Non-Academic Job Experience and the Academic Job Market

[Cactus Ed]

I'm not sure if there's a thread out there addressing this (and if there is, sorry for doubling up), but I'm wondering about one's non-academic job experience prior to the PhD and it's relevance to/effect on the pursuit of academic jobs after the PhD.

 

I ask because I have worked the past 2.5 years professionally at a large corporation as a copywriter and website/social media manager. Prior to that I had the usual slew of post-humanities MA barista/lawncare type jobs that will, of course, have no bearing ever on my future CV. However, my recent professional experience has been valuable, in my opinion, in that it has taught me a variety of professional, workplace-type lessons.

 

So I'm wondering if that kind of experience will have any bearing on my ability to snag TT jobs vs. others who go directly from undergrad to grad school and whose experience is limited purely to teaching assistantships and part-time summer jobs. Or maybe the opposite... I literally have no idea. 

 

I'd love to hear opinions on this. 

Edited April 10, 2013 by Cactus Ed

[khyleth]

I know that, for PhD applicants, a lot of professors will say that they'd rather have students who've worked for a few years -- those of us who took some time off (these professors say) tend to be more grounded, have better professional social skills, and are generally more likely to take an active role in their education. I've spent the last three years as an editor, and that was a big part of why I got funding (I'll be tutoring in a writing center). Like you, though, I'm curious to know how those years will affect my post-PhD job prospects.

[isabelarcher]

I wonder about this as an applicant. I've had three substantial internships as an undergrad, none related to academia. Two were 9-5 in the summer, one was 15 hours a week for a semester -- not insignificant commitments. Two were related to government (one in DC, one locally) and one was in the law department of a corporation (I thought I wanted to be a lawyer, once. HA HA HA.) I figure it won't hurt or help my application. At least it shows that I'm well rounded and makes for good talking points when it comes up in conversation.

[yellow.wallpaper]

Since my first major is journalism, all of my experience is mostly newspaper or media related. If I'd known this was the route I wanted to take I would have pursued more investigations with professors. Nonetheless, apparently the schools had no problems with this. I had an English professor once that had worked in diverse areas: from film to clerk and she was still teaching.

 

I would say this shows professionalism, I don't think it hurts your application at all.