What is PhD to Industry? What can you to expect?
Our goal is to simplify process of transition from academia to industry
Welcome to "PhD to Industry," a weekly newsletter dedicated to helping you navigate the transition from academia to industry and accelerate your career growth.
From Academia to Industry: Navigating the Job Market for PhDs, Postdocs, and Academics
As someone who has successfully transitioned from academia to industry, I understand the challenges that come with this change. I know that the jump to industry or the business world can be daunting, and many individuals struggle with questions such as: Do my personal values align with the corporate world? What roles are a good fit for me? How do I optimize my resume? What is the interview process, and am I good enough to make it?
Through my own experience of applying to various roles, conducting informational interviews, and a lot of introspection, I found the answers to these questions. After my Ph.D., I’ve had the great opportunity to work in three amazing companies - Siemens Healthcare, AstraZeneca and Medable, progressively enhacing my competence as a Product Manager. Today, I work full time as Product Lead at Medable - a decentralized clinical trials software company . I’ve learned a lot in the last 7 years and I am excited to share what I've learned so far with you..
Before we jump in, I do want to address the current state of the job market. With the macroeconomic contraction, it’s a difficult time for any prospective job seeker, and my heart goes out to them. Especially in tech, we’ve had numerous layoffs towards the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023. But what's even more striking is how the academic job market is even more difficult to navigate, and it's been this way for a decade or longer. With significant proportion of science and engineering PhDs do not get tenured professor positions; and an estimated 93% of graduate students in humanities and social sciences not getting a tenure-track job1, it's clear that academic job market remains a challenging space and will continue to be so. the good news is there are plenty of opportunities in many industries and some sub sectors are experiencing immense growth in the last decade, like tech and despite the recent contraction, is expected to continue to grow at significant higher rates that academic job market in the coming years. My goal with this newsletter is to provide you with the resources and support to maximize your chances of a successful, meaningful and a fulfilling career and that starts with a transition.
Weekly Career Insights: Guides, actionable insights and wisdom with top business leaders
In this weekly newsletter, each Friday, I will deliver the following straight to your inbox:
In-depth industry guides (eg: Career map of 20 industries; 5 roles across top industries)
Actionable insights (eg: How to effectively network; Components of effective resume, etc)
Conversations and wisdom from world-class industry professionals and recruiters
While my materials will mainly focus on helping PhDs, postdocs, and academics transition to tech, life sciences, and consulting industries, job seekers at any level exploring a career pivot or looking to break into the industry can also benefit from this newsletter.
Note: This newsletter is free - money back if you don’t like it :)
Why I decided to start this?
Today, I receive numerous requests for informational interviews and I know there are many PhDs/postdocs/academics who are seeking similar advice and guidance. There is only so much impact I could make with 1:1 meetings and my limited experiences. That's why I started this newsletter. In addition to sharing my learnings so far, my goal is to share wisdom and insights from various business leaders, recruiters, and experts so anyone seeking advice can extract meaningful pieces for them, get exposed the variety of options in industry and truly begin to chart their own paths.
Podcast
You can find my intro podcast episode here:
All in all, I’m very excited to get started and look forward to your feedback and conversations, so welcome!
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Leaving Academia by Christopher I Caterine