Conversations with recruiters usually tend to go more or less like this:
“Are you looking for data scientists?”
“Indeed we are! Do you have a degree in data science?”
“I have an equivalent degree and over 8 years of experience in data science.”
“So what kind of degree do you have?”
“I have a PhD in English linguistics, but methodically I worked with data during that time.”
[at this point the recruiter’s face usually assumes a puzzled look] “…That… doesn’t really sound like what we need… we’re not looking for humanities scholars.”
“While linguistics is indeed often grouped among the humanities, it’s also the natural science among humanities. Methodically, I worked as a data scientist during my PhD, collecting, processing, analyzing and visualizing data (language data) for over 6 years. I worked with advanced statistical models and have expert knowledge of R.”
[puzzled looks intensify]

Perhaps you can feel my pain. I’ve recently been on the lookout for a new job, and I’ve been coming to realize that my PhD, which is supposed to be this great achievement, and which probably truly is one of the hardest things I ever did in my life, seems to be worthless. It is more of a hindrance than a help in trying to find a job, because recruiters see me as both under- and overqualified. They don’t really recognize it as experience in data science (which it definitely is), but at the same time they shy away from hiring someone with a PhD because that seems overqualified and/or intimidating. At least that’s my impression, no recruiter ever actually gave me decent helpful feedback, despite asking.

This has been going on for a while, and I’ve become fairly disillusioned with the job market in the industry. It’s not only that they don’t seem to know what to do with a PhD, it’s also the whole… soullessness of it. Do you love managing and executing high-impact, cross-functional projects? Do you blossom when you ensure successful deliveries aligned with corporate goals? Does nothing make your heart beat like driving actionable outcomes in a high-pressure environment? In case your sarcasm detector is broken, here’s a PSA: that’s sarcasm. Nothing makes me feel more dead inside like reading those ridiculous buzzwords, full of utterly useless bullshit. It always makes me wonder if people actually believe what they’re saying? How can you be passionate about making the rich richer, and contributing to a ridiculously bloated economy where bullshitters like this earn tons of money, but real, hard work, is underpaid? Economics was always one of my most-hated subjects in school, so I’ll not dwell on that. But after about 2 years in the corporate world and some time of reading job listings, I realized that I don’t identify with all of this. I hate agile, I think KPIs are red herrings to keep your employees occupied, and I don’t see the purpose in half the things some of these job listings demand.

Coming from academia, I think the public service is probably much better suited for me than the industry, because at least there I get a sense of doing something for the greater good. I can see a clear purpose in creating graphs and reports on population or crime statistics, and I’d be very interested to do that. But doing data analysis of how many things a company producing stuff sells? Very meh.

Sometimes I wish I could work in a creative job and make the same amount of money I do now, but alas, that’s not our reality. I would enjoy being a seamstress or carpenter or something along those lines a lot. But I feel at present, it would not be the wisest career choice to start at zero, because that’s basically what I already did when I finished my PhD.

Needless to say, this whole situation has not been great for my mental health. Getting constant rejections and feeling like my biggest accomplishment is worthless just makes me feel worthless, and it’s hard to remember what I really accomplished. I had a discussion with a friend about this a while ago, who suggested to keep busy by taking a mini-job or volunteering. I looked into that, and I signed up to volunteer at the International English Library here in Düsseldorf, which is a pretty cool and unique library because it’s competently in English (unlike most other libraries), and it’s completely volunteer run.

I knew this library already since I moved here, because I used to spend a lot of time there studying Swedish about 17ish years ago. Then at some point I stopped going there because of a former relationship, and I also didn’t read as much while I was at university (I had to read too much for uni). Since then, the library moved to a new location, and coincidentally I was also looking for a new place to host a roleplaying-related event that I co-organize. So it seemed like the perfect place and the perfect opportunity to apply to volunteer there.

I’ve been volunteering there for a few months now, and I finally feel like my diverse and unconventional career path found a purpose. I’ve been doing a few desk shifts at the library, which is their standard procedure, but since then I’ve also been working on creating new print products such as brochures for them, wrapping books in protective cover, doing some data analysis, creating surveys, and altogether helping where I can. I really enjoy volunteering there, and I feel like I can contribute a lot of my skills. I wish I could do a lot more, but some things take time there, due to the nature of it being an entirely volunteer-run organization. Most of the regular volunteers there who do the majority of the work to keep the library running are retired British / Irish / Australian ladies, and I feel like that’s definitely what I would want to do if I retire as well.

It’s just a great feeling to contribute to this awesome space where people from allover the world can come together, find books to read, or just attend events that are hosted there. It also has the added benefit of being able to read books for free. After having some hiccups in trying to find books I like to read, it’s definitely a relieve that I don’t always have to buy what I want to read anymore. I also already donated a few of my books that I will not read again to the library, making their sci-fi and fantasy collection more diverse. I’m happy I finally found something that make me feel useful, even though it probably won’t help me advance my real career so much…