Only a tiny per cent of PhD students will end up as university professors. The Royal Society provides a snapshot of data that indicates just 0.45% of PhDs in the scientific areas become full professors. Which means the majority of PhDs have ‘alternative’ careers. Why is a non-academic career path considered alternative when it is more common than an academic one?

Coming through a doctoral program gives you a very narrow view of your career options. It can be daunting to think about working outside of the academy when everyone around you has taken the ‘traditional’ route and gauges success by a tenure track position. At the start of this year, I began a new series of blog posts interviewing people who are taking a less ‘traditional’ route during or after their PhD. This quickly became some of my most popular content in particular for graduate students who were motivated by the wide range of side income and non-academic careers of their peers. Click on any of the links to read the interview. Because of the range in PhD specialisation, not every career option is open to every PhD discipline but as I continue to interview PhDs this list will grow with more and more range and examples.

Examples of career options and side hustle

• Research Scientist
  • Semiconductor company – Derek Miller
  • Research Fellow in Clinical Trials Methodology – Heidi Gardner
  • Program Manager, Surveys & Polling – Sreyoshi Dey
• Data Scientist
  • Michael Li
• Independent Researcher
  • We Research It Ltd – Helen Kara
• Entrepreneur – Products
  • Genius Lab Gear – Derek Miller
  • Science On A Postcard – Heidi Gardner
  • A Journey In Becoming (Planners) – Shannon Thomison
• Entrepreneur – Services
  • Freelance Multimedia Science Communicator – Gaius Augustus
  • Music-Teaching Studio – Kate Paine
  • Tutoring GCSE and A level students in Chemistry – Gavin Irvine
• Entrepreneur – Consultancy/Coaching
  • Writing and Research Skills Consultancy – Kate Paine
  • Life and Health Coach –  Melanna “Lanna” Cox
  • Jewellery historian and archaeological consultant – Sigrid van Roode
  • The Academic Society – Toyin Alli
  • Writing – Katie Linder Consulting
  • Career development and self-management – Shannon Thomison
  • Business mindset and manifesting coaching – Morgana McCabe Allan
  • Intuitive Life and Business Coach – Stephanie Snyder
• Book author
  • Helen Kara
• Medical Writer
  • Sophie Cook
• Museum Employee
  • Stephanie Schuttler – Wildlife Biologist
• Blogger
  • The Scientific Beauty – Sophie Cook
  • Fancy Scientist – Stephanie Schuttler
  • Waste Free PhD – Laura Markley
  • Dr.OfWhat – Brianna Le Busque
  • Scholar Culture – Christine Streeter
  • Me My Cells and I – Julia Ravey
  • Style by Toyin – Toyin Alli
  • The Salty Scientist – Melissa Pierce
  • Research Whisperer – Jonathan O’Donnell and Tseen Khoo
  • The Pink Backpacker (Travel) – Stephanie Huff
• Science communicator
  • The Lab Notebook – Mafalda A. Farelo
  • AstropartiGirl – Sophia Nasr
• Press & Social Media officer
  • PARSUK – Mafalda A. Farelo
• Artist
  • Alexej Savreux
• Manuscript editor at a research journal
  • Jean Mary Zarate
• Forensic scientist
  • Martina Ribar Hestericová

My goal is to showcase as many different career paths you can take with a PhD so please reach out to me with interviewee requests or nominations