By Kimine Mayuzumi
Fatimah Williams, Ph.D. is the CEO & Founder of Beyond the Tenure Track, a professional development and career-planning firm that prepares graduate students, faculty, and PhDs for leadership roles and high-quality careers. Her professional development guidance has been featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, Scientific American, and University Affairs. She has been an invited speaker at leading conferences such as the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools and the AAU’s Association of Graduation Schools. Fatimah is author of two books: Professional Pathways Planner and Be Bold: Launch Your Job Search or Career Change with Confidence, and host of GradSchooled, a podcast about making career and life choices based on who you are, not just what you study.
I met Fatimah virtually in 2016, when I was seeking help with my Being-Lazy-and-Slowing-Down work. Soon after, she became my professional coach for 1.5 years. As a PhD holder, I was always admiring Fatimah’s creative and devoted work for academics and beyond. While I learned a lot about the professional side of her during the time, I wanted to know the personal and internal account of her career process from getting a PhD to where she is. Below is the interview.
Q. What motivated you to get a Ph.D.?
Fatimah: I loved to study, read, and travel. Anthropology would allow me to do that.
A PhD, and by extension, the professoriate felt like economic security for a smart, first generation college graduate who grew up in a low-income household. I could be my nerdy self and get paid to do it.
Q. When and how did you realize that you were no longer interested in taking an academic path?
Fatimah: I had just come back from a campus interview at a midwestern R1 institution. I sat on the edge of my hotel bed with my head in my hands. These were great people. It was a wonderful university. The administrators were supportive of my research goals. Still, I felt like I didn’t fit. The ways of being and interacting in academia did not match who I am at my core. I love speaking, leading groups, starting new initiatives, and managing big projects. I thrive in entrepreneurial, high energy environments. I did not have all the language for that at the time. While I knew that this position and the postdoc offer I had received were excellent opportunities with genuine people, it wasn’t for me. I did not have the capacity to wait for tenure to be able to fully express myself and my ideas.
Q. How did you navigate this yourself while still in academia?
Fatimah: When I got the inkling that the professoriate was no longer my goal, I did not share with my advisors. I did not want to manage their questions, expectations or concerns at a sensitive time of considering a different path. My decision-making crossroads was whether to take the wonderful postdoctoral fellowship I’d been offered or go after some other position that I couldn’t even name at the time (because I didn’t know what career I would pursue). At that point, I intuitively knew that as career faculty my well-meaning advisors were not the best equipped to help me determine my nonacademic career options.
Q. Then what did you do to go for nonacademic career options?
Fatimah: I worked with a career coach at my undergraduate alma mater and asked friends for help with my resume and ideas about my career. They did the best they could, but I longed for a one-stop shop for career transition that is uniquely tailored to the PhD experience. It didn’t exist so I eventually created it in the form of the Options for Success Program (O4S), a career transition program for academics seeking professional opportunities beyond the academy. That was the catalyst for my personal journey and for the hundreds who’ve taken the program since it began.
Q. How was the process of figuring out your nonacademic career options?
Fatimah: It became clear that I had to say no to the postdoc because I knew it was no longer my path. But what do you do when you don’t know what your path is?! It’s easy for us to say what’s not working and, for me, it’s easy – though sometimes uncomfortable – for me to choose me. But making it through the dark days, weeks and, in some cases, months after saying no is a different challenge altogether.
Q. For many people, having uncertainty in their career is a huge challenge. How did you deal with your uncertainty while carving your career path?
Fatimah: Many things helped me. My faith is a cornerstone of my life and decision making. So I believe that my life is guided. I can make mistakes or missteps but ultimately my path will go the way it’s supposed to. That gives me a sense of peace that I won’t fail and even if I do it will lead me to my next level.
I am learning to normalize uncertainty. If we’re honest, this question is an ongoing one that presents itself at various stages of one’s professional life. In academia, uncertainty punctuates moments like nearing graduation, life after post graduation, entering our first professional position, when we get bored at that level or confront misaligned expectations with the reality of that role. The question of uncertainty continues even after various stages of promotion.
If we expect it, we prepare for it. So while I know what I’m doing now — creating the leading professional development platform to help academics secure top professional and leadership opportunities, I’m keenly aware that I may decide to choose differently or external circumstances may require me to shift paths in the future.
I believe that I am equipped with everything I need to fulfill my purpose, even when I don’t know how to do so. Using what you have, asking for help and taking consistent steps are how we move from uncertainty to clarity.
Q. What was the process like for you to make the decisions that you made?
Fatimah: I regularly confront pivotal decisions. Early in my career it was choosing not to take the postdoc and instead choosing to pursue an unknown destination in a career beyond the professoriate, which later turned into a nonprofit leadership role. Then it was choosing to start a business when I already had a great job in the public health sector that was opening doors to high level positions in philanthropy. I often feel like my life is a series of saying no to amazing opportunities. But I suppose that’s how it works for talented people. We will always have many options so the courage to say no is part of the territory. It helps us get clear on where our yes lies.
Q. For those who don’t know who they are and what they want yet, do you recommend any resources?
Fatimah: Self-reflection is important. Yet, it cannot solely exist as a solitary process. At some point in our reflection we need to involve others and try new things. I am very concerned that academics who face career crossroads often engage in analysis to the point of stagnation and depression.
I recommend listening to podcasts on any subject that remotely interests you. Tapping into your interests and gaining exposure is critical to getting to know yourself better. Therapy and career coaching are also invaluable gems.
I am an avid reader of personal development books. A few books that have helped me: The Gifts of Imperfection (Brené Brown), Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (Peter Scazzero), Believe Bigger (Marshawn Evans Daniels), Be Bold: Launch Your Job Search or Career Change with Confidence (Fatimah Williams Castro). My library is full!
Finally, do something! Decide to try something new like go to an event or take fun class that piques your interest. It may feel uncomfortable. It likely will not be free. It may require you to meet new people or ask for help from people you barely know. But you have to ask yourself, what is the cost of staying stuck?
Featured Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay