Jennifer Polk

Co-Working Sessions - From PhD to Life Join me for weekly 90-minute co-working sessions Wednesdays at 10am ET on Zoom. These are free and all are welcome. Register once here and remember to add this recurring meeting to your calendar so you remember each week (that you want to join). Sessions begin on 14 Jan and the registration link above is for […]

Co-working isn’t about productivity theater. It’s about making space to do one thing you care about.

Co-Working Sessions - From PhD to Life Join me for weekly 90-minute co-working sessions Wednesdays at 10am ET on Zoom. These are free and all are welcome. Register once here and remember to add this recurring meeting to your calendar so you remember each week (that you want to join). Sessions begin on 14 Jan and the registration link above is for […]

Mid-semester reminder: you’re allowed to pause and focus, even when everything feels urgent. #AcademicSky

PhD Career Clarity Program from Dr. Jennifer Polk Join the PhD Career Clarity Program course and community for your post-academic job search. Ready to leave academia? Dr. Jen Polk's program is for professors, postdocs, and other PhDs like you.

The PhD Career Clarity Program helps you figure out what you want next, and how to move toward it.

It’s not just about job titles.

It is about feeling confident, valued, and clear on who you are and where you’re headed.

Good! I assume that the vast majority of the folks who'd go to the trouble are ones we'd be lucky to have up here.

Your calendar app should get it right (if you added the Zoom event to your calendar).

Millions of Americans can now claim Canadian citizenship by descent. But they have to prove it | CBC News Amid rising tensions in the United States and increased global volatility, many Americans are looking to Canada — and their roots — for a possible way out following recent changes to Canada’s citizens...

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Oh! Yes, thanks for asking! We change time here in my part of the world on Sunday so that means next week might be at a different time for you. (I can't do timezone math but it'll be 10am EDT instead of EST.)

Leaving academia? Last chance to register for IMPACT 2026 Dear [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], Quick reminder that IMPACT 2026 is tomorrow, and I’ll be leading a short session called Leave Toward Something. In that session, we’ll begin creating what I call a "leaving inventory." When people leave academia, the focus is usually on what isn’t working anymore. Burnout. Mismanagement. Toxic departments. Totally valid. And then they jump straight into job ads, resumes, and applications. Eek. That’s where things go awry. Because you skipped this step: taking...

Leaving academia? Last chance to register for IMPACT 2026

Dear [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], Quick reminder that IMPACT 2026 is tomorrow, and I’ll be leading a short session called Leave Toward Something. In that session, we’ll begin creating what I call a "leaving inventory." When people leave…

PhD Career Clarity Program from Dr. Jennifer Polk Join the PhD Career Clarity Program course and community for your post-academic job search. Ready to leave academia? Dr. Jen Polk's program is for professors, postdocs, and other PhDs like you.

The world is unpredictable. But your values? Those guideposts are steady. My clients regularly comment how the work we do together helps them centre their values in their job searches, and, yes, that is what I want!

Co-Working Sessions - From PhD to Life Join me for weekly 90-minute co-working sessions Wednesdays at 10am ET on Zoom. These are free and all are welcome. Register once here and remember to add this recurring meeting to your calendar so you remember each week (that you want to join). Sessions begin on 14 Jan and the registration link above is for […]

What happens in my free PhD co-working sessions: quick hello, focused work time, optional check-out. That’s it.

B.C. to end time changes, adopt year-round daylight time | CBC News March 8 will be the last time British Columbians have to change their clocks, B.C. Premier David Eby announced Monday.

Ending standard time supremacy! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

It’s not your resume (and reminder about IMPACT 2026 – this Thursday) Dear [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], I was recently a guest on Paulina's Cossette's YouTube channel/podcast. (She teaches academics how to turn themselves into editors and she's awesome.) We talked about how lot of job searching PhDs assume their problem is their resume. Hot take: Your resume might need work, but working on it might be premature. Because if you’re not clear on what you actually want, what you consistently do well, and what kinds of problems you want to solve next, then every document...

It’s not your resume (and reminder about IMPACT 2026 – this Thursday)

Dear [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], I was recently a guest on Paulina's Cossette's YouTube channel/podcast. (She teaches academics how to turn themselves into editors and she's awesome.) We talked about how lot of job searching PhDs…

Co-Working Sessions - From PhD to Life Join me for weekly 90-minute co-working sessions Wednesdays at 10am ET on Zoom. These are free and all are welcome. Register once here and remember to add this recurring meeting to your calendar so you remember each week (that you want to join). Sessions begin on 14 Jan and the registration link above is for […]

If your motivation is low and your to-do list is overwhelming: come borrow some calm from a room full of other PhDs. #PhDSky

PhD Career Clarity Program from Dr. Jennifer Polk Join the PhD Career Clarity Program course and community for your post-academic job search. Ready to leave academia? Dr. Jen Polk's program is for professors, postdocs, and other PhDs like you.

You don’t need a five-year plan to make a career change.

In my monthly workshops for PhDs, you get space to think, write, reflect, and then act based on what matters most to you.

Yay!!! I love it so much!

I was in an online workshop earlier and one of the participants was wearing the Fleece!!! #HeatedRivalry She bought the fleece shell and sewed on the patches herself.

“What did you actually do as a professor?” Dear Reader, In a small-group coaching session, we talked about something that makes a lot of academics uncomfortable, namely, selling ourselves. Someone joked that maybe we need to borrow a bit of "gym-bro energy" from corporate spaces. We laughed. But the discomfort underneath it was real. Academia does teach you to advocate for your work, of course. Just mostly for insiders. You learn how to make a case for your research, and why you should be supported in doing it. You learn how to argue...

“What did you actually do as a professor?”

Dear Reader, In a small-group coaching session, we talked about something that makes a lot of academics uncomfortable, namely, selling ourselves. Someone joked that maybe we need to borrow a bit of "gym-bro energy" from corporate spaces. We laughed. But…

Leaving well (yes, that’s a thing) Dear Reader, tl;dr: Check out IMPACT 2026 (5 Mar, $49). More below. One of my clients is a long-time tenured professor sorting out her next steps. Recently, she’s been documenting her experiences. She’s reflecting on what she’s done, and in particular on what it's all meant for the people, processes, and products—to put it in more non-academic terms—around her. Recognizing patterns in her career where she felt energized. Where she made a difference. Now, this isn’t a rearranging of her...

Leaving well (yes, that’s a thing)

Dear Reader, tl;dr: Check out IMPACT 2026 (5 Mar, $49). More below. One of my clients is a long-time tenured professor sorting out her next steps. Recently, she’s been documenting her experiences. She’s reflecting on what she’s done, and in particular on what…

Co-Working Sessions - From PhD to Life Join me for weekly 90-minute co-working sessions Wednesdays at 10am ET on Zoom. These are free and all are welcome. Register once here and remember to add this recurring meeting to your calendar so you remember each week (that you want to join). Sessions begin on 14 Jan and the registration link above is for […]

You don’t need a perfect plan to show up to co-working. You just need a willingness to sit with what’s in front of you.

We've got folks from the UK who attend regularly too!

Co-Working Sessions - From PhD to Life Join me for weekly 90-minute co-working sessions Wednesdays at 10am ET on Zoom. These are free and all are welcome. Register once here and remember to add this recurring meeting to your calendar so you remember each week (that you want to join). Sessions begin on 14 Jan and the registration link above is for […]

If you’re a PhD in the US or Canada who keeps meaning to “get to that thing”… co-working with others can help more than you think.

Want live, guided help with your job search, designed for professors and other PhDs like you?

I run monthly workshops that blend structure, support, and strategy. They're part of the PhD Career Clarity Program.

Plus small group coaching 3x/month!

Come join us if you're ready to move forward.

We still don't know why curling stones move the way they do The icy ballet of stone upon ice makes curling one of the most intriguing sports of the Winter Olympics. But scientists still haven't quite figured out the physics of how they move.

this is... wild??

despite people attempting to model the physics of curling there's still no consensus as to how it actually works???
www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

I would have preferred a different outcome (and so definitely would they have!) but I can't be all that broken up about a team of multimillionaires losing to another team of multimillionaires. Well played game, eh? Maximum excitement.

Ughhhhh (again)

You know what I'm doing! 🇨🇦🏒🏅

a canadian flag with a maple leaf on it is waving in the wind Alt: a canadian flag with a maple leaf on it is waving in the wind

I don’t like sports and even I’m watching!

GO CANADA GO!

That will be a lot of fun!

Omg lollll Canada down by 2 to the Finns in men's hockey, early in the 2nd

I think a lot of people also just don't know the options out there. Many of them went straight through school and had mentors who did the same and have been in TT jobs their entire careers. I know it was hard for me to even find people to talk to about alt careers (also, the stigma 🙄).