The cost of quitting a PhD

Its been two months since i had quit my PhD. Hasnt been going all that well so far. To those of you who are thinking of quitting, think again. I was asked why i had quit in so many interviews. Eventhough i gave an answer like, "i realise a PhD is not a thing for me", i was met with a myriad of replies, from "why would you quit at at such an opportunity? to "do you give up easily?".. Some even had the cheek to say " arent you wasting your time? If it was me, i would have soldiered on"

I was a four time dean lister during my undergrad days. If i hadnt decided to pursue a PhD,i wouldn't have faced so many job rejections. So yeah just ranting here. Dropping out of a phd program seems like a criminal record for me now. I cant even get a decent job. In fact the only job i was ever offered was for an admin position which required an N level cert.

How are you framing it in your applications? Could you make it look more like a period as a research assistant rather than an aborted PhD? My sense would be that the less you bring the word PhD up, the less others will. Perhaps go for a skills-based cv rather than an academic achievements based one?

I Did just that. But here in singapore, they can always tell if i did a postgraduate or not and it has got somethimg to do with employer contributions to a retirement sum. Employers in singapore can check this up. So yes i did put it as a job experience in my CV but they asks me was i doing a postgrad during thr interview itself.

Probably no hope for me unless i come across an employer who doesnt give a hoot about this matter.

How many rejections have you had?
How many mentioned your PhD in the terms you describe above?

I imagine that as you get work (at whatever level) and do it so that you have a more recent job history, this issue will come up far less.

You are correct TQ. Most companies dont need PhD qualified employees and just want to know what happened during those years.
Most of us will have one or two gaps in our CV's over the years.
This is why I asked iwan about how frequently he/she is experiencing this because I cant understand why this is an issue for any employer.

It might be an issue if your first "job" after university you quit after a year. They might be worrying that you will quit on them, and they might not want to take the risk. Plus if the interviewer sees a PhD as just another degree without realising the sheer scale, it could be a pain, as HR departments are not known for their intellect.

Iwan, I would rebrand the PhD as a "research assistant". Make up an excuse for the sudden departure, like family issues to explain or that it the research funding got cut unexpectedly. If you make leaving the PhD as more unfortunate circumstances and less "it wasn't for me", the better.

Your first point is a reasonable one but if the gap was an issue he would not be getting interviews.
Once you reach the interview stage you are on a level playing field with the other candidates.
The problem is more likely to do with how he is handling the questions about that gap.
Doing things like calling the job Research Assistant sounds clever but it's not tackling the core problem (because he is getting lots of interviews) and it probably won't work anyway because a quick phone call to his uni will reveal the lie and anyway they will know he is lying when he fails to provide a reference from that job. Dont underestimate HR department staff. They are not all clueless in my experience.

I will have a think about how he can better answer questions about the gap.
Iwan's initial answer is exactly correct but I want to know how he handles the second question about whether he gives up easily. In my opinion that is maybe where the battle is lost.

I think we need a response from Iwan addressing our points before we can get to the root of it.

Hi Iwan, if you tell us the reason why did you quit the Phd, it might be helpful to formulate it in a nicer way

I am sorry to hear that it has been difficult for you. Some people who do interviews haven't a clue what the other person is thinking. You need to build up your confidence again. Find a way to explain why you quit. Don't give up looking for a job.

I forgot to add - I have 2 friends who quit their phds. The first quit after less than a year. Funding ran out for the second, he could not finish, he had a family to support. Both now have jobs.

I also have two friends (UK based) who quit their PhDs and found jobs very quickly - no issues. They were both in their first year though. So this might be what is causing a problem here. You were much later into your PhD if I recall rightly. So you have a slightly larger gap to explain. And then also having to explain why quit when you were so near to the end (near to the end on paper at least - reality can be a different story, I know). But, I am confident that there are ways to frame these things positively and pragmatically - as people have suggested here.

However, I think there may be a potential issue with culture differences, which I am not really equipped to offer advice on. Actually, I think the real issue probably revolves around this. It seems having quit your PhD is posing more of a problem there than it would here in the UK. If this IS the case, then it is very difficult to offer culture specific advice. I know, for example, that a friend of mine in Germany became very stressed and almost had a breakdown when she switched jobs twice in a short space of time. Her family thought she was throwing her excellent work history down the drain. She thought she would struggle to find another job. Etc. Apparently the culture there is such that people often keep a job for all of their working lives and so switching jobs is a very big deal. I share this to highlight the fact that culture differences might be playing a huge role here and you might need to ask advice from someone who knows how things work in your culture.

Sometimes people can turn this situation to their advantage (btw it happens to lots of people & many go on to do far better than they would’ve in academia).

I think it can help to create a simple 1 or 2 sentence, authentic story that is easily understood by a potential employer.

In this you can emphasise you have desirable qualities employers often associate with PhD work (independence originality intelligence self-starter work ethic and so on) and at the same time say the reason to move into industry was because of also having other desirable qualities an employer is looking for but wouldn’t associate with someone doing a PhD (team working results oriented real world or business intelligence etc).

These other desirable qualities can tick the boxes for an employer and can also be seen by them as reasons why someone didn’t think academia was their best fit.

Avoid framing (or letting other people frame) this decision as you dropped out or didn’t finish or you decided it wasn’t for you or you quit. Instead make it a more positive statement - eg you could see yourself being successful in academia but wanted to take control and move things in a better long term direction for you. So if someone asks why did you not finish your PhD be positive about that learning experience and quickly turn your answer into what unique blend of qualities you offer them and why you are especially interested in them.

I’m not advocating you misrepresent things, be authentic (don’t end up in a job that doesn’t suit you). However, you might find it straightforward to say that although you found the PhD intellectually challenging you wanted to see more immediate real-world impact and that you are excited by the world of business and enjoy collaborating, competing and learning real time in a team or service based environment (or similar).

I quited my PhD one month ago. No regret at all, best decision. That being said it was because I know PhD will not help my future career. I do have a master degree. If you know what you want in a career and quit your program, i don't think employer will look down on you at all, in fact, you look smart for not spending 4 + years in school and post-doc. A Master degree is good enough for most job application,s unless you want to be a researcher or PI etc.. Since you had quited, then there must be rigid reasons at the back of your head as why this PhD doesn't work. By the way, job rejections are expected for everyone, not just you.

I agree with the previous posts, but the fact that the feedback from interviews is specific and directly related to the PhD suggests that it IS being perceived as an issue. This is why I am asking about possible cultural differences. On the other hand, there are no issues with actually securing interviews, and yet it seems to come up as an issue AT interview. So maybe it is indeed simply a matter of how you're managing to frame it when asked about it in person.