PhD Econ in academia trying to escape to industry
Hi all,
I’m in a bit of a stuck situation and would really appreciate some honest feedback from people who’ve made the move from academia to industry.
I’ve been working as a lecturer in economics at a UK university for a bit over 4 years. Lately the job has become really difficult to sustain. Teaching load has gone up a lot (I’m currently covering 6 different modules), admin has exploded due to restructuring/redundancies, and there’s basically very little time left for research anymore.
On top of that, student expectations and general workload have made things feel pretty overwhelming day-to-day.
For the past ~5 months I’ve been actively trying to move into industry, but I’m not getting shortlisted anywhere, which is starting to get quite frustrating.
I have a PhD in Economics and I’m confident in my quantitative skills (data work, empirical research, econometrics, etc.). I’ve been trying to position myself for roles like:
- data analyst
- research analyst
- economic analyst
- economist (industry/government/finance roles)
I’ve also been carefully reworking my CV away from an academic profile and towards something more industry-focused (highlighting applied skills, tools, and outcomes rather than publications/teaching), but still no luck at the screening stage.
I’m starting to wonder if I’m missing something fundamental in how I’m presenting myself or targeting roles.
Would really appreciate any feedback from people who’ve:
- made the academia → industry transition
- hired PhDs / seen CVs like mine
- or just have insight into what might be going wrong at the shortlisting stage
Happy to take honest criticism, just trying to figure out what I’m not seeing.
Thanks in advance.