PhD Transition Report On-Demand

A Technology Transfer Officer, or TTO for short, works with the process of transferring scientific findings from one organization to another for further development and commercialization.

PhDs are in high demand for these positions because companies need people that know the academic system well and have the background it takes to understand complex systems and technology.

TTOs help research findings and intellectual property pass from creators (such as universities and research institutions) to the public and private sectors.

You can find TTO positions at nonprofit organizations, startups, large companies, and most research universities.

The second IP role for PhDs is Patent Agent. Patent Agents often work in law offices or the legal department of large corporations.

They partner with inventors, researchers, and attorneys to evaluate invention technology, assess patentability, draft patent applications, and then analyze and respond to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Next the Patent Examiner role deals directly with a patent’s claims, working to determine the worth of these different claims.

These Patent Examiners, who are increasingly being called Patent analysts, decide whether or not there are objections to a patent’s claims and then help solve any objections in a collaborative way with the patent’s agents.

Usually, a patent examiner works in a government office.

You’ll need to pass the patent bar exam or its equivalent in your country of employment.

The most common path for PhDs to become IP lawyers is to gain experience as patent agents and then have a company sponsor their law degree.

Next, IP Consultants, often called Scientific Consultants provide guidance on complex matters of innovation and research, they sometimes look to a consultant rather than hiring a new employee.

These consultants are independent agents who work with a variety of companies to offer advice, lead experiments, analyze data, and present information to a company’s employees.

Working as an IP Consultant can offer a chance to travel, learn new skills and work on a range of different innovative projects.

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** 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.

The post 4 In-Demand Intellectual Property Positions For PhDs appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

In this week’s episode:

You made a connection on LinkedIn that you’re excited about – great! 

But… now what? 

There’s much more to building relationships on LinkedIn than just making a connection. 

Your network is just a list of names on a page if you’re clicking the “Connect” button and walking away. 

These connections are relationships, and they need to be nurtured.

If you’re wondering how to carry a conversation forward with a connection after connecting, take the focus off yourself and put it on the other person.

For example, your new LinkedIn connection may have a job you would love to have or may work at a company you would love to work for, or both. 

If that’s not the case, then scour their LinkedIn profile for other insights and things you may have in common. 

Every contact’s LinkedIn profile is, by design, full of insights into their personality, career, and education. 

So start there. 

Then move to other aspects like volunteering experience, Groups, and Top Voices you may have in common. 

You might have connected with Ethan because he has the position you’re hoping to apply to, but what else has he shared about himself? 

Does his account activity reveal anything that he cares about? 

Does he have any contacts in common with you? 

Do you share any interests with one another? 

If you want your contacts on LinkedIn to engage with you, then you need to offer value. 

There are different ways you can do this. 

A compliment is a great place to start if you’re stumped, but you can also ask questions (just one, not a list of 10) about what they’re working on that they’re excited about or what skills they had to develop to get great at their job. 

Asking one question per message is more likely to lead to a response than asking many questions or just making a statement. 

Think of it as a game of pong. 

You ask a question, they answer. 

You ask a follow-up question that’s just a bit more detailed, they answer. 

And so on. 

Your questions should be thoughtful, tailored to your connection, and always more professionally intimate. 

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** 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.

The post How To Kill Your LinkedIn Connections (Don’t Do This!) appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

In this week’s episode:

PhDs have many more transferable skills than they realize.

But, in academia, there’s one key skill they don’t teach you: self-promotion.

You may hate the idea of promoting yourself, or worse- selling yourself.

But that’s exactly what you need to get good at if you want to convince employers they need you.

Not an excitable person?

It doesn’t matter. Do some research on the company and find things to get excited about.

Make a list of what you like about the company and the people at the company. Make a list of questions.

Choose to be enthusiastic.

Your authenticity will signal that you’re a candidate employers should be excited about in turn.

The second step to selling yourself to an employer is to be cordial.

This hiring manager might want to ramble – let them. Make eye contact with them.

Have a genuine conversation.

Put your best, most amicable foot forward, because employers want to know that you’re the type of person they can be around for 8 hours a day or more without going insane.

They also want to know that you can get along with other personality types, like those on your future team and future clients you may be exposed to, or who may be exposed to you.

They’re going to object to you coming on board.

“Why should we hire you if have no experience?”

“What would you do if faced with this type of problem, which you’ve clearly never faced before?”

“But you don’t have these skills…”

If an employer is actually interested in hiring you, they’re going to ask you tough questions.

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** 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.

The post Are Employers Buying What You’re Selling? appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

Here’s a quick rundown on this week’s episode:

Turning down a job should be done with as much care as you applied to your resume, your interview process or your salary negotiations. 

Why? 

Because you don’t want to shut the door on the company or the people you met during the hiring process. 

Studies show that you’ll end up getting 20 job offers throughout your career. So knowing how to turn down a job offer makes sense. 

This is true even if the role turns out to be a bad fit. 

You put in a lot of work to get the offer – make it count for something. 

First, even if you’re turning down the job, don’t lose touch with the people you met along the way. 

If you haven’t already, add those who interviewed you as connections on LinkedIn. 

Keep them in your professional network for the future. You will want to reconnect with them at the company later or reintroduce yourself to them once they change companies down the road. 

Either way, the hiring industry for PhDs is small and people talk, so above all be professional. 

Second, let the employer know about your decision as soon as possible. 

They have a position to fill, so don’t wait until the last minute to let them know that you won’t be the one to fill it. 

Consider that the employer invested plenty of their time with you during the interview process, and they’re probably excited to have you on their team. 

Here, etiquette strongly favors delivering your declination over a phone call as opposed to email. 

It’s normal to feel anxious about what you’ll say. Writing what you want to say ahead of time is not a bad idea. 

If you call but don’t reach them, leave a voicemail and then send an email as soon as you get off the phone. 

Mention in your message that you tried to catch them over the phone but wasn’t able to reach them. In your voicemail and email, or over the phone, start by thanking them for the offer. 

Try saying this or similar: “Thank you for your generous offer to join XYZ Company as an ABC. I sincerely appreciate the offer and your interest in hiring me. While this role seems like a great opportunity, I’ve decided to go in a different direction.” 

Keep the reason general and don’t tell them specifics about why you’re not accepting the position.

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** 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.

The post The Safest Way To Turn Down A Job Offer appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

Here’s a quick rundown on this week’s episode:

When it comes to getting hired in industry, how you communicate your skills is everything. 

In industry-speak, your skills make up a large part of your professional brand. 

In fact, the majority of our Fortune 500 employer partners tell us repeatedly that having a clear brand matters when hiring a PhD. 

If you aren’t articulating a clear brand – in other words, if you’re not communicating your skills so employers understand your value – then you’re being misunderstood. 

So how do you communicate your professional brand? 

With your resume, LinkedIn profile, cover letter and other practical parts of the job search.

Your brand also defines your target audience. 

If you were a business, your audience would be your customer or your target market. 

As a PhD in industry, your target audiences are employers and employees at your companies of interest. 

You might have been asking yourself, how do I create a clear professional brand?

Whether we realize it or not, we all already have a professional brand – one we’ve created with our family, spouses, employers, friends, neighbors, and so on. 

Everyone we interact with has an impression of who we are based on how we respond to other people and events. 

The key is to invest in knowing yourself by asking yourself what matters to you and your target audience. 

Focus on the specific values and skills that both you and target employers care about. 

Once you know how you feel and think, you’re more likely to come across as genuine. 

There is a certain level of authenticity that is required here. 

You can’t just fake being someone else to get hired. 

It’s important to learn to speak the language of the industry you want to get into and truly enjoy speaking and understanding it at a higher level. 

You have to embody the culture of the companies you most want to be a part of. 

Anything less and you’ll come across as inauthentic, which is particularly disastrous during interviews. 

…

** 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.

The post Do Employers Even Understand What You’re Saying? appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

Here’s a quick rundown on this week’s episode:

In this rapidly changing market, getting your resume in the right hands is a team sport. 

What do I mean by that? 

According to Forbes, only 23% of applicants that apply through a job board get hired. 

So, how are the other 77% of candidates getting hired? 

The answer is referrals.

Despite this, only 7% of applicants apply with a referral. 

So, today let’s talk about how you can land a referral for a job in just 5 steps using LinkedIn. 

The first thing you need to do is create a list of 5 to 10 companies you’d like to work for. 

Do your research – explore not only the job titles, but the company’s values. 

Then, search for employees at your level; LinkedIn members are more likely to respond to requests from people they consider colleagues. 

If you’re not directly connected with them, see if you have mutual connections – this will increase your odds of a response even more. 

If you don’t have mutual connections, introduce yourself to people that they’re connected to. 

Once you’ve connected, ask for an introduction to your now mutual connection.  

If they agree, your first message should be a casual yet polite approach. 

Favor friendly, easy-going language over stiff, formal speech: “Hi” should trump “Hello”; “Best regards” is a better fit than “Respectfully yours.” 

In the body of the message, add value to your conversation: congratulate your new connection on a recent accomplishment or promotion; comment on an article they’ve published. 

This adds value which creates common ground and increases a person’s willingness to help.

The fourth step is to work up to an informational interview. 

Keep the conversation with your new connection alive by asking simple, thoughtful questions. 

Feed into your connection’s interests by asking them about a field, organization, or hobby they’re actively involved in – they’re profile page will offer you clues. 

When you ask if you can connect with them for a one-on-one chat, make your request specific. 

An informational interview is your chance to earn the referral you’ve been working toward. 

Start by asking questions about your connection: Where did you grow up? Do they have any hobbies? 

Next, move to questions regarding their company and current position. 

How do they like the role? What is their day-to-day like? What can they tell you about their career trajectory there? 

Then, in the final stages of the interview, ask for their advice. 

…

** 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.

The post 5 Powerful Ways To Get A LinkedIn Referral  appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

Here’s a quick rundown on this week’s episode:

Do you love research, but dread the idea of conducting even one more experiment? 

There are plenty of careers for PhDs in research that don’t require you to be chained to a bench. 

Let’s start with market research. 

When it comes to marketing, the job market is consistently growing. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that employment in this sector will grow by 8% in the next 10 years. 

PhDs are particularly well-positioned for roles in marketing research thanks to their ability to learn complex systems and communicate their knowledge effectively. 

Marketing positions allow PhDs to establish and maintain professional relationships with researchers, healthcare professionals, and other business entities. 

You might spearhead product plans that result in the highest profit margin possible or apply your penchant for digesting complex information and communicating across departments to develop innovative products. 

Even if you’re unsure about remaining in marketing for your entire career, it’s a great place to start. 

Another career path for researchers that leads away from the bench is called user experience. 

Called UX for short, this is considered one of the fastest growing jobs on the market. 

We often think that user experience is something that only app developers and video game designers are concerned with.

It’s actually a very broad field. 

UX is part of just about everything we interface with on a daily basis – from software to apps and services and stores. 

UX is the bridge between the product and its target customer. 

They help all departments within a company better understand the product through the lens of the end user. 

UX positions sit at the intersection of research and business. 

You’ll be valued as a researcher and problem-solver, and seen as a subject matter expert. 

PhDs are highly sought after for UX positions. This is because of their ability to understand and perform quantitative and qualitative research. 

Clinical Research Associate and Clinical Research Project Management roles combined are another great choice for STEM PhDs. 

The industry is booming, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop growing anytime soon. 

Last year there were around 400,000 registered clinical trials. 

So far this year, there are well over 420,000 newly registered clinical trials. 

Many PhDs think that only physicians and pharmacists are hired into clinical positions, but this is not true. 

Clinical Research Scientists are the ones to collect, analyze, and interpret the data, but as a Clinical Research Associate you would be in charge of overseeing the clinical study process. 

Other researchers, such as data managers, collect, analyze, and interpret study data. 

They get to design the framework, analyze and interpret data, and maintain data security for the research.

…

** 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.

The post 3 Non-Bench Careers For STEM PhDs appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

Here’s a quick rundown on this week’s episode:

Applying for the right job at the right time isn’t enough in today’s job market. 

85% of jobs today are found through networking, and a whopping 70% are never made public. 

Candidates need access to this hidden job market now more than ever before. 

That’s where networking comes in. 

The question is: Are you making the most of your online reputation and leveraging your contacts? 

It’s time to check your current networking strategy against these dos and don’ts and adjust accordingly. 

The first thing I see PhDs doing wrong is that they try to come across as if they wear all the hats. 

Don’t do this. 

Employers aren’t looking for jacks of all trades anymore. 

What they want is an expert in their field — a professional who will add definite value to their brand and their goals. 

To establish yourself as the expert that employers are looking for, you need to redefine your personal brand. 

The framework of this personal brand consists of your value, your audience, and your priorities. 

Answer this question yourself and start sharing the results with potential employers online. 

Use your LinkedIn profile and personal website to align yourself with the qualities you are seeing in job advertisements. 

The second thing you want to avoid is clicking “Connect” on LinkedIn and just walking away. 

Nurture your network. 

Professional relationships, just like personal relationships, require work. 

Connecting is only the beginning of your journey with a network contact. 

Add value to knowing you by acknowledging your connection’s accomplishments, sharing articles with them that they might find interesting, or introducing them to your connections if you think they might benefit from knowing one another. 

Keep in touch with your contacts, as organically as possible, to keep your name top-of-mind when professional opportunities arise. 

…

The fourth thing I want you to avoid is networking without a clear goal. 

The connections you’re making should be added with the goal of coaxing informational interviews and referrals from them. 

After you’ve exchanged a few messages that added value to them, not you, it’s time to ask for an informational interview. 

If an informational interview goes well, it’s time to consider asking if your contact would be willing to let you use their name as a referral. 

Don’t forget, referrals are the end goal of the exchange – they’re responsible for more than 75% of the jobs landed that are made public, and the professional relationship itself is the ultimate end goal of every conversation. 

** 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.

The post Being A “Jack Of All Trades” And Other Networking Traps To Avoid appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

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

You’ve heard it before and may have even said so during a job interview.

Many PhDs mistakenly think that being a perfectionist is a worthy quality.

But research shared by Harvard Business Review might have you thinking twice about this, especially regarding a job search.

Psychologists have devoted nearly 100 studies to this topic, and the results reveal some surprising statistics about perfectionism in the workplace.

Psychologists have shown that perfectionism can be broken down into two types: excellence-seeking and failure-avoiding.

People who were identified as excellence-seeking were amenable to working longer hours, were described as highly motivated, and reportedly very engaged.

Failure-avoiding perfectionism, on the other hand, involves an obsessive aversion to failure.

This type of perfectionist is preoccupied with their work being “good enough,” and often worries they are being judged.

They may be aware of areas they could improve, but instead, they focus their energy on hiding what they perceive to be faulted.

This type is generally uncomfortable trying new things and rarely expresses pride in their work or accomplishments.

And do you know what a perfectionist does when they don’t know how to avoid rejection?

They do nothing.

That’s why I want you to reframe how you see failure.

I want you to replace the idea of failure with the opportunity to learn something new.

A beginner’s mindset – the ability to see what might have been wrong, tweak the formula, and try again – is what will get you into the job you want in industry.

…

** 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.

The post Excellence-Seeking Vs Failure-Avoiding Perfectionism appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

Here’s a quick rundown on this week’s episode:

Is it starting to feel like your job search has stalled out? 

Do you wish there was some kind of hack you could use to break the slump? 

If so, I want to invite you to do something new. The following simple and likely for you, novel, strategies, will help you gain momentum. 

First, try going out for coffee. Invite a recent connection, or maybe one you haven’t touched base with in a while, out to a local coffeehouse. 

There are also virtual coffeehouses that you can invite people to today. 

Send them a $5 cup of coffee and ask to pick their brains about their current industry role. 

You’d be surprised at what industry professionals can tell you about their role, hiring secrets, and even unlisted job opportunities at their company. 

Meeting connections for coffee is also a great way to build genuine rapport with them. 

Plus, you know, coffee. 

Is a position you want about to have an opening?

If you’re up for a little detective work, there’s a strategy you can use to find out.

When you make a connection on LinkedIn, you’re notified of updates in their career. 

Ergo, if you follow someone with a position that you’d like to apply for and that person changes roles, that means their role is now open. 

Connecting with others in your industry – especially those at your target company – who have the same title you’d like to have, is an excellent way to get the inside scoop about openings. 

Another job search hack that not enough people know the value of is contract work. 

Temp agencies might sound like a last resort, but the truth is that a quality staffing agency is a great tool that helps major employers screen the talent they need quickly. 

If you’re confident about the caliber of your work and treat a contract position conscientiously, a contract job can become a permanent position. 

What’s great about working with an agency is that recruiters really advocate for their talent pool in terms of pay, hours, benefits and working conditions. 

The last out-of-the-box tip I have for you is to connect with the administrative assistants at the offices you’re interested in working at. 

The front office staff is very closely connected to HR and the company’s hiring managers. They interact with one another constantly on any given day. 

Introducing yourself to administrative and front office staff will make you 100% more visible to a hiring manager.

This becomes pretty valuable to you when a position at that company opens up. 

Give your job search a refresh by trying some of these out-of-the-box approaches. You’ll be sure to get unstuck and gain momentum. 

…

** 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.

The post Out-Of-The-Box Strategies For Today’s Tight Job Market appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.