Best-Laid Plans: Transitioning to Industry From Academia By: Amy Loriaux, Ph.D.

I had it all planned out, starting from graduate school going all the way to professor emeritus. A career as a tenured professor, a post at a distinguished institution, maybe a chair of a reputable foundation. A lab full of graduate students and postdocs eager to learn. And, most importantly, answering the many questions I had about the brain -  that 8 pounds of jello comprised of 100 billion neurons speaking in binary, yet, by working together, forming an extraordinary complexity that is the human mind.

I had such a passion for neuroscience and it was this passion that drove me to commit myself to a life of a postdoc - working on weekends for low pay and little job security. This life is not glamorous by any means, but it still allowed me to do something I was passionate about, that is, figuring out the unknown and being the first to learn something new. And it would all be worth it once I had my own lab, right?

But life sometimes doesn’t always stick to the original plan, and I soon realized that this was the case for me.  Lack of funding and other turns of bad luck convinced me that I would have to make a career change if I hoped to ever have a living income. This was a very hard decision. For a seasoned academic, the world outside the ivory tower is big and scary. I would need a new plan if I were to survive.

Make a New Plan

I didn’t know where to start. So I did what every postdoc does when they don’t know the answer to something - they consult their peers! I reached out to my colleagues who transitioned into industry. It was through them that I learned about various resources available to people in my position - such as academic-to-industry programs, courses, and support groups  (I highly recommend CheekyScientist.com).

I enrolled in courses to learn what it takes to get a job in industry (e.g. how to turn a CV into a resume). I attended industry conferences in healthcare and the life sciences. I did my best to adjust to corporate culture, quickly learning the do’s and don’ts (for instance, I had to buy a whole new wardrobe. I couldn’t show up in my usual jeans and t-shirt that was my daily attire at the lab).

Change the Narrative

Ok, so I had a strategy, and I was executing it. I was meeting people, making impressions, learning how to talk the talk. But could I walk the walk? Could I secure a job? Could I even hold down a position if I had one? The scariest thought was that I had no experience. I mean, who would hire me when all I’ve done for the past 10 years is run rats in Skinner boxes?

This is probably the most daunting aspect of switching careers, be you an academic or not. I’d read a list of qualifications and be so disheartened when I’d come across something like “X years experience doing Y required”. How could I get job experience if I’ve never done the job before? It was only when I learned that I needed to replace “experience” with “transferable skills” that I realized my strengths extended beyond implanting electrodes into rodent brains. “Project management”? Hey, I wouldn’t have a Ph.D. if I couldn’t manage a research project. “Strong communication”? How often did I have to communicate my science to get published, funding, or recognition? “Dependable, hard worker capable of prioritizing multiple projects under constantly changing demands and timetables”? Did I mention I was a postdoc?

Recognizing my transferable skills gave me the confidence to overcome the seemingly insurmountable hurdle of inexperience. This mentality gave me the confidence to present myself to the corporate world as someone who could do the job, even though I didn’t have the prerequisite experience. I was able to turn around the narrative that, “I can’t do the job because I’m just an academic” to “I can do the job because I am an academic.” Coupled with intense networking and training, I was able to eventually find work as a science writer. It is doable, I mean, I was able to get a Ph.D., right? If I could handle that challenge, who says I couldn’t handle another?