Beginning a New Journey with Andrew Graczyk- CR87

Professionals in academia have certainly not been immune to the current Great Resignation movement. An assistant professor of economics turned data science practice leader gives a candid glimpse into the world of academia and reveals his motivations behind pivoting from a university into the private sector.

On Career Relaunch® podcast episode 87, we’ll discuss the unique challenges of academic careers, the importance of being open to new sectors, and why confidence is one of the most important assets to have during career transitions. During the Mental Fuel® segment, I also share my thoughts on why so employees are choosing to change career paths right now.

Key Career Takeaways

1. Studying one subject then going into a complete field professionally is not uncommon and can actually provide you with a more unique perspective in that field.
2. When the people you’re surrounded by in your current industry have spent the majority of their careers in that same industry, the natural tendency is for them to promote career paths similar to their own because it’s the world they know.
3. You may inevitably have to jump through some hoops to ascend the professional ladder you’re climbing, but at some point, the payoff may no longer be worth the effort.
4. When you’re on an exhausting, depleting career path, you sometimes don’t realize just how much of a toll it’s been taking on you until you completely step away.
5. You know more than you may be giving yourself credit for. Especially during career pivots, you must find a way to garner the confidence to unabashedly convey your unique value to others. The first person you have to convince is yourself though.

Related Resources

• Read the full findings from that Prezi poll I mentioned about hybrid work survey findings that found evidence of employer proximity bias.
• Picking up on my Mental Fuel® segment where I discussed the importance of understanding how you prefer to work, check out this Slack article, Inflexible return-to-office policies are hammering employee experience scores
• Great Resignation articles- related to academia
  • Calling it quits– Inside Higher Ed, July 2022
  • Has the ‘great resignation’ hit academia– Nature, May 2022
  • ‘Do it all’ culture ‘driving great resignation’ in academia– Times Higher Education, July 2022
• Great Resignation articles- general
  • Read why workers are quitting (BBC, Aug 2022) and where they’re going (Inc, Aug 2022)
  • Why are people leaving the corporate world in droves– HS Burney, July 2022
  • Experts explain how to ace that ‘Great Reshuffle’ career move– CNBC, July 2022

Listener Challenge

During this episode’s Mental Fuel segment, I talked about the importance of deciding what sort of organizational ways of working are acceptable to you with the latest advent of remote and hybrid working.

My challenge you is to just consider if you’re facing a bit of a turning point with your own employer where you’re getting mandated to do things for the sake of returning to the way things were that just don’t sit so well with you anymore.

You don’t need to pick up and leave right away. But you may want to put some stakes in the ground for yourself about what ways of work are acceptable to you in the months and years ahead.

About Andrew Graczyk

Andrew Graczyk is a trained data scientist with a PhD in Economics. He’s worked in academic and instructional positions for University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, and the Duke University Talent Identification Program. Now he’s Practice Director for Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning at KForce, where he uses his mathematical, statistical, and game theoretic knowledge to architect and implement data driven improvements to business practices.

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Interview Segment Music Credits

• Podington Bear – Encounter
• A Himitsu – Fragile
• Elm Lake – Purify
• Podington Bear – Bright White
• Podington Bear – Gathering
• Real Heroes – It’s Getting Better