Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a steady stream of emails and hallway conversations all circling around one question: How do I find, and keep, a fulfilling job in academia? Before jumping into the tips, let’s take a moment to reflect on the ‘why’.
Academic life is a roller‑coaster of grant deadlines and fixed‑term contracts. Yet it offers something rare: the freedom to chase questions that keep you awake at night, the chance to mentor bright minds, and, when the stars align, the power to change how entire fields think. That cocktail of autonomy, community, and impact is why so many of us stay.
If that mix excites you, here are seven practical tips I keep coming back to.
1. Ask for mentorship before you ask for a job. When you’re feeling lost, the reflex is to fire off your CV everywhere. Resist, at least at first. Email people whose work inspires you and ask for 20–30 minutes of advice. Most scholars are happy to help, and these chats often grow into collaborations or glowing references. Leave each conversation with: 1) One clear next step; 2) A resource or paper you hadn’t seen; 3) Permission to check in again in a few months. Remember, you’re building relationships, not transactions.
2. Choose the group, not (just) the topic. Students often scroll through project listings looking for the topic that sounds the most exciting. Flip that. Spend time figuring out who you want to learn from. A supportive PI and an intellectually generous lab culture will outlast any hot-new-thing research question, plus, topics evolve. A brilliant scholar told me, “the topic chooses you.” Checklist for a great group: 1) Regular face-time with your supervisor; 2) A collaborative lab culture that shares code, data, and past grant applications; 3) A healthy mix of junior, mid-career, and senior mentors; 4) Opportunities for early‑career researchers to lead small projects; 5) Clarity: every meeting ends with clear action points, assigned responsibilities, and a brief written summary.
3. Become your own enterprise. The best career advice I ever received was to treat my research like a start‑up. Imagine you’re the founder and your scientific mission is the product.
a) Secure funding like a business chases investment. Diversify revenue streams, grants, industry partnerships, and pitch a compelling narrative of scalable impact. Apply early and often; small pilot grants build the track record that unlocks larger awards.
b) Recruit collaborators as if you’re hiring a dream team. Advertise your lab culture, not just the project. Attract people whose skills surpass your own so the collective curve of expertise bends upward.
c) Build transparent reporting systems. Keep live dashboards of milestones, budget, and deliverables; share them with your team and funders. Visibility breeds trust and lets you pivot early when experiments stall.
4. Go blue‑sky when everyone else is comfortable. If no one in your department is exploring our wild idea, we’ve spotted an under‑served niche. My first climate‑health study began in a building full of climate physicists; being the outlier let me lead large interdisciplinary grant applications without competing with senior colleagues.
5. Launch a side project, even a non‑profit one. Start‑ups, policy dashboards, citizen‑science apps, side ventures now add value in academia because they spread your work further. One of my PhD students runs a community organisation alongside her thesis; she’s honed project management, diplomacy, and communication, skills any team will prize.
6. Learn to enjoy the uncertainty. A senior mentor once told me, “I’m jealous, you have no idea what amazing things will happen to you in the next five years.” She wasn’t being polite; she was dead serious. Your path will zig‑zag through new collaborators, cities, and even whole disciplines. Treat that ambiguity as part of the adventure, not a flaw in the system.
7. Plan your exit strategy, yes, really. Ironically, thriving in academia means knowing what you’ll do if you decide to leave. Which skills do you still want to gain? Who will carry your projects forward? Even Bill Gates planned the Gates Foundation long before stepping away from Microsoft. Don’t start a research agenda without imagining how you’ll wrap it up or hand it on.
Final thoughts. If you’re between roles, cultivate mentors. When choosing a project, choose people first. If your toolkit feels thin, start sharpening today. Above all, keep your curiosity louder than your anxiety. That, more than anything, is the real passport to finding, and loving, your next job in academia.
May 2025
