Leaving AcademiaDitch the blanket, take the skills
Is academia still delivering for you? This short, practical book helps postdocs stop, look around, and make a positive, proactive career choice. Stay or go.
- One of Nature's nine career guides
- Business Book Awards 2025 finalist
- Amazon bestseller
- Free reader toolkit
Where are you now?
Peak, Plateau or Plummet?
Ideally you move on from a postdoc having reached the pinnacle of what that role can give you. But people can wait too long. And trust me, the Postdoc Plummet is not the name of a fun theme park ride.
Peak Postdoc
The point where the role has given you all it is going to give. Experiences, skills and network have all been building to this. Like balancing an egg, you're at a tipping point.
Postdoc Plateau
Keeping things ticking over. Publications may still happen, but you're not adding anything new to your CV. A deceptively shallow slope.
Postdoc Plummet
You've stayed too long. You're no longer adding new skills, those around you are moving on, and the gap since your last "big" thing keeps growing.
Read this book and choose to stay. Brilliant. Read it and choose to leave. Brilliant.
What's inside
Three sections, one quick read
Designed to be brief and pack a gentle punch, because I know how busy a postdoc's life is.
So, how is postdoc life treating you?
Peak, Plateau or Plummet, the itchy, scratchy academic comfort blanket, the sunk cost fallacy, and the anti-Terminator clause (I can't come back).
Unravel the blanket and build a net
Your threads of gold (values), steel (strengths) and purple (courage), curating your network, difficult conversations, and how to stop looking like a postdoc.
So, you've got your new role. What's next?
The day one question, setting a tripwire, "You're not a cat. Be curious.", and building your career a peak at a time.
From a reader who left
"Should be required reading when you start your academic career. I wish I had read it sooner."
"As someone who took 10 years wondering whether to leave academia (and then ultimately doing so) much of this book deeply resonated with me."
Dr Michele VeldsmanDirector of Neuroscience, Cambridge Cognition
Got the book?
Your Leaving Academia Toolkit
I didn't have room for every exercise in the book, so here they are: 12 worksheets for before, during and after your move. You go from peak to peak, so circle back to them every time you move.
Tick-tock: time-related boosts
Your timeline
How did you get here? Map your route so far.
5-minute micro tasks
Small career boosts for the gaps in your day.
15-minute mini tasks
A coffee break's worth of career progress.
45-minute medio tasks
For when you can block out a proper chunk of time.
Before you move
Your golden thread: values
Setting a firm foundation.
Your steel thread: strengths
Building you up.
Your purple thread: courage
Helping you leap.
Moving roles
Starting your job search
Where and how to look.
CVs for PhDs
Stop looking like a postdoc on paper.
Job score card
Weigh up a role against what matters to you.
Once in your new role
Your tripwire
Set a point to check in, so you don't drift.
Your shopping list
Looking to the future: identify your list.
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What readers say
In their own words
From postdocs, people who've made the move, and the people who support them.
"At points it felt as though the author was reading my mind and thought process! Which makes you realise what a common experience we are all having. A great starting place to get into the right mindset to begin the process of exploring different career options."
"How I wish this book was available when I was going through the motions of leaving academia! Emma's writing flows and the book is clear, encouraging and practical."
"It's a supportive companion, hand-in-hand with you as you navigate the emotions and practicalities of a transition from postdoc to a fulfilling career beyond academia."
Fancy a chat with the author?
Work out your next move, together
Your Next Move is one hour of career coaching, just between us. You leave knowing your next move and why it's yours.
