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Negotiation

Learn how to avoid common pitfalls and develop the mindset needed to negotiate a compensation package that pays you what you’re worth.

Negotiate A Higher Salary Using Precise Numbers And Open-Ended Questions 

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

“I did everything I could to negotiate, Isaiah, but they told me the salary wasn’t negotiable.”  A job seeker told me this recently.  Ohhh, they told you that?  Was it written into law by congress?  I didn’t say that of course, but I hear statements like it all the time after people get hired.  While I’m happy they’re hired, it always makes me both sad and frustrated because I know that they could have negotiated and been paid more–more for themselves but also for their families, their futures, their legacies, on and on.  The problem is of course–negotiation is hard. …

Slick Scripts For Every Negotiation Scenario

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

When I went through my first industry interview process, I didn’t realize how important it was to prepare for a negotiation. So, not only did I go in unprepared, but I also assumed that the only thing that I could negotiate for was a higher salary. Looking back, I now realize how much value I missed out on because I didn’t prepare. I was blind to what was truly on the table. As one Cheeky Scientist recounts when considering several offers: “The other offer was much better. The base salary was close to the 6 figures, but with the bonus…

Salary Negotiation: The Fastest Way To Gain (Or Lose) Money As A PhD

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

When I was offered my first industry job, I was a bag mixed of emotions. I was desperate, relieved, happy, and worried – all at the same time. But the emotion that won out was desperation. I wanted/needed that job so badly that I enthusiastically declared ‘I’ll take it!’ when my new employer shared their conditional offer. What I didn’t realize was how this was going to impact my earning potential – not just now, but for years (even decades!) to come. There’s a reason it’s considered a conditional offer. That’s because employers expect you to negotiate. As one Cheeky…

4 Painful Ways PhDs Rob Themselves During Salary Negotiations

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

If you asked any PhD in industry what the most uncomfortable part of their interview process was, I guarantee you most would say the salary negotiation. And it makes sense – money is uncomfortable to talk about, no matter the situation. But it’s especially uncomfortable for PhDs. It’s alien territory. You’ve never had to advocate your worth – at least not in terms of monetary compensation. So, when preparing for your interviews, you need to get prepared. Walking into an interview with a negotiation plan will not only calm your nerves, but it will also result an outcome that will…

How To Masterfully Deflect Salary Questions During Your Next Interview

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

Deflect salary question till you receive a written offer.PhDs don’t like to negotiate. As PhDs, we want things to be pretty cut and dry, we don’t like to play games, and salary negotiation resembles a game where you never really know where you stand. It is an uncomfortable process that can affect you physiologically, so it’s normal to try to avoid it. But here’s the thing. Negotiation is not a game. It’s actually a transferable skill. Deal making is a transferable skill that you will use on a daily basis once you get hired. Networking and deal making are the…

5 Point Job Search Productivity Plan For PhDs

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

Job search productivity plan is imperative for success. Every day, more and more PhDs realize that they have no future in academia and start to plan their first industry transition. A script keeps playing in their head that says “I want to get hired.” This often leads to frustration because this script is not accurate. You don’t just want to get hired, you want to get hired into a PhD-level position. do meaningful work, where you can have an impact on humanity, where you get fairly compensated, where you can have security. I recently talked to a PhD who told…

6 Phrases That Get PhDs Ghosted After A Job Interview

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

Far too many PhDs are getting ghosted by employers after job interviews. They set up a job search strategy, build a targeted resume and LinkedIn profile, and apply to positions where they have internal referrals; only to get ghosted after a phone screen, or even worse, a site visit. If this has happened to you, you need to prepare better for job interviews. An interview can go south very easily. Maybe you just said the wrong thing and that caused employers to stop considering you. You cannot underestimate the importance of coming prepared.  Take it from one of our members…

The R&D Career Track Versus Clinical Career Track For PhDs (12 Jobs Compared)

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

How can you hit your career goals when you’ve never defined your target? R&D career or Clinical, business and finance, marketing or information aggregation roles? Every PhD, regardless of where they are in their job search, eventually admits one thing …they all admitted that they had waited way too long to take their job search seriously. One of the biggest time sucking mistakes that PhDs continue to say they make is that they failed to correctly consider which job titles were right for them. Many never thoroughly reviewed their industry options until they were about to defend their thesis, lose…

Salaries For 43 PhD Industry Jobs (The Highest Paying Job Is No Surprise)

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

PhDs are increasingly being hired in the top-paying jobs across industries. So, there is no reason for you to stay stuck in academia where PhD salaries are stagnant or plummeting. The U.S. National Institute of Health reports a starting annual salary of US $37,740 for academic postdocs and a study published in Nature reported a starting salary of US $23,660 — the minimum wage set by the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act.  Even with the current inflation, the average salaries for postdocs are below $49,999 per year. This means that rent and prices of other day to day products and…

The (Revised) Fundamentals Of A PhD Job Search

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

We’ve seen dramatic changes in the job market since the start of 2020; the fundamentals are changing. From the first wave of lockdowns to the mid-year hiring boom and then the second wave of lockdowns, and now –  the vaccine rollout.  We’ve observed the highest month of PhD hiring ever since we started tracking PhD hiring nearly a decade ago.  The month was November, 2020.  But this boom was followed by an 81% drop in PhD hiring.  And now, with a lot of uncertainty around future corporate tax rates in many countries, we are seeing PhD hiring stagnate in this…

If Your Resume’s Been Rejected 20 Times Or More It’s Probably Missing these 5 Things

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

Here is the funny thing that most PhDs don’t understand - your PhD is incredibly valuable and so are you, BUT you are not above the job search process. You and your PhD don’t give you a free pass to not have to learn to speak the language of industry, to not have to follow up, to not have to learn industry buzzwords and transferable skills; to not have to practice behavioral questions, on and on. Being smart, proven, or successful in one area does not make you any of those things in another area. Get over yourself. Otherwise, you…

45 Salary Negotiation Scripts Word-For-Word For PhDs

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

Negotiation is one of the most challenging parts of a job search. This is because PhDs are never trained on how to negotiate. In fact most think they put their offer at risk if they do. The truth is that you have a higher chance of putting the prospects of your future employment at risk by not negotiating because salary negotiation is a social norm in industry. PhDs can and should negotiate successfully. Most importantly, they should never let their academic stipend or fellowship, which is not a true salary, be used against them. For example, A PhD in the…