We Turn PhDs Into Confident and Successful Industry Professionals

March 8, 2021 at 1:00 PM ET

When choosing the next step in your career, be sure to consider not only the title and salary you want to have, but the lifestyle you want to live. PhDs should gain a thorough understanding of their non-academic career options. Otherwise, they will be forced by circumstances to take positions that are not in alignment with their long-term career goals. To help you avoid this fate, we’ve collated a list of the 10 hottest non-academic jobs today. Understanding which industry positions are on the rise will help you see what’s available to you outside of a traditional postdoc or professorship. This will help you get off and stay off the dead end career track you're currently on. Here are 10 of the hottest industry jobs for science PhDs.

As a PhD who has spent many years in academia, it is possible to lose sight of your value. But, when you are transitioning from academia to industry, you must reconnect with your value in order to get the pay you deserve. The only way your future employer is going to see your value is if you communicate it to them. Once you know what your skills are worth, negotiate to get the salary to match. Sending the right type of email will help you secure a higher starting salary. Negotiation emails should be polite but direct. Here are 5 email templates, addressing various stages in the negotiation process, to help you reach your salary negotiation goal.

Getting hired into a successful industry team means recognizing the importance of the systems that operate within the industry company you will be working for. You must develop your business acumen so that you have a strong understanding of teamwork and a keen awareness of how each industry department works together to bring products to market. Being able to highlight your business acumen during networking events, informational interviews, and site visits is crucial to getting hired. Here are 5 more key industry departments PhD job candidates must understand.

Whether or not you understand how negotiating works, it is being used against you. This is especially true when you’re applying for an industry job, interviewing, or vying for a promotion. The problem is that most people, especially PhDs, don’t know how to negotiate salary. These people don’t understand how negotiation works or why it’s important so they refuse to do it. The problem is that refusing to negotiate can severely limit your career success. Being willing to negotiate, on the other hand, can push your career forward. This is, in part, because your starting salary and career trajectory are tightly linked. Here are 12 tips to help you negotiate a higher salary contract.

I thought about quitting graduate school in the beginning of my 6th year. I was almost certain that there was no way that I could graduate that year, or ever for that matter. I started several dead-end projects, and most of my data was inconsistent and did not support any of my hypotheses. I felt stuck and trapped in my own life. The irony was that I actually created this life for myself because I thought that getting a PhD degree was the road to a better life and a career that I would be passionate about. I finally summoned…

Having a PhD is a significant advantage. PhDs get paid higher than non-PhDs and are in high demand. Trained professionals who know how to create information, not just repackage it, are desperately needed. Entrepreneurship and innovation are at an all time high. These trends will continue as the economy continues to favor innovation. If you have a PhD or are on your way to having one and you’re reading this, the future is yours. The only thing that can hold you back is yourself—by choosing to be one dimensional and choosing to ignore the less objective soft skills that will complement your PhD and make you a magnet for industry success. A PhD offers you great advantages over other job candidates and over the population in general.

Most PhDs are taught that more is always better. Triplicates are better than duplicates. An N of 200 is better than an N of 2. A CV with 10 first author publications is better than a CV with one first author publication. On and on. But, when it comes to creating a strong industry résumé for a PhD job, less is more. Adding the wrong things or too many things to your résumé will keep you from getting the industry job you want. A better strategy is to simplify your industry résumé down to only the things that industry hiring managers and recruiters actually want to see. Here are 7 things smart PhDs like you should remove from your industry résumé.

In the middle of your industry interview, you may be asked to disclose your current salary. Not only is it an uncomfortable question, it’s an inappropriate one — and if you answer, you may reduce your value and your salary offer before you even get a chance to negotiate for what you deserve. The bottom line is, you don’t have to, and shouldn’t, disclose your current salary. Doing so will only work against you. Managing the question should revolve around focusing on the value you can provide the company. This will increase your odds of a fair salary negotiation for your industry job. Here are three strategies to use to avoid discussing your current salary during your industry interview.

International PhDs do not have an easy ride to full-time employment if they want to stay in the U.S. You are competing with a growing number of foreign students for the same capped visas or hoping for a visa lottery win. To work in the U.S., you need to know your facts and be prepared so that when you leverage the value you bring to the company, the immigration piece seems less significant. In addition to networking and strategizing, give yourself ample time to learn about the visa options available to you and start the process before you graduate. Here are 5 visa options you need to know about.

Working as an industry research scientist is much different (and better) than working as an academic research scientist. As an industry research scientist, you will get to do meaningful benchwork and be paid well. Yes, you can have both. Not only can you be paid well and do meaningful work, you can also work with a supportive team in a supportive environment. There are many advantages to working as an industry research scientist over an academic research scientist. The money is nice, but there are many other benefits. Here are the 3 biggest advantages of working as an industry research scientist versus an academic research scientist:

If you think a postdoc is necessary for getting an industry job, think again. As a PhD, most industry jobs require “less training” than you have and no postdoc experience. Even if the job posting says postdoc experience required, it is often is not required. Many new PhD graduates and master’s degree graduates are hired into these “postdoc required” roles. A postdoc is not required for an industry job. It won’t help you get an industry job or higher-tier job in industry. So, quit lying to yourself. Stop obsessing over titles and publications. Instead, start marketing yourself for your new non-academic career. Here’s how…

No one said your PhD would be easy. But no one said it could pose such a significant risk to your emotional and mental health, either. With growing rates of depression globally, PhDs are not immune to the impacts of academic stress. If academic stress has started a downward spiral into depression, you need to be able to recognize the symptoms early and ask for help. The right treatment plan can build the resilience you need for your successful PhD completion and industry transition.