Know-How Exchange : Career/Training

What might you research in marketing? How will this research help others? Why not apply what you know in other ways?

MarketingProfs has a seminar in the archives that provides a good overview of market research -- created for small businesses, but based on solid experience with larger companies. More information here: https://www.marketingprofs.com/marketing/online-seminars/115

There is also a downloadable report available that covers much of the same information and describes dozens of market research methodologies businesses use. More information here: https://bit.ly/mA9NC9

Why spend the next two years finishing your PhD if you don't want to be an academic? In that same amount of time you could get an MBA and be better prepared for what you really want to do.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

What might I research? Well I am especially interested in tourism and hospitality. I've worked in several hotels in the past and I travel often, so this is an area that I am naturally inclined to. However, essentially any job doing marketing research would be a good segway into this area

Why not go for an MBA now? I guess because I am not sure if one is necessary and I find it would be a waste to abandon it this late in the game. Plus, it seems like other PhDs have ended up in marketing from everything from sociology (like me) to English to biochemistry. I've also got a good two year gig that will allow me time to finish the writing and also pursue my own reading and professional activities. This should be a time for me to send of publications and attempt to get on the tenure track but since I have no interest in this, I am thinking of seeking out potential places to intern, brush up on my own reading and knowledge in business and marketing, and perhaps take some online courses. I figure with all these things working in my favor I should be able to gain enough practical experience and knowledge to make this transition more feasible. I am open to an MBA if it proves to be absolutely essential but I am not sure if it is considering others have made this transition and have been very happy with their decision to do so.

That being said, I am a bit overwhelmed as to how to budget this time. I am thinking trying to get some practical experience through an internship of sorts may be useful, as well as taking some online classes just to be able to have some formal training in the field.

This is now becoming a bit absurd. You want to spend the next two years in serious pursuit of something that would prepare you for something you don't want, while seeking a part-time self-study program that would be at the core of what you do want.

This is really nonsensical. The investment you've made to date toward a PhD is a sunk cost. You cannot undo it. But the rest of your life starts today, and you can redirect your resources and attention toward preparing for that future.

An MBA may not be essential for success in your new career, but it will be a lot more valuable to your new life than two more years pretending that a PhD in a field that no longer fascinates you is somehow going to result in fulfillment and happiness for you.

I obviously don't know you personally, but the picture you're painting of your situation suggests you need some serious career counseling. Pursuing the PhD just because you started it (and no longer find it necessary to meet your career goals) is crazy.

P.S. If you pursue an MBA you are more likely to meet fellow students who could become valuable business contacts for years to come. Not nearly so likely if you pursue the PhD. And you can pursue the market research track as an integral part of your MBA studies, not as an afterthought or secondary interest.

I believe you misunderstand my situation. But I'll make an effort to explain. Why finish the PhD and not pursue an MBA? Because I presently have a position in which I am poised to earn $120,000 over the next two years, while working four days a week, and being allowed to finish writing my dissertation to obtain the PhD title. If I am to abandon this position and jump into an MBA program, I am going to wind up losing this present position and opportunity as well as put myself into more student debt. Economically, your suggestion to do an MBA doesn't seem like the wisest life decision. Additionally, I am not taking any classes, I am ABD and just need to finish the thesis.

And again from my own research, it appears an MBA is NOT essential to transitioning into what I want to do. To drop everything now and pursue an MBA in my opinion is very nonsensical. If it turns out that I need one, I can always go back AFTER I complete the PhD and after I have some more knowledge. But to jump right into things at this stage seems like a poor decision.

I guess I'm questioning your commitment to a career in market research. If that were a deep commitment, then spending the next two years teaching and finishing your PhD thesis in sociology would be totally off-strategy.

As for the MBA, you could skip it, but you might find that it helps you differentiate yourself from the thousands of math and statistics geeks who are trying to land those same market research positions.

FWIW, your story isn't that different from my own. I pursued, and then opted to abandon, the idea of a PhD and an academic career, and went into business with just my MBA (and an engineering undergrad degree). It's possible I wouldn't have been considered for my initial job (P&G brand manager) if I'd actually completed my PhD because I would have been seen as being "too academic." (And I don't think finishing my dissertation would have made me any more qualified for the work that became my career.)

Consider this:

======================================

"I have 2 more years before I will get my PhD in molecular biology, but I have decided that I really want to be a circus clown, not an academic. Are there any online programs I can take that will get me started on the clown track while I'm working on my PhD? Will my PhD be useful in my new career? (Molecular biology isn't very funny.)

"I would like to continue on the PhD track because I have spent so much time on it already, and I have a totally irrelevant job that pays good money, but it won't help me get a job as a clown. And clown college is an option, but it would cost money, and I was hoping I could just learn to be funny on my own while I'm treading water in the totally irrelevant molecular biology world.

=====================================

Seems ridiculous, right? Change a few words, and it's precisely what you are saying/asking.

Based on the Ph. Ds I've worked with (and there have been many) research at this level is all about learning more and more about less and less, much of which winds up offering few benefits to the guy or gal in the street. If you apply what you know about marketing to generate independent income, you slice through the whole Gordian knot.

mgoodman,

I see where you are coming from and you make a good point as to why waste time doing something that you don't intend to follow a career in. I guess the way I am looking at it is that the benefits of having a PhD outweigh the costs of dropping it now and going into marketing immediately, both literally and figuratively. I think having obtain the PhD will make me a lot more marketable for a wider range of jobs than will having an MA in "Area studies." Having obtained the PhD will demonstrate my ability to perform research at a serious level and set me apart from other candidates. Also, in terms of personal finances, I think staying in this position would really help to get me out of my student debt. My MA was unfunded and if I can work in this current position for the two years, I will be able to start getting rid of a decent chunk of that. I also believe that this will allow me more time to becoming familiar with marketing and market research, as I continue reading on my own and doing some online learning modules.

Gary Bloomer,

What do you mean by that? Can you elaborate a bit further?

You wrote: "I think having obtain the PhD will make me a lot more marketable for a wider range of jobs ..."

I'm not so sure that's relevant or even true. First, you don't want a "wider range of jobs." You want to become a market research professional. Those other jobs are not the goal. Second, having a PhD will make you seem over-qualified for many jobs. A PhD is good for academic positions, not for business (or market research) positions.

All that said, it sounds like you have made up your mind. Best of luck. I hope your PhD delivers some value beyond the satisfaction of knowing you could earn it.

Well a PhD signifies that you are capable of doing research at a higher level. PhDs also typically earn more than do MAs. On all of the alternative academic career circles, people who were striving for an academic career but then shifted elsewhere for a number of reasons, most people are approaching the market with a PhD, so I really don't know what the job market would be like for an MA. But I would have to assume that a PhD would fair better in a typical research job market than someone with an MA in Latin American Studies.

Hi Everyone,

I am closing this question since there hasn't been much recent activity.

Thanks for participating!

Shelley
MarketingProfs