Adam talks about his experience of finding work outside academia.

If you could give advice to people who are finishing up their PhDs and thinking ahead to their careers, do you have anything that you might be able to share that you think might help them?

I think if you're thinking of a career outside academia like I have, don't be afraid, get hold of the trade journals and newspapers because a lot of advertisements don't reach The Guardian or The Times or whatever. You have to dig a little bit deeper sometimes. I think try to see how you could adapt. You know someone with an English PhD isn't necessarily tied to teaching English in a university although that's what a lot of us do. If you want something else, really go for it. I think the doing of the PhD and what that says about time management, being able to focus on work, being able to work on your own, these are all extremely useful qualities to impress on a potential employer and they usually do impress an employer; that you've worked for something, you've gone for something and you've got it. It needn't necessarily be a barrier that you're in an irrelevant subject in inverted commas. A PhD is very, very good for giving you a grounding, a strong mental basis so don't be put off by trying something different. It may not work but even if you have an interview, any job interview is a good learning experience regardless of whether you get it or not because you always pick up something from it that you can take on to the next one.