Resumes

Setting up a job search application can be time consuming.  Especially if you have set up the right job search strategy and are applying to several positions at the same time.  This leads many PhDs to try to cut out steps of the job application that seem dispensable. For example, the cover letter if the job posting doesn’t specifically asks for one. This is a misconception, you should always include a cover letter with your job applications.  How formal the cover letter is will depend on the situation, but taking the time to introduce yourself and your candidacy will separate…

Your PhD-level industry resume is one of the key components of your professional job search profile. You should make sure that it is well crafted and accurately represents you as an industry professional. The PhD-level industry resume is a marketing document that will help you pitch yourself, it is not a lengthy CV, full of irrelevant information. A well crafted PhD-level industry resume will show recruiters and hiring managers that you know who you are professionally and are a valuable job candidate. The following story comes from a member who recently transitioned and illustrates the importance of understanding the goal…

What’s the biggest gap that you have when it comes to transitioning into industry? How do you communicate your value? This is a common question I like to ask PhDs. And, very often, I get the following answer:  Well, I’m not sure how to position myself for industry. What this actually means is that you don’t know how to communicate your value to potential employers.  You probably only know how to talk about your skills in academic terms. You only know how to talk to other academics, but industry employees don’t really care for that type of language. This leaves…

By the end of my PhD studies, I found myself in a very bad place.  I knew I wanted to leave academia, but I didn’t know how to set up an industry job search strategy. The only thing I could think of was uploading resumes online.  I kept doing that, but I never heard back from employers. I knew there was another world out there, but I had no idea how to crack into it. Eventually, I became convinced that I had no value. That my PhD was useless. And I lost all my motivation. I had undervalued myself so…

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…

I had heard of PhDs transitioning rapidly into management roles, but I never thought I would meet one. I assumed that opportunities to fast track one’s career into the top levels of a company were reserved exclusively for elite PhDs.  The chosen minority who always have brilliant ideas and produce 10 first-author publications in top journals by the time they defend.  The ones who have been aiming for senior management all along. The ones for whom negotiation for a high salary seems to come naturally. Can you imagine being one of them? I can’t.  Do you even know one of…

The biggest obstacle that PhDs must overcome when they decide to leave academia is being invisible.  Without an industry network, you are invisible. It doesn’t matter if you are the best fit for your dream industry position if recruiters and hiring managers looking to fill that position don’t even know that you exist.  This is something that I know very well, not just from working with thousands of PhDs, but from my personal story.  When I first started looking for industry positions, I thought I would be easily found.  I quickly learned how wrong I was. I was invisible. No…

Most PhDs who join the Cheeky Scientist Association want to become R&D professionals or industry research scientists. There is nothing wrong about that.  After all, the best science and the best research is done in industry. So it’s only normal that PhDs who want to stay close to science are at least considering this career path.  However, after working with PhDs for years, I realized that most PhDs want to become research scientists because they think that they will get to do the same thing they do in academia, so they are more valuable in these positions. If this is…

Resume is your marketing document. PhDs often think that their academic credentials and technical skills should be enough to get them hired in a top industry job.  They underestimate the importance of learning industry etiquette and focus on uploading resumes filled with scientific jargon and technical skills to every job posting that comes their way. As a consequence, they end up in a vicious circle of uploading resumes and never hearing back from employers. Most of these PhDs don’t even know that their resumes are getting rejected by Applicant Tracking System Software before they even reach the hands of a…

I am working on my job search strategy.  Just last week, I sent over 10 CVs through job portals. I hear this from PhDs all the time. They don’t know what a PhD-level job search actually looks like, so they send a bunch of resumes or LinkedIn requests and expect to see results. The thing is, that strategy will take them nowhere.  It isn’t even a strategy. Recently one of our members noticed why uploading resumes online, not only is not a strategy, but is a waste of time.  “I have been following CSA strategies a lot, but today I…

Graduate …then get a job? Why must it be sequential? How can I do both at the same time?  When should I start my job search? If I’m a PhD student, what should I be doing? How can I avoid the most common fate of ending up unemployed after I defend? Should I start my job search before or after I defend? We have come across several PhD students who had the same questions. And the answer is: you can have both. You can graduate from your PhD with a job lined-up and avoid unemployment. But to achieve that, you…

“I have plenty of time to look for a job before I defend my thesis.”What’s the rationale? “I’m struggling to find time for my industry job search with everything I have to do in the lab and at home with my kids.” “My postdoc doesn’t get over for another year so I’ll start my job search later.” Famous last words.  I’ve heard thousands of PhDs from all around the world tell me many reasons why they haven’t taken their job search seriously.  If you’re not spending at least 2 hours of focused effort executing on your job search every day…