Choose Your Own Career in Linguistics

You try to get a good job outside of academia..

The big thing to decide is whether you want to go for government jobs that require a security clearance. Sure, the work they promise you sounds fascinating (though in an abstract way; everyone is short on details, of course)but they’ll have to dig into your life and your entire career may come down to whether you pass a lie-detector test, which every scientist worth their salt knows is really just a crap-shoot.

Go for the security clearance.

Just try to get a regular job.