Cheeky Scientist Radio Podcast

Join Isaiah as he reveals the strategies for PhDs to stay motivated in the job search process Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah reveals how PhDs lose motivationNext, he shares why it is important for PhDs to stay motivatedFinally, Isaiah  reveals the strategies to build rationale and stay motivated From This Week’s Show…  How PhDs Lose Motivation  Staying motivated in your job search is a challenge. PhD life has its fair share of struggles. There are days when you wake up uninspired. You don’t feel like doing anything for your job search. It’s easy for PhDs who have been unemployed for months to lose motivation. Besides, PhDs’ life has several other struggles. Maybe they had a bad day in the lab or the classroom. They saw the writing on the wall. They were about to graduate. Maybe they’re going to lose their postdoc, or they’ve been in a postdoc for years. They’re an adjunct or still working on a contract. Irrespective of the nature of setbacks, PhDs suddenly get motivated, update their resume.  PhDs start their job search with excitement. Updating their resume then uploading it to a job site. This gives them a sense of…

Join Isaiah as he reveals the revised fundamentals of the PhD job search Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah reveals how the job market is changing  Next, he shares the five mental areas where PhDs get stuck  Finally, Isaiah  reveals the revised fundamentals for PhD job search From This Week’s Show…  The Changing Future Of The Job Market The job market is dynamic. The last year has seen a lot of drastic changes, from the first wave of lockdowns to the 2020 hiring boom. Then came the contraction in the second wave of lockdowns as a response to the pandemic. We have also witnessed the vaccine rollout, followed by a period of stability. Although it is not going to be entirely different from what it was in 2019, the economy might be up or down. We have all been scrambling to keep up with these changes. There’s going to be more changes in the future.  It’s important for us to now come back to the fundamentals of getting hired. Certainly we’ve already seen something we never saw before: at the end of the year 2020, we saw the highest month of PhD hiring ever in the history of…

Join Isaiah as he reveals the curses PhDs face by staying in academia Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah reveals what prevents PhDs from transitioning out of academia Next, he shares how tenure track positions are not an option anymore. Finally, Isaiah  reveals the 5 curses of staying in academia beyond your PhD From This Week’s Show…  What Stops PhDs From Transitioning From Academia Staying in academia beyond your PhD is a curse. You need to get your PhD. It is an incredible way to learn how not only to master a field, but to push a field forward. A PhD is a training position where you need to learn how to do research, how to do analysis, how to deal with uncertainty, how to face failure, how to think creatively, how to innovate. These are all incredibly valuable in the industry. Most of us stay in academia after getting a PhD because we don’t have a plan. We focus intensely on a publication or reading papers or all the other things that we can do that make our PI happy, or is rather easy to do. If you are the type that likes to learn, then it…

Join Isaiah as he reveals the strategies for the 30-60-90 day plan Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah reveals why PhDs get interviews but no job offers Next, he shares why companies care about onboarding  Finally, Isaiah  reveals the strategies to create a persuasive 30-60-90 day plan From This Week’s Show…  Why PhDs Are Getting Interviews But No Job Offers We have a lot of PhDs right now that are getting to the interview stage but they are not getting a job offer. While some are getting to the earlier stages—a phone screen or an initial video interview— others make it to the final video interview stages or a site visit but no job offer.  Just because you are being invited to a site visit does not mean that you are the only job candidate there is likely to be more depending on the size of the company. It certainly doesn’t mean that if you blow the site visit or the virtual interview, if you do not have questions to ask that are insightful, or if you do not come off appropriately educated as having done research on the company, you will get rejected.  As a PhD there…

Join Isaiah as he reveals the top industry careers for engineering PhDs Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah interviews a panel of PhDs who have successfully transitioned from academia to engineering industry careers Next, the expert panel discusses the strategies to overcome the hurdles faced by engineering PhDs in the industry job search process   Finally, Isaiah  reveals the top industry careers for engineering PhDs From This Week’s Show…  Advice From Fellow PhDs  Engineering PhDs are very focussed on their niche background. There are often arguments regarding the interdisciplinary nature of engineering backgrounds, especially with respect to hiring. Engineers argue that owing to this niche specialization, a chemical engineer cannot be hired as an electrical engineer or a mechanical engineer and vice versa. The truth is that you can! Several companies have engineering teams where they prefer engineering PhDs of different backgrounds in the same team.  Most engineering PhDs think they have a very specific niche background of engineering that makes their situation very unique and impossible. There is no access to career centers that really can help you therefore finding access to people who know what they are talking about is important. We are often more focussed on…

Join Isaiah as he reveals the strategic changes you should make avoid being rejected  Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah demystifies the transition process Next, he enlists the strategies to avoid getting rejected   Finally, Isaiah  reveals the one change needed to avoid being rejected From This Week’s Show…  Advice From Fellow PhDs  When it comes to your job search, having the right information matters the most. Cheeky transition stories provide valuable insights into the whole process. These stories have principles that apply to every PhD, no matter your background, or your situation, you have to do your part to follow those principles. You are not above the process. You are a sample size of one. There will be variations in the positions, locations, interview questions that you will face. Although it is not going to be exactly cut and paste from what the transitioned associates went through, they provide priceless comprehension of the entire process. I am going to tell you the inside story of what a PhD transition looks like because many of you have never transitioned before. I want to demystify the process. In the beginning of my job search, I was searching for posted…

Join Isaiah and Erika as they reveal the strategies for PhDs to get hired into User Experience (UX) Researcher roles in record time  Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah explains what are User Experience Research roles and why they are available for PhDsNext, Isaiah and Erika reveal why PhDs are a getting hired for user experience roles Finally, Isaiah and Erika discus the strategies for PhDs to get hired in user experience roles From This Week’s Show…  The User Experience Researcher Roles Available For PhDs User experience researcher roles is one of the most exciting and buzz worthy career tracks that is available for PhDs now. Employers want to hire PhDs into these roles because of their understanding of the difference between quantitative and qualitative data and their importance. Every company has a website, apps that generate metrics that can be analyzed quantitatively to understand user experiences, while qualitative data are obtained through one-on-one interactions with the users. These data are crucial for all industries may it be biotech companies, retail, hospitality, or the service industry. The global demand for user experience researchers is on the surge and is expected to grow exponentially. From a reference point…

Join Isaiah as he reveals the 45 salary negotiation scripts that PhDs should use. Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah explains why PhDs should practice salary negotiation quite early in their job search process Next, he reveals the strategies for salary negotiation in PhD-level positionsFinally, Isaiah discusses 45 salary negotiation scripts for PhDs From This Week’s Show…  Why It Is Important For PhDs To Practice Salary Negotiation  PhDs in academia have been used to being paid almost nothing. However, it is an industry trend to negotiate your worth in terms of salary and incentives. There are some soft spots that PhDs can leverage for a big impact during negotiation. PhDs have to practice salary negotiation quite early in their job search process instead of waiting for a job offer to learn about it. From the moment that you upload your resume, the situation escalates too quickly to a negotiation. When you upload your resume, you have to be prepared to answer the expected salary range. While hiring managers and recruiters negotiate seven to 10 times a day with seven to 10 different people typically, you will  do a salary negotiation only seven to 10 times in your professional…

Join Isaiah as he reveals the 15 PhD careers dominating 2021 and beyond.  Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah explains why PhDs need a job search strategy Next, he reveals how PhDs settle for non-PhD careers out of desperationFinally, Isaiah discusses the 15 PhD careers dominating 2021 From This Week’s Show…  Why PhDs Should Have A Job Search Strategy  I want every PhD to be ready for 2021. A lot of career tracks contracted in 2020, but many expanded. Those that expanded fortunately were PhD-level positions. For the most part, I am going to go through all 15 of these career tracks. I am going to give you the description for these job titles and help you understand these descriptions from a PhD viewpoint. You start to see PhDs at different levels of their job search. Unfortunately, most PhDs wait until they are in a very desperate situation to finally act on their job search because necessity is the mother of innovation. It is not until you move from moderate to massive pain that you finally take action. You start to see a lot of desperation there. At this point, PhDs take up any job they…

Join Isaiah as he reveals why resume updates are important for PhDs to get hired in industry jobs  Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah discuss the importance of investing in your resume Next, he enlists the importance of resume structure Finally, Isaiah reveals 12 mandatory resume updates every PhD must follow in order to get hired in industry. From This Week’s Show…  Why PhDs Need To Work On Their Resume Updates Everybody wants to know what to do with their resume, why they cannot get hired by uploading their current resume. If you are a PhD looking for your first industry transition, you probably have found this by getting no response to uploading your current resume. Maybe it is even your academic CV with five to six pages and gets you no response. You thought it would be easier than this, but it is much harder.  Job search for industry jobs unlike academia does not rely solely on the letter of recommendation from the professor, PI, or advisor. They are not looking for a detailed chronological description of your duties or work history in your resume. It is not like a lengthy peer review journal article. Rather, they…

Join Isaiah as he explains why it is important for PhDs to set cash goals and work towards them  Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah discusses why PhDs need to set cash goals and commit to fulfill themNext, Isaiah reveals the strategies to navigate curve ball questions and get hired. Thus, contributing to the cash goalsFinally, Isaiah explains 2 controversial cash goals to set as a driving force during your job search From This Week’s Show…  Why Is It Important For PhDs To Value Money We will discuss something that several others avoid: we will talk about  money. As a PhD, you should be aiming to make as much money as possible for doing meaningful work and not feeling guilty about it. You should be rewarded for your value. You can’t know your value or remember your value as a PhD if you are not being paid your value. PhDs often think that they don’t have enough industry experience, skill sets, or business acumen. Therefore, they are not entitled to more money. But you have to learn to earn it. You can earn more money and you should always try to earn more money else you…

Join Isaiah as he explains why aligning with the company’s culture is important for PhDs to get hired and for their career progression in the company  Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah discusses the why PhDs need to accept and follow company cultureNext, Isaiah reveals the strategies to balance capability and cultural fit Finally, Isaiah explains 61 new career insights From This Week’s Show…  Why Is It Important For PhDs To Align Themselves With The Company’s Culture  We are going to talk about how PhDs need to understand the company culture and how you need to position yourself to fit in a company’s culture. PhDs need to understand the specific changes and the working trends of the company. We have been seeing a lot more hybrid project management since the pandemic induced workforce decentralization. Everyone is on Slack and Zoom. PhDs need to update their skills from academia to stay abreast with these industry advancements.  Academia had convinced me that I was an incredible project manager. I could balance so many different incubations and document them in my lab notebook every day. And then I got into industry and I realized in academia, there is no project…

Join Isaiah as he explains why mental disorders occurs in PhDs staying in academia for long and the strategies they can follow to get hired in industry roles Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah discusses why staying in academia harms causes mental disorders in PhDs Next, Isaiah reveals new strategies that will help you get through the job search processFinally, Isaiah explores the answers to some quirky interview questions that PhDs might face From This Week’s Show…  Why PhDs In Academia Should Prioritize Their Industry Job Search For Their Mental Health Why staying in academia causes mental disorders? I am not talking about clinically diagnosed disorders. I am talking about the mental challenges, the struggles, the pain. PhDs in academia have an indescribable urge that they are not accomplishing anything or making any progress. How did that happen? This is a common disorder that happens to PhDs stuck in academia for long. That takes a toll on their mental health. As a PhD, when you come across a depressed postdoc it makes you ponder that being a PhD, you are highly skilled and intelligent, what went wrong? Clearly at that time you don’t understand how dark it is…

Join Isaiah and Alessandra as they explain what business development is and the strategies PhDs can follow to be hired in this field Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah discusses how PhDs get hired into business development roles with PhDs panelists who now work as business development managersNext, Isaiah and Alessandra reveal how business development roles workFinally, Isaiah and Alessandra explain how PhDs can get hired into these roles From This Week’s Show…  Why PhDs Make For Great Business Development Managers Eventually, every single career track becomes a business development-based role. PhDs are rushing into these roles. There is a high demand for these roles. We will discuss what these business development roles are and how to be hired into these positions.   Business development manager roles comprise numerous cross-functional roles as connecting with clients and locating the appropriate clients while simultaneously working with the in-house teams. PhDs in this role have to work with the operations and R & D teams to generate study design. The experience gained as a postdoc and PhD is utilized to create the study design, analyze its scientific feasibility, and set timelines for flawless execution. It is the best of both worlds:…

Join Isaiah And James As They Reveal The Strategies You Should Follow To Be Hired As A Management Consultant Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah discuss the Management Consultant career for PhDs with panelists who have successfully transitioned into those rolesNext, Isaiah and James reveal the scope of Management Consultants in combating the job challenges that PhDs will face in 2021Finally, Isaiah and James explains how Management Consultants work to solve business problems From This Week’s Show… Why PhDs Make For Great Management Consultants This is one of the top career tracks, a lot of PhDs are getting hired in. We came from different academic backgrounds like organic chemistry and education but wanted to learn something beyond our academic horizons and once we started it fit like a glove. It does not matter what your background is or how certain you are about being a management consultant. As far as business acumen training is concerned, it is definitely crucial as it can get you hired into management consulting. But in order to acquire the business acumen or breakthrough in this field you don’t need an MBA. As PhDs, we basically have no idea, we are  always…

Join Isaiah as he reveals the best insights about the PhD job search strategy based on this year’s roundtables  Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah discusses the hiring trend for PhDs Next, he enlists the hurdles faced during the PhD job searchFinally, Isaiah explains the strategies to implement in order to overcome PhD career hurdles  From This Week’s Show…  Hiring Trends In The Pandemic Friction creates growth. All the challenges, disruption, and chaos that you faced, made you a stronger person. You have had to learn to rely on parts of yourself that you never knew before. You have had to think more creatively than you’ve had to think before. We are doing a roundup of some of the best insights of this year. We will focus on a few topical things, looking at which companies are merging, looking at some current industry trends, and emerging market trends to emphasize the importance of developing that business acumen. As PhDs, you have this incredible intellect, unmatched skill sets. You are meant to do a lot. Don’t let academia make you think that you have nothing to offer the world because that is not true. You need to see…

Join Isaiah And Monika As They Discuss The Job Search Strategies For PhDs Wanting To Get Hired In Clinical Research. Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah interviews a panel of PhDs who have successfully transitioned from academia to clinical research careersNext, the expert panel discusses how PhDs can break into the field of clinical research and what skill set gives them the advantageFinally, Isaiah and Monika explore the different aspects of  clinical research  From This Week’s Show… Advice From Fellow PhDs We are going to talk about Clinical Research Associate (CRA) and Clinical Research Scientist (CRS) positions, about Clinical Research Organizations (CROs) and their dynamics with clients and stakeholders. We will discuss with the expert panel about hiring PhDs as clinicians; what you can do to get hired in the clinical sector.  Let us talk about the possibilities of clinical research roles, does one need to have  actual clinical experience? What were the obstacles and how did you overcome them to get hired? What advice would you give to your former self? What gaps did you have in your knowledge and how did you overcome those knowledge gaps to get hired or since working in this…

Join Isaiah, Christopher, And Regina As They Discuss The Job Search Strategies For Interdisciplinary PhDs. Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah interviews a panel of interdisciplinary PhDs who successfully transitioned to diverse industry careersNext, the expert panel discusses the special skill set that interdisciplinary PhDs possess and gives them an added advantage in industry positions Finally, Isaiah, Christopher, and Regina explore the different career tracks available to interdisciplinary PhDs.  From This Week’s Show… Advice From Fellow PhDs Interdisciplinary PhDs form this umbrella term which is relatively new. Depending on your department, university, or country your PhDs may be classified as social sciences in one location and humanities in another. They often consider themselves second-class citizens when it comes to job search. But in reality, they have a special skill set that gives them an advantage over other PhDs in certain positions as User Experience Researcher.  I am an anthropologist by training but have actually worked at the intersections of social finance and the humanities. I also have a certificate in gender and race studies, and was initially trained by the humanities land team, to be a social scientist. Interdisciplinary PhD is borderless to a large extent as…

Join Isaiah as he discusses the emotionally draining aspects of the job search for PhDs and how to overcome them. Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah sheds light on how the PhD job search can be emotionally overwhelmingNext, he points out the issues that lead to such scenariosFinally, Isaiah lists the solutions to overcoming these emotionally taxing hindrances to successfully get hired in industry From This Week’s Show… I am going to walk you through the 11, most emotionally draining parts of your job search that you need to overcome in advance for getting hired quickly. You can save a lot of your time by understanding what can drain your energy during your job search and how your brain can come up with excuses to divert you from your goal. It is really painful. It is a different kind of pain but is good for you. You have a series of emotional cold showers that you need to go through in order to get hired. Do not let your brain trick you with the excuses that diverts you from working towards your resume, cover letter, or networking, things that can help you in getting hired. The…

Join Isaiah and Alex Woychek as they reveal how to get hired as an Application Scientist or Application Specialist Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode… First, Isaiah and Alex discuss what the Application Scientist role entails Next, they enlist why this role is growing in popularity in industryFinally, Isaiah and Alex give an overview of how the Application Scientist/Specialist role is different from R&D and sales rep roles and the 5 things you need to get hired for this role From This Week’s Show… Why PhDs Make For Great Application Scientists/Specialists This is one of the most popular positions PhDs are getting into; industry demand for this position is peaking, especially in November and December. This is a No. 1 non-bench position PhDs are hired into, yet most PhDs do not understand it or consider it until someone contacts them about this role. It is one of the fastest ways to get hired from any branch of science. It is the position we recommend you to get into, if you are skeptical about the right position for you, as it is also the easiest position to leave. It is a known transitory position by industry professionals, so even when…