Industry Careers

I’ve lost a job. I was offered a contract, and they pulled it back. Everybody is ignoring me on LinkedIn now.  I was communicating with somebody about an upcoming interview, and now they’re not replying to my emails. My postdoc is not going to be renewed.  This is the kind of message I’ve been getting from countless PhDs all over the world. The recession has made things challenging for everyone. A lot of PhDs thought academia was going to take care of them, but they’ve found out the hard way that it isn’t true. For weeks now, I’ve been warning…

The current crisis reminds me of something that happened to me years ago, before I had leadership skills. I had an interview with a big company, and it was scheduled to take place on an upper floor of a tall building. I took the elevator, which turned out to be the wrong choice. Normally, I’d have chosen the stairs, but I was feeling nervous and didn’t want to make my heart rate increase – it was already beating fast. The elevator got about halfway up to my floor and abruptly stopped. The doors didn’t open. There were several other people…

You should have seen my academic CV. I would have set off anyone’s anxiety. It was a total disaster. By academia’s standards, it was fine. But I had a real monster of a CV, over 5 pages long and full of academic jargon. And there was no cover letter either. Can you guess what industry employers did after taking a glimpse at my CV? They probably threw it away – that’s assuming it even reached employers. More likely, it was filtered out of candidacy by application tracking software. You might think that, given the current situation, you should be focusing…

Isaiah Hankel has your career guide to navigating the world of PhD jobs during the coronavirus crisis and using this temporary downtime to your advantage. The financial markets have crashed worldwide.  I can tell you from experience what’s going to happen next. I was a PhD student in 2008 during the financial crisis, and history tells us the hiring market is next to crash. After 2008, I felt like there were no jobs, and I had no industry network to connect with. My PI couldn’t help me – he didn’t know anybody either.  He was in the academic bubble with…

As a PhD, you already have the strong communication skills you need to succeed as a medical writer. You just need to focus them on other audiences besides academics, like doctors, patients, regulatory bodies, and the general public.

The main reason you should be looking for an industry job instead of staying in academia is simple: There are too many academic research scientists. Nature reported that in recent years, the number of academic research scientists jumped by 150% in the U.S. alone. Meanwhile, the number of tenured and other full-time faculty positions has plateaued and, in many places, even declined. Around 10% of all postdocs had been going on for more than 6 years. Imagine doing a postdoc for 6 or more years. A lot of PhDs don’t have to imagine that scenario – they are living it.…

Medical Science Liaison (MSL) roles are growing fast. These roles are actually one of the top 10 industry careers for PhDs right now. How do you like the thought of jet-setting across the country in your tailored suit, discussing science with high-level thought leaders, and earning a great salary? Does that sound like a nice change from working in a lab for peanuts? It did to me, that’s for sure. In 2019, the median salary of MSLs was more than $122,000. But the MSL position isn't right for everyone. MSLs undertake cutting-edge, scientific discussions on drug therapy and disease states.…

“Clinical research associate” ranks #84 on CNN Money’s list of the 100 “Best Jobs in America,” and with a median pay of $76k, you can begin to see why. In fact, according to a U.K. government report, industry workers in the life sciences earn more than the average income of those employed in any other economic sector. Despite this, you shouldn’t chalk up the amazing benefits of this career to mere income... From life-saving medical apparatuses to carefully refined treatments for lifelong debilitations, clinical research associates have a powerful connection to innovations in medicine. You'd have a tough time naming…

Some PhDs haven’t heard about--or even considered--the medical writing career path. But in spite of our different backgrounds, a lot of PhDs can become qualified to dive into medical writer roles. As the job title indicates, written communication skills are very important for this position. Medical writing is essentially an umbrella term that covers everything from writing about medicine to editing, translating, and project management. And industry needs professionals to fill this role - the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that by 2026, specialized writing roles of this kind are expected to grow 11% from 2016.

As in the case of Silvan Mueller, Business Development Manager of Bel Power Solutions & Protection, a background in STEM opens up a big door for PhDs. Even if they don’t realize it. After all, a huge concern of many PhDs is that they lack the business experience to enter into a business development role. But the business school of your university probably offers a series of courses aimed at business novices, so those can be a great resource. It’s possible your department would offer a tuition waiver for these, though you shouldn’t count on that. Some management departments even…

Even at the entry level, a career as a medical science liaison is very lucrative. It’s true that PhDs can expect excellent industry salaries, but medical science liaisons are special cases. Data from Payscale indicates that medical science liaisons with entry-level experience can expect an average base salary of $116K. This is a high-demand position, and it’s reflected in the pay. Additionally, the Bureau of Labor speculated that medical science positions in general are experiencing a faster-than-average growth rate of 8%. Other countries might have different titles for this position, like “medical associate” or something similar, but worldwide, it's a…

If you think that project managers aren’t crucial employees to have, think again - the Project Management Institute reports that 85% of firms have a project management office. If salary is any indication of importance, Glassdoor confirms an average pay of approximately $75,000 annually among project managers. Companies don’t just hand out money like that - project managers are valuable assets. There are a lot of different certification programs for project manager positions, but would you like to know a little secret? You don’t need one. It can certainly help, but if you’re a PhD, you don’t have to pay…