I suppose my AIBU is AIBU to use my academic title when I don't work in an academic role?

I only use the title with organisations and people with which I am pissed off.

My passport is in my married name and I have a note on the observations page about “Known professionally as……” with my Dr title and name. It’s been useful as it covers both names by which I am known. Didn’t need to send in a copy of PhD, just asked for it to be included in the observations

I do. I haven't changed it in places where I was already known as Ms (bank, DVLA...) because I can't be bothered to fill out a form and send in evidence. But whenever I sign up for something new I do. My passport renewal is coming up and my country does have title included in the passport, so I am definitely changing it there. I do come from a culture where titles are very important, so it actually didn't really occur to me to not do it.

I left academia where I used it to go back to a clinical role so I don’t use it incase people’s think I’m a medical doctor!

I don't work in academia but having a PhD helped me get my job and is relevant to parts of it so I use it in a work context. Although while job hunting I did consider removing the whole thing from my cv as it was really not helpful in some contexts!

I also use it in all life admin out of principle so I don't have to declare my sex or marital status. And it's petty but satisfying when a customer service person assumes I'm Miss/Mrs without asking and I can correct them 😂 I confess I put it on my driving licence purely through pride after I graduated!

But I do avoid mentioning it in most social settings here until I know people well. I used to live overseas though and interestingly in that culture it's the opposite, people are genuinely pleased for you having academic qualifications and it's respectful to address someone as 'Dr Firstname' in a social context, unless you're very close, so when I'm interacting with friends/contacts from that country I am very much Dr! I think this embarrassment about academic achievement is quite a British thing.

Although no organisation has yet required me to provide evidence to change my title! So in theory anyone could do it!

It’s not just in academia where a doctorate is the usual/ expected level of qualification. A few of us on this thread are psychologists, and a professional doctorate is the standard qualification now. We cannot practice without one. There are a few Ms/Mr who qualified years ago and were grandparents when the qualifications changed, but it’s quite rare. In my experience, it would be very unusual for a psychologist not to use their professional title, even though we work outside academia.

Are there any other professions who have a professional doctorate as their qualifying level? I do not know of any, but would be interested to find out.

The passport office didn’t want to see my PhD certificate. I just chose Dr in the title but on the form and they added the info in the notes section.

Frankly the only institutions who’ve been interested in seeing that were universities.

I’m in no way worried about airlines calling on me in medical emergencies and being disappointed. Airline staff are first aid trained and aren’t just going to take the word of some random passenger with Dr a their title that they’re competent to treat a medical emergency. Especially not when many medical doctors would not take on that responsibility for insurance reasons. I think the whole ‘is there a doctor on board’
objection is a red herring.

i also think that many of the objections to using the title you earned are silly and rooted in some version of tall poppy syndrome. Oh, can’t be getting above your station! 🙄

I earned my doctorate. If anyone is going to be archaic enough to ask for my title, I’ll give them it. Why on earth shouldn’t I?

I think it's a joke. A friend's ex husband is a Chiropractor, and he calls himself Dr despite not having the qualifications - medical or otherwise - to back it up. Embarrassing.
I mean no offence, but I would do away with it for anyone but medical doctors.

Because your friend uses the title to trick people into thinking he’s more qualified than he is, you think that centuries of tradition around doctorate qualifications should be abandoned? 🙄

Etymologically, doctor comes from teacher. So it’s actually more appropriate as an academic title than a medical
one.

Maybe educate yourself on the history of the usage of the title by medics.

A couple of teachers in the school I used to work in used their doctor titles. I understand why, but at the same time everyone cringed a bit when the students called them 'Dr X' and 'Doctor Y'. It feels a bit out of place in an ordinary secondary school.

Why though?

This is what I mean by some kind of tall
poppy syndrome. Why shouldn’t a secondary teacher with a doctoral degree not use that title?

Why do they need to be called ‘miss’ instead of Dr X?

surely it’s a good thing for students and parents to know that the teacher has higher qualifications alongside their teaching qualifications.

It’s completely normal. A lot of schools hire teachers with doctorates in HoD roles, or encourage senior teachers to do doctorates. Quite a few people from my Oxbridge doctoral cohort in various fields are at elite schools.

Psychologists seem to be the one group who, without fail, insist on using their Dr title.

I can understand that - there's so many counsellors, coaches etc out there without the formal qualifications psychologists have, that using "Dr" would be a good signifier in that field.

I don't have a PhD (part way through one) but do have a professional qualification with post nominals that I use in my email signature and any formal professional correspondence. I'm sure lots of professions are the same. Dr seems an easily recognised version for psychologists.

Although I do peer review for medical journal articles and they assume I am a doctor when I am not I enjoy getting emails addressed to Dr xxxx

Oh you’d be surprised about the conversation. I had a colleague until recently who when people were introducing themselves at the start of the meeting would shoe horn it in eg

”Hi, I’m Stacey Smith, finance”
”Steve Andrews, legal”
”Dr Adam Jones, internal audit”

The PhD wasn’t even connected to the role or the organisation.

I use my Dr title at work (academia) and outside of work, but generally only when asked for a title, e.g. on a form. I certainly wouldn't introduce myself in conversation as 'Dr NikNak' outside of work, and I don't know of anyone else with a PhD who would.
as others have said, part of the reason I choose to use my title is to avoid the Miss/Mrs/Ms debacle.

But do you ever introduce yourself in conversation using a title of any kind? Surely titles are just for forms, writing letters/emails etc.

Actually, many years ago, my brother's friend's parents introduced themselves to my parents as Dr X and Dr Y (they were medical doctors) rather than, say, Joe and Sarah. My parents were rather bemused by this!

Very rarely - the only times I can think of are during work, e.g. - introducing myself at the start of a conference presentation (and this also very much depends on the audience/feel) / at the start of a module ... hmm, can't think of any other instances in conversation off the top of my head! And certainly none outside of work... I can't recall a time where there's been an expectation/need to introduce myself with a title in conversation (whether Dr or Mrs etc).

I sometimes do and I sometimes don’t. It’s not a big deal either way, to me. I worked damned hard and nearly broke getting mine, so sometimes I like to be reminded of that.