Industry Transition Spotlight: Gad Sabbatier
Industry Transition: An interview with Gad Sabbatier, PhD, Project Leader in Innovation and Business Development
1. What is your name, your full job title, and the name of the company you work for?
Gad Sabbatier, Project Leader in Innovation and Business Development, SOVAR. It is a mandated technology transfer office.
2. What is your favorite part about working in industry?
I really love the team spirit in the company. I have a lot of autonomy and I am learning a lot. I really enjoy the work-life balance as well.
3. What does a typical day at work look like for you?
My job is to help researchers and entrepreneurs to transfer and accelerate research which has a potential interest to improve the society. I am spending my days analyzing intellectual property and the markets as well as communicating with researchers and entrepreneurs and finding strategies to develop and deploy innovation.
4. How is your current industry position different than your academic postdoc or experience as a graduate student?
I have a better view of how research can be useful to people. I feel that my work has a better impact on people’s lives. I am not working at the bench anymore but still enjoying science in a more positive atmosphere.
5. If you could go back in time, to before you received your job offer, and give yourself one piece of advice or encouragement, what would it be?
Everything is going to be okay. Be more confident; some days are just harder than others.
6. What was the most important thing you did during your job search that enabled your success?
Network and polish my LinkedIn profile as this is how I heard about the position.
7. What is the most memorable moment for you (so far) as a Cheeky Scientist Associate?
I really enjoy the CSA summit in Boston in 2017 and the meetups in Montreal and Toronto.
8. What do you see as the next step in your career?
I would like to keep going to learn about my job and innovate in its practice.
9. How can the Association and the Association’s members help you continue to achieve your career goals?
The association is unique. It provides an incredible network, a space for professional development, and helps PhDs who would like to transition outside of academia.
10. Now that you’ve spent some time working in industry, what is the biggest piece of advice you’d like to share with those Associates who are still executing their job search?
Even if you are passionate about the excellent work you are doing, the lab is not everything. Continue to meet different people, be open-minded, and take care of yourself. Self-awareness and learning how to work and navigate with different people is more important than accumulating more and more technical skills. Graduate studies and postdocs are not a burden, but an opportunity to grow and try different things outside of the benchwork.
Ready to make your own industry transition? The Cheeky Scientist Association is the world’s largest PhD-only industry job search training platform and PhD-only industry job referral network. When you become an Associate, you get access to our proven job search blueprint, which includes 200+ training videos, interviews with industry PhDs working in the most popular 100+ careers for PhDs, lifetime access to a private job referral network of 8,000+ PhDs, and much more.
You get instant feedback from our trainers 24/7 on any job search-related question so you can be 100% confident in your decisions about your job search and your overall career. To learn more about how to make your own industry transition, including instant access to our exclusive training videos, case studies, industry insider documents, transition plan, and private online network, get on the waitlist for the Cheeky Scientist Association.
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ABOUT ISAIAH HANKEL, PHD
CEO, CHEEKY SCIENTIST & SUCCESS MENTOR TO PHDS
Dr. Isaiah Hankel is the Founder and CEO of Cheeky Scientist. His articles, podcasts and trainings are consumed annually by millions of PhDs and other professionals in hundreds of different countries. He has helped PhDs transition into top companies like Amazon, Google, Apple, Intel, Dow Chemical, BASF, Merck, Genentech, Home Depot, Nestle, Hilton, SpaceX, Tesla, Syngenta, the CDC, UN and Ford Foundation.
Dr. Hankel has published 3X bestselling books and his latest book, The Power of a PhD, debuted on the Barnes & Noble bestseller list. His methods for getting PhDs hired have been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Nature, Forbes, The Guardian, Fast Company, Entrepreneur Magazine and Success Magazine.
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