The Glaringly Obvious Reason You’re Not Getting Hired

Join Isaiah as he reveals the reason PhDs are not getting hired and the powerful tools for PhDs to communicate their value to employers

Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode…

• First, Isaiah explains the reason why PhDs need to communicate their value to the employers in the language of the industry
• Next, Isaiah reveals which skills are valued more by the employers while hiring
• Finally, Isaiah describes the powerful tools that PhDs can use to communicate their PhD value to the employers

From This Week’s Show…

Reason Why PhDs Have To communicate Their Value To Employers

PhDs aspire to get into a career where they can have an impact. A job that requires a PhD. Where they are compensated fairly. But there can be several reasons why PhDs don’t get hired. The biggest obstacle to transition into industry is the way that PhDs approach the job search. The challenge is to transition into an industry career that provides a PhD level impact and compensates fairly. 

It is all about communicating your PhD value to attract employers. How to reinvent your professional brand for industry using industry nomenclature? What makes your PhD and your experiences unique? Learn which job titles are good for you. Discover companies that are actively hiring PhDs with your background. Eliminate the distractions. Look for companies that fit you best. Ascertain how to properly read and understand an industry job description. You have to communicate your value in the language of the industry. 

Make it impossible for employers to be able to ignore you, make it impossible, to be invisible to them.

Which Skills Do Employers Value Most

Technical skills are important. But not absolute. Reason? Those are not the only skills employers look for in their candidates. The top desired skills for industry positions would  not be some niche technical skill. Despite what they admit publicly, most companies care very little about your technical skills. They can teach you those skills. As a PhD, you naturally excel in your niche areas. Regardless of your background, you are an expert researcher. Your resume is being ignored due to obscurity. Industry employers are not hiring you because you’re invisible to them. Your technical skills will not give you visibility. 

Skills like critical thinking, complex problem solving and decision making are crucial. They want people who can correctly identify problems and then solve that problem. It’s the skills that are defined with their industry language that are key to hiring. What they speak day in and day out. Don’t use a cover for your unorganized inactive job search. This is where we have to bear some responsibility. Never use excuses as a lack of experience or skills because that gives us an out. Rather work harder. Change your approach and think differently. Go through that uncomfortable process of change of admitting that you have work to do. It’s much easier to be lazy. So much easier to blame the lack of some skills or certification, degree, or experience. The hard truth is you refuse to reach out to meet employers and employees. The reason is your refusal to have challenging conversations to do the new things required with people in industry that is keeping you from transitioning.

Powerful Tools To Communicate Your Value To Employers

We don’t want to change and follow a new process. We don’t want to get off the top of our mountain peak of higher education and start at the bottom of another mountain. The mountain of an industry job search. But now you have lots of tools at your disposal to get the employer’s attention. You can find everything you need to know about an employer on their website. That gives you specific information about how to get in touch with them. You can find these employers on LinkedIn. Email the employers. Or pick up the phone to call their office to speak to someone in the hiring department. 

But this is uncomfortable. So you pretend like you can’t get an employer’s attention. Let’s admit the truth. You are invisible by choice. Nobody in the industry knows you. And nobody will know you. Start communicating your skills to an audience, speaking their language. Have the best resume in the world? 99% of all companies use applicant tracking system software to instantly filter out more than half of all applications. Make a robust application. It is going to stay with you throughout your entire job search process. The hiring committee is going to look at it. Do it correctly and communicate your value as a PhD value. 

** for the full podcast, check out the audio player above.

If you’re ready to start your transition into industry, you can apply to book a free Transition Call with our founder Isaiah Hankel, PhD or one of our Transition Specialists. Apply to book a Transition Call here.