The Anything But Academia Workbook

An ideal companion for PhD students and graduates ready to embrace their options outside the Academy.

Options for Success is a transformative, step-by-step guide designed for early to mid-career academics exploring career paths beyond faculty roles and into careers in industry. This book speaks directly to PhDs asking ＂What’s next?＂ as they consider their career options beyond the faculty. Blending narrative, practical workbook exercises and real-life examples, Options for Success empowers readers to reimagine their career expectations, navigate the complexities of career transition, and align their professional paths with their personal values and goals.

At the heart of this guide is the Options for Success framework, a seven-step process that takes readers through the phases of career change-from Detox, making mental and emotional space for new opportunities, to Onboarding, integrating into new roles with insight into workplace dynamics. With tools like the Ecosystems and Economies framework and Professional Profile Pillars, readers can inventory their skills, evaluate their core strengths, and identify careers that align with their values. The Translational Power of Action Verbs exercise encourages academics to shift from a ＂knowing lens＂ to a ＂doing lens,＂ while the Power Story Method helps them translate their achievements into impactful stories that resonate with potential employers.

The book also addresses the ＂messy middle＂ of job searching, equipping readers with strategies to maintain momentum and resilience through self-care practices and targeted skills building. Unlike traditional career guides, Options for Success is rich with templates, scripts, and sample materials, from hybrid CV-résumés to informational interview guides and bios, offering readers the practical support they need to articulate their unique value effectively.

Career transition stories from PhDs across disciplines illustrate the real-world application of these principles across a range of fields and roles, showing diverse pathways into impactful, fulfilling careers. Written in a coach’s voice-approachable, empathetic, and filled with generative questions-Options for Success feels like having a personalized career coach, guiding readers to explore, evaluate, and act with confidence. Options for Success is an essential companion for any PhD ready to transition beyond the faculty and into new professional possibilities.

Dr. Fatimah Williams, Ph.D., founder of Professional Pathways, is a leadership coach and cultural anthropologist equipping high-achieving people and organizations to build, lead, and live well. Her professional development guidance has been featured in Essence Magazine, LMCTV-New York, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Black Doctor, and Scientific American. She is the author of two books, The Professional Pathways Planner and Be Bold: Launch Your Job Search or Career Change with Confidence.

Dr. Williams holds a doctorate in Cultural Anthropology from Rutgers University and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Virginia. She is the recipient of the University of Virginia Cultural Fluency Class Award, and has lived and worked in South America, Central America, and southern Africa. She has been a board member of the University of Virginia Alumni Association and advisory council member of the Zimmerli Art Museum.