Resumes

If you are submitting your resume to online job postings or to job portals then is very likely that your resume is never seen by a person. Jobscan reported that 98% of Fortune 500 companies use applicant tracking software. Many large to medium sized companies use ATS systems as well. When companies get thousands (or tens of thousands for companies like Microsoft or Google) of resumes every week they rely on these systems to weed out unqualified candidates. But if your resume is not optimized then you could get rejected, even if you are a qualified candidate. Baruch College reported…

As a PhD is it’s difficult to let go of thinking that your technical skills are the most valuable thing you will bring to an organization. But, you need to realize that your transferable skills are what will be the deciding factor in whether you get hired or not. A recent survey by Yoh, found that 75% of Americans would hire someone who had the right soft skills but lacked the technical skills required for the position. Companies are more concerned about how you will fit into the culture of the organization than they are about the technical skills you…

A good resume is not going to get you a job, but a bad resume can prevent you from being hired. At the heart of your job search is networking. Networking, not with the goal to meet as many people as possible, but with the goal of making real connections with industry professionals and learning about their careers. Only 3% of job candidates have a referral, so you immediately become a more exclusive candidate if you have one. But once you do hand over that resume it needs to be excellent. It needs to engage the reader and keep them…

Nature reported that in just 2 years the number of science postdocs alone grew by 150%. Universities are graduating huge numbers of PhDs every year and these highly trained PhDs end up taking postdoc positions because that is what they are ‘supposed to do’ next. But instead of the postdoc leading to a professorship or some other faculty position, PhDs are getting stuck in the postdoc phase. The study referenced above found that 10% of all postdocs have been a postdoc for more than 6 years. And recently, Phys.org reported that this is a trend that has been going on…

A bad resume can keep you from getting a position even if you do everything else right. Your resume is often the first written item you will show a potential employer, it’s your first impression. And first impressions are hard to break. Even when presented with facts that contract a first impression, a person will still believe their first impression over the facts (The University of Toronto). You must make the most of that first impression. But to even earn the opportunity to make a first impression your resume needs to stand out. The average corporate job posting attracts 250…

More than 90% of Fortune 500 companies are using Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) to screen candidates’ resumes (JobScan). And, ATS systems reject up to 80% of resumes in a matter of seconds (The Financial Post). It’s no wonder your non-tailored academic-style resume is not getting any response. But, even the best resume could be rejected by ATS. You have no idea what the employer has told the ATS to look for in candidates’ resumes. Even a perfect resume is not enough to get you a job. You need to network and generate referrals so that you can send your resume…

With a referral, your chances of getting hired increases to 53% and this number jumps to 91% if you are referred by someone in a director role (US News). By getting a referral, you increase your chances of getting hired by more than 50%. So, your number one job search priority should be networking. But, once you make the effort to put networking at the center of your job search strategy, you don’t want a terrible resume ruining all that hard work. Even with a referral, a terrible resume will lead to rejection. Your resume is the first thing that…

Out of every 250 resumes, only 4-6 candidates will get an interview, on average (Inc). Without a resume that attracts attention from a recruiter or hiring manager, you’re never going to even get a foot in the door. Additionally, the average recruiter will only spend 6.25 seconds on each resume before coming to a decision (Forbes). Everything you put on the resume has to add value to your application and be relevant to the job you’re applying for. If your resume is filled with mundane and uninteresting information, the recruiter will skip it and move on to the next one…

There are typically hundreds of applicants vying for the job you are applying for. Ere Media reported 250 resumes submitted per corporate job opening, but this number can be in the thousands when applying to top companies. And, before a hiring manager puts your application on the interview pile, she will review your cover letter. Her goal is to triage 95% of the applications in one sitting. It’s a tough situation: you feel you are perfect for the job but how will you distinguish yourself from the pack? The cover letter is the elevator pitch of your job application and…

Once you have built your professional network and gotten yourself a job referral, there will come a time when you hand over your resume to the hiring manager. Don’t waste all the effort of networking and building rapport by having a poorly written resume. Make the most of each bullet point by including the 3 key parts of a winning bullet point. Start by highlighting your transferable skills, follow with your technical skills, and end the bullet point with a clear industry-relevant result. Coupled with high-level networking, your results-driven resume bullet points will help you transition out of academia and…

It might seem that cover letters are a redundant time-waster in your job search process. Not including a well-written cover letter can cause your application to hit the garbage as incomplete or lazy before you’re even considered. Your cover letter is your sales pitch that synthesizes who you are, as a complement to your resume that shows what you can do. A well-crafted cover letter that follows these 5 steps can be the difference between landing your industry job, and missing out completely.

Having a job search strategy is the only way a Life Science PhD will be successful in landing a top industry position. Without a strategy, their experience in academia merely translates to an entry-level job working for someone with half their qualifications. Getting a top job in industry means investing in an organized, consistent approach to prove you are worthy of the industry job you deserve. Here are 5 strategies that will help you transition into a top Life Science position in industry.