This post is part of a (highly) irregular series of posts about things I learned as I transitioned from being a tenured Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice to being a Senior Research Associate at a research and evaluation non-profit. The information and advice I provide here is based on my own experience and may not be applicable to people in other contexts, other disciplines, or facing other push or pull factors in their careers. I offer my thoughts simply to try and ease the difficulty of making this type of career change, to be another data point for people collecting information and considering their next steps. You can find other posts in this series under the Leaving Academia tag.
One of the biggest challenges I faced early in my non-academic job search was that I didn’t know what I wanted to be. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do, but what do you call people who do those things? This was a bigger hurdle than it might seem, because top job search tools like LinkedIn wanted me to name specific positions that I was searching for and I simply didn’t know (and, to be honest, job titles can vary between organizations — one of the reasons I found LinkedIn search pretty frustrating and unhelpful).
The best source of information about job titles and responsibilities is informational interviewing. I’ll write a longer post about this some other time, but suffice it to say that these interviews are non-negotiable if you want to have a clear understanding of job titles, expected competencies, working environments, and reasonable salary expectations. They really can’t be replaced, so even if you’re shy, you need to buckle down and do ’em! I know, I wasn’t enthused either, I am a member of the “will do literally anything to avoid picking up a phone and speaking to someone” generation, but sometimes we have to do the hard things.
I was interested in jobs that are fairly close to academic work and focused on my research interests (criminal justice, public health, substance use and harm reduction, reproductive rights), so I looked for job postings from research and evaluation organizations like Urban Institute, RTI, Justice System Partners, RAND, Westat, WestEd, AIR, Vera, the Crime & Justice Institute, OMNI, NORC, and others. The major difference between the job I had before and the job I have now is that I spend most of my time on research and don’t teach or do academic service work. Organizations like mine typically have a hierarchy of job titles like Assistant, Associate, Senior Associate, and Principle Investigator.
Research Assistant: These jobs are similar to the type of work you might do as an undergraduate or Masters-level RA in academic contexts. They are typically entry-level positions and don’t require a PhD, but may require some research experience. Pay may be on the lower end (though likely still more than you’d make as an RA!) – a quick search on Indeed is showing me salaries in the $40k-50k range, or $25-$35/hr, though this will vary by organization, location, and other factors. In this role, you are typically expected to be able to find and synthesize research, write for a variety of audiences, assist in data collection and analysis, and work well in teams and with diverse collaborators. When applying for these jobs, you should emphasize these skills and be able to give specific examples of completed products (e.g., writing samples) and scenarios where you demonstrated these skills (“Tell us about a time that you worked with research partners from outside an academic setting”). If you have a PhD, you are overqualified for these positions and will likely not receive an interview invitation.
Research Associate: This is what you might look at if you are an experienced MA/MS or a fresh PhD. Job descriptions I have seen usually ask for 3-5 years of experience in your field, strong research and writing skills, sometimes a specific specialization (e.g. qualitative methods, certain types of statistical methods), and ability to work independently. Salaries for these positions seem to be in the $60-80k range, once again depending on location, experience, and type of organization. If you are ABD or recently earned your PhD, this is the type of job you should look for; if you are a few years out from your PhD and have some project leadership experience, you might be considered overqualified and better suited for Senior positions.
Senior Research Associate: This is my job title! When I started searching for positions, I was about nine years into my academic career. I had worked as a non-TT Lecturer, then an Assistant Professor, and recently been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. I did not feel very experienced in project management, as I had never been part of a big research group working on large grants, but I was able to speak to my experience designing and conducting my own projects and meeting grant deadlines. I also had experience supervising undergraduate and graduate students. These years of experience made me overqualified for “Research Associate” positions, but my inexperience managing large projects made me (in my opinion) underqualified for Principle Investigator roles where there is more pressure to bring in money. Senior Research Associate positions seemed to be a great match for my qualifications and how much I wanted to take on in my first years outside of academia. Pay ranges for positions I looked at ran from $90k-$120k and most positions required a PhD. In these roles, you will likely manage projects from beginning to end, which means applying for grants (in my organization, this is a team effort), meeting with partners/collaborators, supervising associates and assistants, keeping projects on schedule, and doing the typical writing and data analysis you would expect to do as faculty (but for broader audiences). Strong communication and interpersonal skills are key, as well as mastery of research design and data analysis. You will likely be asked about your experiences working in and managing a team, addressing performance issues, meeting deadlines, and addressing stakeholder concerns.
Principle Investigator: The PI role outside of academia is fairly similar to what you’d expect of a faculty PI. At this level, you are expected to have a PhD and extensive experience winning and managing research projects. In my experience, salaries for these positions start at $120k and increase from there. Qualifications for these positions would likely include a strong record of PI or co-PI grant awards and demonstrated ability to build the kind of relationships that facilitate project development (for example, you are able to speak to how you have built relationships with professionals in criminal justice agencies that then formed the foundation for paid research work). There is a significant supervision component to these positions, so you will also need to be able to articulate how you manage a team of more junior employees, delegate tasks, ensure high-quality work, and address performance issues. You might be able to point to successful mentorship of PhD students as evidence of these skills.
Director: Director positions tend to be a heavier administrative lift with less involvement in the daily tasks of research and writing. As a Director of Research you will likely oversee PIs and Senior Associates and receive updates from them about project progress. Meetings! Lots of meetings. You will juggle a lot of figurative balls as you set a trajectory for the organization’s research agenda, monitor a portfolio of projects and provide input across a broad range of subject areas and research methods. You need excellent organizational and interpersonal skills, experience designing research and writing grants, good rapport-building skills with research partners and supervisees, and other leadership qualities. Salary range depends on location and type of organization, but can be $150k or more.
I hope these job titles and descriptions are helpful and give you an idea of where you might start looking. Again, these are based entirely on my own experience, which includes looking at job ads and conducting informational interviews with organizations most suited to my own career goals – yours may be different, and there’s a huge amount of variation out there in job titles, responsibilities, and salaries! This is why I really can’t overstate the importance of talking to people whose careers you admire, especially those working at your target organizations.