Considering a Career Change to Industry….Very Nervous

[Like2Ski]

Here's my situation. I took a new job as a Dean at a community college. I was previously a tenured prof and dept chair at other universities. Long story short, I hate it. The job is hours away from my family (don't know what I was thinking) and it's toxic environment. I need out - immediately.

I applied for several administrative positions at colleges close to home. Things move slow. I heard back from a couple and the pay wasn't a manageable salary. I'm waiting to hear back from others, but things move slow, and I might not land interviews with them.

In the meantime, I applied to industry jobs related to my field. I was offered a good job making slightly more than I'm making now, and it's close to my home and family. I want to take the job, to improve my family situation (which is paramount for me), but I'm nervous about leaving academia.

Including the time earning my PhD (4 years), I've been in Academia for 17 years! It's the only real world that I've known professionally. I have worked hard and earned a rank and position that I had aspired to. My fear is that if this industry job doesn't pan out, then I'm not really going to be able to return to academia if I wanted to. I wouldn't return to teaching; I'd stick to administration. But, I've heard that once you leave academia, you can't return.

It's a big life change, so it has me very nervous. At the same time, I cannot remain in my current job being far from my family and in a toxic work environment.

Thoughts?

[Parasaurolophus]

It seems to me like you've worked hard to earn a rank and position that you don't aspire to, in the end. You did what you could, but found that your academic career was incompatible with a priority you hold more dear, and that the place you ended up in was incompatible with your desired work environment. It's normal to be nervous about big changes like this, but from everything you write, you're moving up to something better and more in line with your priorities. That's a good thing.

If it doesn't pan out, well, you'll just look for something else. And probably the solution, for you, is something else in industry, since that will give you some flexibility about proximity to family. But that's okay! You've already found that the academic thing wasn't panning out. (Besides, I'm not sure that it really is so hard to return to admin work from industry; our various managers, admicritters, HR directors, deans, provosts, etc. all had stints outside academia, for example. Depending on the kind of industry work, it may not even be all that hard a sell to return to academic work.)

[mamselle]

I worked at places in both Academia and related industries (bio, pharma, software) where everyone treated their offices as having a revolving door with the nearby schools, labs, plants, and institutes that were related to their work.

What I overheard suggested that hiring managers liked working with those with a fresh perspective from either camp.

A couple of continually research-active execs in R&D got 1-course-a-year type positions that gave them lab space, library support, and a base for publishing stuff unrelated to their (usually patented) office work.

It seemed as is it was more a both/and situation, more than an either/or one; one had various protective agreements hammered out by both sides' legal teams, of course--non-competitive delays, vetting pubs for conflict-of-interest, etc. among them--but once those were in place, they got on with it.

A couple post-docs may have even ridden their coattails into new positions along the way. Other folks I booked as lab consultants, usually every-other-month advisors who came for a 3-day stay to give a talk and do 1-on-1s with all the managers, had academic appointments in their own schools and consulted for a few industry-related labs as well. Some speakers also visited on the off-months, and some of those got jobs later on.

I don't know about a direct, complete, no-looking-back departure, none of the folks I worked for happened to have done that, exactly; one did use his university appointment to "float" out of his VP position, increased some of his academic work there, and then created his own startup with an altruistic component,  redistributing scarce, shelf-dated hospital supplies to impoverished companies, I think, at a loss to himself but as a study mechanism for some grant-funded ecenomics research that he published on.

That was a bit more complex than most of the arrangements I heard of, but outside-of-the-box thinking is unlimited if you figure out what your cue ball can do and which pockets you're aiming for.

M.

[Kron3007]

In my field, this move would definitely nott close the door to future academic jobs and can be seen as a plus.  Maybe this isn't true in your field, so you should know better than me, but in most industrially aligned fields, this perspective is helpful.

I can't see a short period in industry erasing your previous experience.  Perhaps a decade out it could be questioned, but I would probably try this out and see where things go. 

[ciao_yall]

Here's my situation. I took a new job as a Dean at a community college. I was previously a tenured prof and dept chair at other universities. Long story short, I hate it. The job is hours away from my family (don't know what I was thinking) and it's toxic environment. I need out - immediately.

I applied for several administrative positions at colleges close to home. Things move slow. I heard back from a couple and the pay wasn't a manageable salary. I'm waiting to hear back from others, but things move slow, and I might not land interviews with them.

In the meantime, I applied to industry jobs related to my field. I was offered a good job making slightly more than I'm making now, and it's close to my home and family. I want to take the job, to improve my family situation (which is paramount for me), but I'm nervous about leaving academia.

Including the time earning my PhD (4 years), I've been in Academia for 17 years! It's the only real world that I've known professionally. I have worked hard and earned a rank and position that I had aspired to. My fear is that if this industry job doesn't pan out, then I'm not really going to be able to return to academia if I wanted to. I wouldn't return to teaching; I'd stick to administration. But, I've heard that once you leave academia, you can't return.

It's a big life change, so it has me very nervous. At the same time, I cannot remain in my current job being far from my family and in a toxic work environment.

Thoughts?

If you like administrative work you will do very well in industry. And I suspect the reasons you don't like it at the CC will be the reasons you really enjoy industry.

[Volhiker78]

I agree with Kron. In my STEM field, your move would not exclude you from consideration in an administrative job back in academia.  I would view this as a growth opportunity. You will learn about an entirely different culture and can decide if that is something you want to continue or if you want to move back to academia. Good luck. 

[jimbogumbo]

+5. You should AFTDJ and not look back. Industry work will make you more employable in admin if you decide to return, and if the academic market becomes unfavorable you can always move in industry and negotiate things more to your liking. This is the best industry job market for getting what you want that I've ever witnessed.

[Ruralguy]

Leave the toxic environment. Of course you'll have to be aware of the differences in culture between industry and academia, but beyond that, try not to see it so much as parallel universes which can never come into contact or are completely walled off entities. They are just different. You won't explode going from one to the other. You may or may not like it, but as you've seen, academia ain't lovely sometimes either.

[Like2Ski]

Thanks to everyone for posting a response. I appreciate it. To add a little more context to the toxicity of the CC I'm at...I learned after I started the new job that there has been a high turnover rate in my position; something like 5 new hires in 6 years for the Dean role. This is definitely something I missed during the interview process and should have asked about. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say.

I've been thinking about a move to industry for about 4 years. I was just too scared to do it and too comfortable in academia. This Dean job was the last straw for me. It gave me the push I needed I suppose.

[Ruralguy]

im just curious, so no need to really answer. in what other ways is the place toxic?  Turnover is a bad sign, or at least a sign of something, but not necessarily particularly toxic.

[Like2Ski]

im just curious, so no need to really answer. in what other ways is the place toxic?  Turnover is a bad sign, or at least a sign of something, but not necessarily particularly toxic.

I want to keep it as anonymous as possible. But...I have never experienced this high level of micro managing from a supervisor before in my life (my supervisor, the campus president). It is beyond extreme. Basically you can't sneeze without him somehow being a part of it and telling you that you did it wrong. I was warned on my second day of work from a colleague who has been at the college for several years. I didn't think anything about her comment at the time, and it was only my 2nd day. I very quickly experienced all of what she warned me about that very same day. It's been like that since day 2 on the job. Hands down the worst work experience I have had at an institution. The place also has zero money; it's a sinking ship. There's more, but just trying to not be too specific.

[mamselle]

Then, definitely,  yeah, if you've got a secure lilypad to land on....jump.

M.

[Mobius]

Leaving academia is tough because most of us love the flexibility in our workday (YMMW depending on institution, but I have had plenty of flexibility). I also don't put in 60 hours (as you'll hear on social media). I'll work 30 hours a week since do course prep and other work during the summer when I'm off contract.

Regarding high turnover, do you know if most or all of the dean's were first-time deans? I can imagine it's a big adjustment for some academics who aren't used to 8-5 (or more) and have to do that in the summer, as well.