We Fight For PhDs And PhD Careers

I applied to every industry position with the exact same resume before becoming a Cheeky Scientist program member. I first transitioned into industry as a Medical Science Liaison, and now I’m a Strategy & Communications Director at Novartis. I would encourage any PhD who wants to work in industry to join Cheeky Scientist.

Before joining the Cheeky Scientist Association, I felt like I wasn’t ready or prepared to start my job search. Once I joined the Association, I was able to grasp the material and techniques from the modules and began to feel confident in my job search. I even went for the more challenging position and got it!

Exciting news to share! Just started a new position as Customer Technical & Installation Support (Time-resolved Microscopy) at PicoQuant. Looking forward to working with the Service Support team and contributing to the company’s mission.

I was looking for my next career move and I was kind of stuck, because I didn’t really have a networking and job search strategy. Whatever applications I did, I got auto-reject emails and didn’t hear anything meaningful back. I was a bit lost. So I joined the Association and obviously expected it to help me, but I didn’t realize how helpful it would be in getting a network and support system. It really exceeded my expectations.

Before joining the Cheeky Scientist Association, I struggled with imposter syndrome and rejection. I knew I wanted to transition into industry but needed to make time for it. After joining the Association, I changed my academic CV to the Association’s resume template and immediately saw results; this motivated me to go further.

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Automation Engineer at Optimal Industrial Automation!

People in CSA are open-minded. They are very supportive. You can write whatever question you want, and they will give you 10 replies. This group really helps you to solve very complicated questions. They face it and share their knowledge of it.

Before joining Cheeky Scientist I didn’t know how I was going to do this. Where do I even begin? So I saw Cheeky Scientist on Facebook and on LinkedIn and I thought, maybe I should give it a shot. It was a leap of faith but I did it anyway, and I’m so grateful I did.

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Account Manager at JumpFly, Inc.! I can’t wait to get started!

When I first heard about the Cheeky Scientist Association, I was finishing up my PhD and thinking of doing a postdoc and trying to understand what to do after that. I didn’t want to do more than one postdoc, I wanted a clear plan for my career, so that’s when I joined the CSA. The most important information was about the CV, how different the academic CV is from the industry resume. The private group was also very useful–whenever we’d ask questions we’d get very helpful replies from the group. The Association exceeded my expectations for sure.

My biggest challenge was my mindset. My mindset was basically that I was garbage outside of academia, frankly. I didn’t think I could do anything else, I didn’t think I had transferable skills. I had an extremely limiting set of beliefs before I joined. It’s not about your little tiny thing that you research, it’s about all those transferable skills that any Ph.D. acquires as they go through their program.

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Sales and Business Development Manager at PeptiGrowth Inc.!

I went to medical school in Mexico, but this wasn’t what I wanted to practice in. After joining Cheeky, I started highlighting my soft skills and got my resume noticed. My biggest advice would be to network like crazy.

Having Cheeky Scientist as a resource was definitely helpful, just being so supportive and how responsive everyone was, it was great seeing that consistency. I think Cheeky Scientist definitely took the time to address every question that pops us. I like that Cheeky Scientist is not just saying things but actually doing it, Cheeky Scientist is doing what they’re preaching.

I’m happy to share that I’ve joined Intel Corporation as a Software Research Engineer/Scientist through their Returnship program. I am grateful for the opportunity to return to work after a career break.

Cheeky Scientist and Isaiah really helped me to see that I did have value, and I did have value for companies outside of doing just bench research. Because I’d really come to the conclusion that that was not something I wanted to do, but I struggled that I didn’t have the skills to do anything else. In academia I had no work/life balance, and in joining Cheeky Scientist I gained that work/life balance back.

I joined Cheeky Scientist because I was struggling to find fulfillment in academia. I knew she needed to improve my networking skills to transition into industry, but had no idea where to start. CSA, showed me the way. I’m now a medical science liaison.

I’m happy to share that I started working as a Preclincal Scientist at iota Biosciences, Inc. powered by Astellas!

I was confident in my networking and my ability to speak with people outside of academia, but I had a lot of work to do to get my academic skill sets and my research translated into a very non-academic, non-research role. The other part was LinkedIn. I hadn’t put a lot of thought into how important it was, and it turned out to be probably the most important tool.

I’m a PhD in Archaeology, and thanks to Cheeky Scientist, I’m also a Social Media Analyst with Bakamo Social! CS showed me you can land the industry career of your choice, regardless of your PhD background.

When I joined the Cheeky Diamond program, I really thought that my only transferable skills from graduate school were caring for mice and counting cells. However, just one year into the training, I not only secured a job offer in the non-profit sector before graduation but also discovered my true career aspirations. The program enabled me to establish connections and open doors I had never even considered before.

The biggest struggles I had were just finding resources and people to talk to. I thought the private group was one of the best things about joining the Association. It’s a place where people are lifting each other up and helping each other and that was great.

CSA helped me realize all the transferable skills I had, like writing, mentoring, leadership, and administration. Until it was presented to me in the Association, I didn’t realize what skillsets I had that maybe other people didn’t have. That was huge.

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Bioinformatics Scientist at The Institute of Cancer Research!

Before I became a Cheeky Scientist member, I had applied to over 200 positions online. No successes. Cheeky Scientist showed me I had what it took to get a position as a Senior Research Scientist. Become a member if you’re ready to get hired in a top industry role.

I recommend Cheeky Scientist to all PhDs because Cheeky Scientist’s programs helped me develop my job search strategy and learn the transferable skills I needed to get hired. Now, I’m in a top position as a Scientific Support Specialist, working with a great industry team.

I signed the contract with my company of choice, they went up from 93k to 105k, which is pretty good for an NGO in the forestry field, all the comparable companies offered lower salaries. I had a recommendation from a PhD supervisor come in to the company right when I was negotiating and a parallel offer from a different company as well that helped in the negotiation. Super excited.

I thought I couldn’t land a great industry position with only academic experience… Until I became a Cheeky Scientist program member. Now I’m in the position I’ve always wanted to be as a Scientific Consultant and I have Cheeky Scientist to thank.

I was feeling stuck in my job search, unsure of where to start or how to market myself to industry employers. Now, I hold a top position as an associate director of alliance management and business development for Scholar Rock. Don’t hesitate to become a Cheeky member – it’s worth it.

I have recently joined Advanced Energy and so far I have been enjoying the work culture and environment. It is worth mentioning the beauty of Colorado and all outdoor activities. Therefore, if you see a job posting fitting your skillsets, please don’t hesitate to contact me for a referral.

I wasn’t sure the Association would benefit me, being in South Africa, but I was wrong. The private group is amazing. If you post a question or you support somebody you start building up relationships, and everybody in that group is fantastic.

A year before completing my PhD, I got a head start on my industry transition process and joined Cheeky Scientist.  I’m a senior consultant in healthcare analytics at Monmouth Partners, Ltd. I had the education and talent, but CS made it all possible by showing me how to apply it to industry.

I was offered the position with a life sciences investment firm this week and I happily accepted the offer.

The biggest part was letting go of my publications and presentations. CSA taught me I could turn them into numbers for industry to understand, and that was powerful.

The Association and its members were vital in helping me to maintain focus, and they offer a wealth of insight and information. As is often said, ‘Knowledge is power.

I accepted the job offer and will start next week. Thank you for your support. I am looking forward to a promising future ahead.