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Fears destroy your poetntial. I don’t understand why anyone would get their PhD and stay in academia anymore. Logically, that is.  Logically, any PhD can see how postdocs and PhD students are exploited by the system as cheap labor.  Many of them go as far as working for free once they get their PhD, or they get into postdocs that don’t allow overtime, don’t contribute to their retirement, and pay them peanuts.  That’s when self-justification occurs … “I’m doing noble work”  “I’m doing important work”  “I can still be a professor”  “An adjunct professorship is a real professorship”  “Everyone is…

“Networking?” For PhDs? The whole idea of networking always seemed strange…. Kissing up to strangers with small talk all for personal gain? No thanks. Wouldn’t people know I’m just trying to use them?  Well, if the industry hiring manager can’t see my value through a resume and CV, then I don’t need them anyway. I’ll always have academia! …Except I know those secure academia jobs are getting slimmer by the year (and never pay what we deserve to begin with). Okay, fine, I’ll network—but only at a few conferences where I know I’ll run into people who can help me. …

My resume is above average. Certainly it’s at the mean. That was my belief when I started my job search. I’m way ahead of where I should be when it comes to transitioning into industry. I mean …I haven’t even graduated and I was already looking at options. That was another belief I had when I started my industry job search. Looking back, I’m amazed at how unscientific my approach was when it came to the most important thing in my life at the time – my career. In retrospect, I had no idea what I was doing. I was…

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…

I thought I was doing what PhDs were “supposed” to do. After 10 years of hard work, I was reaching a major milestone: my thesis.  But, in the back of my mind, I knew I was treating my thesis like a means to an end. How could I not? I was a 32-year-old student, who had never actually worked a day in the field, turning over stones for a groundbreaking discovery.  Sure, I knew my stuff and had confidence (I was a PhD after all). But there’s a certain type of confidence that you can only earn through the mundane…

My postdoc tenure was ending soon but with no possibility of an extension. As a result, the stakes were high and the mere anticipation of the unemployment situation gave me chills. To make matters worse, all I was able to hear from the people around me were unhelpful advice, while information and help were all that I needed.  It was frustrating enough to not have a prospective job, but not knowing my industry fit was even more disheartening. Upon scrolling down job postings, I saw that there were several job profiles that I was unaware of. I knew everything about…

When I started applying for jobs after getting my PhD, I didn’t even know what transferable skills were.  I heavily emphasized my technical skills. After all, I had spent the last 5 years perfecting them. But application after application I never heard anything back.  When I really began to analyze the job descriptions I realized the technical skills were not all they emphasized. Words like “communication”, “collaboration”, and “independent worker” continuously popped up again and again. It hadn’t dawned on me before that these are skills known as transferable skills.  I realized that people cared more about whether I could…

Networking was one of those things I was always doing “tomorrow.”  It was so much easier to sit down and work on my resume, or change some word choices on my LinkedIn. They were easy and they made me feel like I accomplished something. But really it was like treading water.  I tread this water for months, thinking I was moving somewhere but I was only moving with a gentle current. My actions weren’t actually propelling me in any direction. I wasn’t getting any hits on my LinkedIn, I wasn’t getting any call backs on my resume.  Was I not…

PhDs are highly suited to work in project management. They know how to oversee parallel projects and juggle multiple tasks. They can also coordinate different teams and integrate separate features into a cohesive whole. Industry project managers do the same thing. But there are some key differences PhDs need to understand before they transition into this industry role.

Management consulting is not going anywhere. Ibis World reports an annual industry growth of 3.4% with consulting businesses currently numbering nearly 800K. Given that consulting is thriving, management consultant salaries tend to be on the higher end. Consulting giant McKinsey has raised the base salary of PhD-holding consultants to $165K. And the most exciting part is that this number seems to be growing for PhD hires. A business willing to pay salaries of this quality values its employees to a high degree. PhDs deserve pay that reflects their unusual and highly functional skill sets. And industry is willing to pay…

The world of engineering has an array of choices available to PhDs. The time to start understanding what is available to you is now. The sooner you begin networking with industry professionals, the better your chances are for landing a job outside of academia. You are doing your career a disservice by limiting yourself to academia. In industry, your engineering PhD can earn you a position in chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, aerospace engineering, computer software engineering, or telecommunications engineering. The choice is yours to make.

While academic career prospects are diminishing, the opportunities for life science PhDs outside the ivory tower are growing. Your skills are desirable in an array of industry biocareers. Industry needs life science PhDs to fill management consulting, medical science liaison, medical communication, research and development scientist, and application scientist roles. Whatever your passion or career interests, there is an industry position suited to your skillset.