Consultant for Meta Puts Her PhD Learnings to Work

Name: Chayanika Saxena (she/her)

PhD: Geography, National University of Singapore, 2022

What was your main area of research?

The intention of my doctoral research has been to further promote conversations on South Asia, particularly around countries such as Afghanistan and events such as India’s Partition which merit greater geopolitical attention within the discipline of Geography.

What is your current job?

I am an Embedded Consultant for Global Security Intelligence and Investigations at Meta via Pinkerton, and I am based in Australia.

I support Meta’s Global Security Investigations and Intelligence operations by conducting assessments on risks from threat actors, ideologies and events to uplift business security and identify opportunities for industry benchmarking and partnerships in the APAC region. I spearhead internal communications and external stakeholder engagement with industry peers and vendors, including with Google, The Economist Unit, S&P Global, and Emergent Risk International, for Meta’s largest markets in South and Central Asia, and Australia and New Zealand.

The best part is that it applies what I had learned during my academic stint in a more fast-paced and more visible way.

How did you find this position? What were the career steps you took to get to where you are now?

Finding this job and bagging it was a combination of good luck, good timing and a lot of in-person socialization.

PhD graduate ➡️ Embedded Consultant

Why did you decide to not pursue a career in academia?

I decided to look for opportunities outside of academia because of:

dearth of jobs in the field(s) related to my work
inadequate funding opportunities
COVID which made doing research look a little less ethical

In hindsight, my decision to leave academia was driven by a lot of push-factors, so it was certainly not an easy one. I had to do what I did to keep myself relevant in the job market and afloat.

What advice do you have for someone getting their PhD and looking to pursue a career outside of academia?

Focus on the wealth of transferable skills your academic journey has offered you.
You are not cheating the researcher in you, or your work has not gone to waste simply because you are not in academia anymore.
Socialize with as many people as possible.

"Something will work out eventually."