Articles Written By Jackie Johnson, PhD

Independently piloting your career transition may initially seem like a noble endeavor, but you are missing out on a vital lifeline of support. Mentors and mentor networks will help you build your professional network and validate your job search and career trajectory. They will prepare you for every step of the transition process — from resumes to negotiation — and will help you cope when things fail, and celebrate when they succeed. You will execute your transition and start your new job filled with confidence and motivation with an ongoing network of support and shared interests. Here’s how.

Industry interviews are very different from the academic interviews you once prepared for. Technical skills matter very little at the interview stage. Hiring managers are looking for you to demonstrate your critical thinking, communication, interpersonal, organizational and management skills, to name a few. You need to effectively demonstrate these transferable skills while showing that you are both personable and dependable. Most importantly, you must avoid the easily overlooked aspects preventing you from performing well during an industry interview. You must get comfortable with your own voice, practice answering questions aloud in front of others, and more. Here are 3 common…

According to Quint Careers, only 5% of job seekers obtain jobs through online advertisements. Only 15-20% of all available jobs are ever publicly advertised in any medium. Do you now understand how much time you’re wasting by only uploading resumes to jobs you see online? Do you now see how much you’re embarrassing yourself by continuing to do this? Your time is too precious to waste on 5% odds. Why not direct your attention to the other 95%? Here are 3 ways to redesign your job search strategy for a smooth transition into industry.

Why didn’t someone tell me that a postdoc will do NOTHING for my career? Have you ever asked yourself the above question? A report from The Postdoctoral Experience Revisited highlighted the shocking truth about doing a postdoc—a postdoc is a “lousy decision” for PhDs. An academic postdoc will neither result in an academic job nor otherwise advance your career. This is why there is a pile up of postdocs around the world. A report by the National Institutes of Health found that there are between 37,000 and 68,000 postdocs in the U.S. alone. The truth is the academic system is…