Frequently Asked Questions

The Cheeky Scientist Association is real and the results are real, as proven by the number of members who have been successfully hired into industry. The definition of a scam is to promise a result and not deliver on it. The Cheeky Scientist Association has continued to deliver on its promise of getting PhDs hired industry. As shown here: https://cheekyscientist.com/career-success-stories and here: https://cheekyscientistreviews.com

Asking the question “Is Cheeky Scientist as scam?” is reasonable because PhDs and other high-level academics are logical professionals. Many of them have been stuck in academia for a long time and have been led to believe that they do not have many viable career options outside academia. As a result, when these professionals see our assertions about how valuable PhDs are and how they can easily get into high-paying and meaningful non-academic career tracks, it seems somewhat unbelievable.

As one Associate said in the videos linked above, “The video testimonials were so positive and successful, I didn’t believe them. Thankfully, I joined anyway.”

However, the data doesn’t lie – if you look at our many video testimonials and our many written testimonials above on the pages linked above, you will see an extraordinary number of PhDs have willingly put their names, faces, and professional reputations behind the Cheeky Scientist Association. As a PhD, you know that this is very rare. If you are still concerned about how real Cheeky Scientist is, you can reach out directly to us at support@cheekyscientist.com with any questions you have.

A very large portion of PhDs in the program have worked in industry or currently have industry jobs. Most of the remaining members are PhD students, postdocs, TAs, junior or senior faculty members who are at various stages of the transition process, from identifying the right industry position to networking and generating referrals, to interviewing and negotiating job offers. The program is lifetime access.

While there are many life science PhDs in the Association, a large portion of our membership are also engineering PhDs. Many of our engineers have transitioned into industry jobs successfully, such as Yahfi Talukdar, Ph.D. and Chingyao Yang, Ph.D., whose testimonials are on this page: https://cheekyscientist.com/career-success-stories/

While our program has had a STEM slant in the past, a very large portion of our members are now interdisciplinary, or non-STEM.

The materials and strategies we give you access to are applicable across a range of industries, particularly because our clients are transitioning into jobs in a range in sectors. For instance, Associates have transitioned into top industry jobs in psychology, sociology, agriculture, design, cuisine, banking, pharma, electronics, and political science, to name a few.

When we discuss a strategy, the example story presented in the material might be of a STEM PhD, but you will be able to apply the scenario to yourself no matter what industry position you’re interested in.

For example, if we are discussing a strategy for approaching a recruiter correctly, the strategy will be effective regardless of if you are seeking a research scientist position, a sociology position, or a marketing communications position. To that end, many of our non-STEM PhDs in the Association, such as whose testimonials are on this page: https://cheekyscientist.com/career-success-stories/

Yes, we have PhDs from many different countries who have transitioned into jobs in many other countries, including the U.S. We’ve also helped international PhDs navigate visa sponsorship and resident card issues. That being said, we do not offer legal advice of any kind, including on sponsorship or residency.

Yes, we have many of PhD students who have joined the Cheeky Scientist Association and have successfully lined up industry jobs prior to graduation. Many of those in the Association are still in graduate school. It can take PhD students months to years to line up a job in industry so PhD students should not wait to get approval to graduate to start their job search.

Yes, we occasionally approve Masters and Bachelors degree holders into the Association and have helped them transition successfully into industry positions.

We have few students who are not in a PhD program yet. The value is that these people get to network with thousands of other PhDs and industry professionals prior to joining graduate school.

As mentioned above, many of our members are PhD candidates who do not have their PhD yet. PhD candidates in the Association are guided on how to get an industry job before they even leave graduate school.

Many of our members are not 100% certain they want to work in industry. However, they are certain that they want to have the option to work in industry. If you’re at all interested in working in industry, you have to start preparing now. Otherwise, you will be left behind. With so many PhDs graduating into unemployment or being stuck in postdocs or other training positions years and years, it only makes sense to start getting the industry credibility you need now, not later.

If you’re even mildly interested in working in industry but don’t know where to start, we’ve developed materials that will help you find the right position for you.

The Cheeky Scientist Association Diamond program requires a time investment. They are designed to help you develop a deep and strong foundation that will put you on the fast track to getting the industry job of your choice right now.

Other factors that will affect how much time you will need for the Association include:

• How much prior industry experience you have
• How experienced you are with basic technology
• Your overall clarity and how quickly you make decisions
• Whether or not you complete the materials as directed and take advantage of the private mentorship you’re provided
• Whether or not you choose to participate in the comments and conversations in our private online groups (these are recommended, but optional)
• Whether or not you show up to meetings and engage with others in real time by asking questions
• Whether or not you keep up with the weekly schedule we prescribe, or make progress in your own time

If you choose to go through the program live with us and fully participate in every aspect of the course (meetings, private mentorship, forum engagement, conversations in the community, etc.), a very rough time estimate would be two to three hours per week, depending on how fully you engage in the materials. Full details on your participation as a member can be found at the bottom of this website by clicking on the Terms & Conditions link.

We strongly believe that a person’s network is their net worth. Being part of a community of like-minded professionals who are dedicated to their own personal and professional success should be an important part of your career strategy. Surrounding yourself with people who are dedicated to their career goals will keep you motivated and moving forward. We treat the members of the Association as friends and we encourage you to participate and build life-long friends as well.

There is a private and very friendly private website and mobile app-based forum just for members where you will be supported by PhDs with industry experience who are constantly supporting you with answers to your questions and comments on topics ranging from current job openings and new PhD-level industry positions to networking event information and advanced LinkedIn strategies.

To manage your receipt of marketing and non-transactional communications, you may unsubscribe by clicking the “unsubscribe” link located on the bottom of any marketing email. If you have multiple emails in our system, you will need to do this for every email. Emails related to the purchase or delivery of orders are provided automatically – customers are not able to opt out of transactional emails.

Transition Calls are done on Zoom and are recorded for training and regulatory purposes. Those entering a call will be asked by Zoom to confirm that they understand the call is recorded and confirmation data will be stored. To protect the confidentiality of personal stories shared on the Transition Call, the recording will be deleted after the call, minus any purchase confirmations that must be kept for regulatory purposes. Documents and folders are kept for record keeping purposes except in cases where a member’s participation in the program has been deemed finished.

We will try to accommodate any requests related to the management of personal information in a timely manner. However, it is not always possible to completely remove or modify information in our databases (for example, if we have a legal obligation to keep it for certain timeframes, for example). If you have any questions, simply email us or visit the footer of this website to view our official policies.

We offer our personalized mentorship services as a one-time purchase fee that allows for immediate, lifetime access to our mentorship and certain other materials. A personalized mentorship purchase is not for a recurring membership program, nor is it a recurring service of any kind. In certain cases, we provide installment options for our mentorship services that require a down payment up front. We no longer provide any “buy now, pay later” options or any financing options that don’t require a down payment up front.

Unless otherwise indicated, we do NOT offer any refunds, cancellations or exchanges of any kind for the Cheeky Scientist Association Diamond program because our member directory, materials, and other services are delivered immediately upon purchase.

No, Cheeky Scientist does not promise or guarantee of any job or employment.

However, in some cases and where indicated, we do offer a refund guarantee where a full or partial refund can be given if the terms of our program are met and you do not get a job offer in the program. However, each program member’s full participation is expected and a crucial part of the process. We both must be committed equally to your success for the program to work for you.

We do not control which positions you apply to. In our programs, you will only apply to the positions you want and only respond to inbound inquiries for open positions you want. Therefore, you will only receive the job offers you choose. As such, our refund guarantee provides a refund only if someone does not get a job offer of any kind. We believe this is fair for everyone involved because each member has ultimate control over choosing the jobs they apply to, whether industry, academic or otherwise.

We do enrollments at set times that we determine. All enrollments into the Cheeky Scientist Association Diamond program must be approved through a virtual Transition Call to ensure the program is a good fit for the potential program member. We only have a certain number of mentorship seats available during any of these time periods, i.e. we can only mentor so many PhDs privately without sacrificing quality.

We only ever do a certain number of Transition Calls in a given day. Currently, our wait list for these calls is in the thousands. Due to demand, each person is only allowed one Transition Call per year outside of special circumstances. It is common for our Transition Specialists to indicate how many seats are left for an enrollment period, such as “four seats left”. If you get on a call with a Transition Specialist and the program is a good fit for you and decide to join, you will be asked to make a decision on the Transition Call due to demand and the aforementioned limitations.

You are an intelligent individual with an advanced degree, which means that you know that no program will work unless you work. If you’re expecting the Cheeky Scientist Association, or anything else, to magically solve your problems, please do not sign-up. This is not some weekend retreat where you come in and hear a bunch of empty, motivational words and then go back to whatever it is you were doing before.

The Association is designed to help you, not just get your first or next industry job, but to help you get promoted and stay one step ahead for the rest of your career. This means we actually care that you implement our material and will continue to work with you until you get the job offer you want. That being said, you must be committed.

We know that if you do the work, you will achieve results and get a great industry job. We’re challenging you to think and behave differently than the average PhD. You cannot just get our materials and stop working. Knowledge is not the end result here. You must apply your knowledge. We put a tremendous amount of energy into the Association and all of our products and services, and you need to match that energy. Unified effort—you working hard and us working hard for you—is what will make you successful.