We Fight For PhDs And PhD Careers

The biggest hurdle I faced before joining the Cheeky Scientist Association was not knowing what industry was asking for. I was unsure of how to market myself, for I spent most of my career in a postdoc position. After I joined the Association, my job search mindset started to change. I was able to gain the confidence and support I needed to be successful and transition into industry.

I joined Cheeky Scientist a few months before I actually left my position, and a lot of things that did come out from Cheeky did help me bear the impact of leaving a very good job, and help tie me over to what I’m doing now. You just have to learn to trust yourself that this isn’t the right place to be, so get out as soon as you can.

Thrilled to announce my new role as an Associate – Data Science at Adaptfy! Grateful for the opportunity to join a dynamic team. Excited to contribute my skills in data analysis and statistical modeling for impactful results. A heartfelt thank you to mentors, friends, and family for their support during this transition from academia. Your guidance and encouragement has been pivotal in reaching this milestone. Looking forward to collaborating with brilliant minds at Adaptfy, addressing challenging problems, and making a positive impact on the world.

I joined Cheeky because I wanted to gain methodology. The tools I received helped me learn how to be a productive Project Manager. I feel confident in my ability to move forward and flourish in my career.

The Cheeky Scientist Association modules were awesome. Especially Modules 1 through 3, where it’s slow and the onus is on us to do the homework. They teach you that no one’s going to do it for you, no one owes you anything. They help you figure out what you want to do. And the group was amazing. Just a great group that helps each other out.

I’m excited to join LRP Media Group as a Contract Writer/Reporter! It’s a great company with a long and “storied” history, and I look forward to much success with the team!

My advisor was less than supportive of an industry career track. She refused to give me any letters of recommendation and told me to focus on my research and that the jobs would come. Cheeky gave me the tools and support to move forward. I was able to see that there was hope.

Coming right out of academia, I really didn’t have very much business training at all, so I really felt like the academic playing a businessperson on TV, if you will. So I worked for a small startup company and they’re not going to be able to provide training, so SMBA was just a really wonderful way for me to get that business training, to turn me into a real business professional. The first four or five modules are great at giving you this grounding in basic business concepts. Once you’ve completed those modules, now you can “talk the talk” of business. You can talk to a businessperson, you can talk to an executive with confidence, using the proper vocabulary that is really going to speak to them and impress upon them your business acumen.

I am beyond excited to share that I’m starting my new role as Senior Agronomist, Regenerative Agriculture at Nesté Purina North America! Can’t wait to #UnleashMyPotential while continuing to be a trailblazer in agriculture and support Nestlé Purina Petcare’s net-zero commitments. My fur babies were already #PurinaPets and it feels good to be a part of a team that puts pets first!

I had been looking for jobs for a while, and it was really frustrating because I was sharing my resume and cover letter and I got a few phone screens, but nothing happened. But then a friend told me about the Cheeky Scientist Association, and things really started changing after I joined.

With the things I learned in CSA, things started opening up to me in my job search. I started feeling more positive. The CSA network was incredible – what makes it different is how involved the other PhDs are.

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Associate Director, Clinical Development, Oncology at Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.!

The primary difficulty I faced was not being able to get my resume through to HR. I would post my resume on a careers website or on the company’s website itself, and I would never hear back. The Cheeky Scientist materials were incredibly helpful, especially in making my resume and LinkedIn profile.

Before joining Cheeky, I remember how I’d get to round 2 or 3 of the interviews and wouldn’t pass. Then I would give up for a few weeks. Certain jobs in industry can be competitive and hard to get into. If it wasn’t for Cheeky, I wouldn’t have landed the job that I did.

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Director of Research and Innovation at the Alzheimer Societies of Quebec.

I was lacking strategy and a more targeted approach. Cheeky taught me how to structure my resume to beat the system. I started looking at my resume with a hiring manager mindset and began to see results.

I just went for it. I said, if I’m not going to invest in myself, no one else is going to. I’m going to take a chance and see what this is all about. Maybe I’ll learn a little bit, maybe I’ll learn a lot, who knows. And within a couple of days I knew I made the right decision.

Great news Cheeky!! The company counter offered with a higher salary of $95k/yr and a one time $5k signing bonus. This offer is acceptable to me and I am going to sign! Thank you to the whole cheeky team for giving me the tools, training, confidence, support, and encouragement to successfully transition out of academia.

After joining the Cheeky Scientist Association, I realized what the different possibilities were that were available for a PhD in the industry sector. I was never aware of all the possibilities that are out there. That was my turning point, joining CSA and learning about all the different job avenues. I also loved the private group. The most important part was all the available material in the group. You look for any question, or any issue, and you’ll definitely get an answer–either from the current members, or it has previously been answered. You’re always close to your answer when you’re in Cheeky.

Before joining the Cheeky Scientist Association, I only knew how to apply for jobs in academia since I’d been in the field for over 15 years. Once I joined the association, I realized how wrong I was in my job search process. I learned how to write a resume and the importance of LinkedIn. The private groups gave me a sense of comfort, knowing that I wasn’t alone in the process.

I’m happy to share that I’ve started a new position as Vice President – Education at the Space Foundation!

After doing postdocs for many years I realized that I am more inclined toward industry positions, but I really didn’t know how to find a job. After joining the Association I was surprised to find a lot of people like me. I gained a lot of confidence and felt like I was not the only postdoc having these problems.

[Joining the Cheeky Scientist Association] helped me a lot to meet people. It was really good to meet people, to speak about our challenges. We had a meetup in Munich recently, five of us who had all already transitioned, so it was really interesting. I think it helps to get other points of views, to get the perspectives of others.

I indeed got hired, with the immense help from Cheeky Scientist Association… I am so proud of being a part of this community. And I would simply not have been able to live a respectful life (from my perspective at least) had I not been introduced to Cheeky. I have been hired as an R&D Scientist by Quaker Houghton in India. And so the first transition has been over. Thanks for everything. Thanks to each one of you.

The Association really helped me in figuring out who I am. The material just really clicked for me and made sense. Being able to just talk to somebody was great. The Cheeky Scientist Association is really interactive, the people really do care about you.

With a 6-year career gap in my resume due to starting a family, I didn’t know how to begin my job search. But then I joined Cheeky Scientist, and I successfully landed a top position as a central monitoring associate at a clinical research company in Australia.

I”m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as a Product Packaging Engineer at Intel!

Before joining the Cheeky Scientist Association, I felt like no one understood me, and I didn’t have a mentor to guide me towards what I wanted for myself and my career. Once I joined the Association, I flourished in the collaborative community. I enjoy receiving advice from PhDs that have gone through similar experiences. I also love being a mentor to others.

Before joining the Cheeky Scientist Association, I struggled with how to utilize the skills I learned in academia within the world of industry. After joining the Cheeky Scientist Association, I received a lot of support from the exclusive membership Facebook Groups and Industry Professionals. I found my current job after communicating with someone within my network. This proves how powerful and important networking is.

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Medical Writer at Trilogy Writing & Consulting! It’s been a goal of mine for over a year to enter the medical writing field, and I couldn’t be happier to have found such a welcoming environment and community.

I guess my main challenge was, where do I start? I didn’t start actively job searching before joining the Association. Essentially I knew that I didn’t really know what to do efficiently and effectively, and luckily I came across the Association before I was ready to start actively searching. Probably the biggest “aha” moment I had was going through all the material and realizing that there’s actually a system, or a series of steps, that make sense in terms of how to run an effective job search.

As a postdoc and a person who has a family I can’t just be careless with the money I spend, so I had to put a lot of thought into [joining the Association]. I was on the edge, but I thought “go for it”. All I can say now is, it was worth it. The Cheeky Scientist Association private group is, I would say, invaluable. The modules are amazing, they’re always growing.

I’m thrilled to share my new position as a Clinical Scientist! I have secured 2 job offers within 5 weeks of joining the Cheeky Scientist Association and I look foward to a 54% base salary increase in my new industry position! Thank you so much for your recommendations on how to best format my resume, update my LinkedIn, build my network, target and track company postings, and negotiate my compensation. Hands-down, the single most impactful step in my journey was using the functional resume to get me in the door… it really works!!

My PhD background is in the life sciences, with a specialization in biotechnology. It used to be that I never heard back from employers. Cheeky Scientist showed me how to work smarter–not harder–and pave my own way to an industry job as a research associate.

I had a pretty good idea during the last two years of grad school that I wanted to go into industry. I had started searching for jobs during that time and I knew that getting a job as an industry scientist wouldn’t be that easy. I went to the university career counseling program, and a lot of the advice that I got was very fragmented. But when I came to the Association I saw that there is a coherent plan, it’s very intuitive, it’s structured, and most of all putting this plan to work actually helps Associates succeed.

I’m excited to share that I accepted a Medical Affairs Specialist position at Crown Laboratories and will be working with their Dallas-based Crown Aesthetics communications team! I am very happy with the pay/benefits and am excited to start. Thanks for all the advice and resources – I don’t think I would have gotten this opportunity if I hadn’t updated my resume and LinkedIn profile based on your recommendations, so thank you!!