Articles Written By Isaiah Hankel, PhD

Segment every part of your job search. Each person you interact with--whether it be a reference, hiring manager, or recruiter--should be treated as a separate audience. Your goal is to engage with these people in whichever way benefits them the best. If you want to get a job over other candidates, you must start tailoring your approach, messages, and resumes to make things as easy as possible for them, now you. Here's how.

If you want a non-academic job, stop thinking like an academic. PhDs stay stuck in academia, not because they are incapable of transitioning quickly and successfully into industry, but because they refuse to trade in their outdated academic mindset for a new, industry-trained mindset. Here are the two biggest reasons some PhDs never trade in their academic mindset and, as a result, never transition into industry.

There is immense value in getting your PhD. A PhD is a high-level achievement and it should not just be handed out to anyone. That being said, you should not have to endure harassment or workplace bullying to get a PhD. You should not be forced to get some magical piece of data to graduate when your lab can’t even afford a working centrifuge. You should not live in fear and be pressured to stay in a system that does not have the means of compensate you fairly. You do not have to accept this. The academic career track is…

Every graduate student and technician knows that postdocs are the keepers of the lab. Postdocs know the most current technologies and methodologies, they know the literature, they know where everything is in the lab, and they know how to get reagents from other labs. Altogether, postdocs know how to get things and how to things done. These are the same skills that make postdocs great industry employees.

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…

Tenured positions are disappearing fast. This is a problem because tenure is the only thing graduate school is geared to prepare students for. Now that tenure positions are drying up, students and postdocs are left empty handed. If you’re a graduate student or postdoc, you are not alone. Everything that’s holding you back is also holding others back. The key is to know that your’e not the only one going through a hard time. Here are 10 things you should keep in mind as you continue down your academic career path.

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…

Have you gone to a scientific conference lately? Have you worked a booth? If so, you’ve probably noticed how many students, starving postdocs, and unemployed PhDs come up to you asking for a job. It's not their fault though. They just want to get paid a decent salary for a change. If you’re behind the booth, it’s annoying. You’re there to help your customers, not to get someone a job. If you’re in front of the booth trying to get a business card, it’s painful. Walking up and introducing yourself to strangers in the hopes of getting a job is…

Navigating the bridge from academia to industry is not easy, especially for PhDs. It’s hard to know where to start. You can save a lot of time, energy, and frustration by ignoring the advice of people who have no idea what they’re talking about. If you want a PhD-level job in industry, avoid taking industry advice from these 3 people.

Everyone is negotiating for something. Whether or not you understand how negotiating works, it is being used against you. This is especially true when you're applying for a job, interviewing, or trying to get a promotion. The problem is that most people, especially PhDs, don't know how to negotiate salary. There are, however, a few savvy PhDs who take the time to learn about negotiating and are happier (and richer) for it. Here are 10 tips to help you negotiate salary contracts higher.

The only way to get industry employers to notice you is to do things differently. Instead of trying to be the best needle in a haystack, try to get as far away from the haystack as possible. Stop trying to force your way through the crowd to get noticed. This strategy will never work. A better strategy is to completely differentiate you from your peers. Here are 7 things you can do to differentiate yourself from other PhDs and industry employers will hand pick you for open positions.

Even if you want to stay in academia, you should NOT limit yourself to staying in academia. You should identify your transferable skills, develop new skill sets, and position yourself for success at or away from the bench. Whether or not you want to transition into a research, applications, sales, marketing, management, or some other position in industry, the time to start preparing is now. Here are 3 things you can do to prepare.