links for 2009-05-31

  • "Mullet with headlights?"
  • "People assume the only reason to earn a Ph.D. is to become a professor to the exclusion of all other careers. They don’t realize there are at least three categories of Ph.D. candidates looking for work outside academe: 1) those who have no intention of seeking academic work, 2) those who thought they wanted to be academics until they experienced graduate school, and 3) those who wanted to be academics and maybe still do, but market forces conspired against them. If you are in group 1, responding to these questions and concerns will be less difficult. If you are in group 1 you probably earned your Ph.D. in a field like biology or economics where enough doctorate holders enter the business world that it’s not that unusual. If you fall into groups 2 and 3 it may be a challenge to craft strong responses."