PhD Transition Report On-Demand

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

• First, Isaiah presents the common briefs for industry presentations across positions
• Next, Isaiah discusses the questions you should ask when assigned an industry presentation
• Finally, Isaiah introduces the main mistakes that PhDs make when preparing an industry presentation

When it comes to creating effective industry presentations, you must consider what your audience wants to see. In this case, your audience is the company.

Most often, the hiring manager you’re in contact with will give you a short “brief” to help you prepare for the presentation.

The most common brief is simply: “Talk about yourself, your interests, and your work in ten minutes.”

Other common industry interview briefs include: “Discuss your work on XYZ and how it relates to our business model” or “Review a paper/clinical trial report and summarize the findings the way you would for one of our clients/partners.”

Occasionally, depending on the role, you may be specifically asked to give an hour-long presentation about your graduate or postdoc work, but this should not be assumed.

If you are asked to give an interview presentation, make sure you ask: How much time will I have for my presentation?Who will be sitting in on my presentation?Is there anything specific that my presentation should cover?

These questions will not only help you prepare for the presentation, they will also show initiative, which is a very positive transferable skill employers look for at the end of the interview process.

Effectively communicating during an interview presentation or otherwise, comes down to only two root considerations: your purpose and your audience.

When it comes to communicating your purpose, ask yourself, What goal do I want my presentation to accomplish? What is the main message I want to convey?

Your purpose should direct every decision you make about your presentation. It should guide what information you include in your slides, in what order you present your slides, and even how you speak.

Despite its importance, many PhDs fail to set a purpose for presentations, and the consequences of this are painfully obvious. The result is typically a presentation that explores topics and ideas without offering anything concrete to act on.

This is a cardinal sin for any industry role or company. The mantra of industry is “innovate or die.” Ideas, conclusions, and the like must be actionable.

Remember, if you don’t know what message you’re trying to get across as a presenter, your audience won’t either, and your presentation will fail.

Likewise, even the most well prepared presentation will lack impact if it doesn’t resonate with the audience.

Unfortunately, many PhDs focus only on what works for them when planning their presentation rather than what is best for their audience.

You should account for your audience in every decision you make about your presentation plan, from what time you present to what order you present your slides in.

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 Give An Industry Interview Presentation appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

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

• First, Isaiah explains why you need a job search strategy if you want to land a satisfying industry job
• Next, Isaiah talks about the importance of documenting your progress as part of your job search strategy
• Finally, Isaiah explains how networking fits into a well-executed job search strategy and why you can’t ignore this component

An industry job search, executed in the correct sequence, starts with understanding your career options and creating a job search strategy for those options.

In order to create an effective strategy, you must consider the sequence of your strategy. You cannot just haphazardly execute different job search-related activities at different times. Your approach must be organized.

You need to record your progress. At the very least you should   have   a   spreadsheet   with   5   columns:   Companies   of   Interest,   Job Postings or Informational Interview Notes, Company Contacts, Date You Last Followed Up, Next Follow Up Date.

To get hired, you have to design a campaign. You have to map out from A to Z what steps you are going to take, and you have to plan for contingencies. You cannot just fly by the seat of your pants.

You can’t wake up on Tuesday and submit a few resumes, do nothing to progress your transition Wednesday and Thursday, reach out to a few contacts on Friday (the worst day to reach out to people by the way), coast on the weekend, and then search for more online job postings on Monday.

Where   are  you documenting your progress? Where are you writing down your plans for each day of the month? Do you have a plan? Are you following a protocol? If not, it’s time to start doing so.

Once you have a strategy in place, you must grow and engage (or reengage) your network.

The major component of your networking efforts is following up consistently with an ever-growing list of contacts at the companies you want to work for, setting up informational interviews with these people, and gently guiding them to a position where you can ask them for a job referral.

If you want a job that pays well and allows you to do the best possible work you can do, you must get comfortable with the process of seeking job referrals. At the heart of any effective job search strategy is an intelligent networking strategy.

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 Creating A Job Search Strategy appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

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

• First, Isaiah explains why it’s so important to not only ask questions during interviews but to plan your questions ahead of time
• Next, Isaiah reveals the types of questions you should include and avoid during job interviews
• Finally, Isaiah presents the 8 topics that you should cover when asking interview questions

The quality of your candidacy for a position in industry is most clearly reflected in the quality of the questions you ask those interviewing you.

You must seize the opportunity in every interview to turn the tables on the interviewer. You must become the interviewer yourself by asking questions that engage the other person and showcase your professionalism, business acumen, and overall understanding of the role, the company, and industry itself.

Asking questions shows you’ve thought about and are committed to the position at hand. Asking questions also allows you to find out whether the position and company are truly a good fit for you.

The key is to ask questions that the interviewer can answer—and wants to answer.

Don’t ask heavy-handed, rationale-based questions (e.g., “why” questions, such as “Why is the company doing this?”), technical questions, behavioral questions, or any question that may require the interviewer to reveal something proprietary.

Instead, ask simple, straightforward “how” questions, “what” questions, and questions about the company’s culture. The company’s responses to these questions will paint a picture of what working for the company would look like for you to make it easier to decide if you would thrive there.

When it’s your turn to ask the employer questions during an interview, there are eight topics your questions should focus on.

1. Hierarchy – Who will I be reporting to?
2. Mergers and Acquisitions – What collaborations are underway?
3. Restructuring – How is the company being restructured?
4. Career Trajectory – Where have others in this position gone?
5. Emerging Markets – Where is the client base expanding?
6. Sales and Marketing – Which products are creating growth?
7. New Product/Projects – What new products are coming out?
8. Corporate Strategy – What are the company’s five-year goals?

You should always end each interview by asking a question that prompts the interviewer to discuss any objections they might have to hiring you, such as, “Are there any reasons why you wouldn’t hire me?”

By planning your questions in advance and asking them during your interview, you will further establish your credibility as the best candidate for the job.

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 Questions Employers Want Job Candidates To Ask During Interviews appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

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

• First, Isaiah describes the wrong strategy that many PhDs use when looking to potential target companies
• Next, Isaiah discloses how you should change that strategy to find companies that are a better fit
• Finally, Isaiah explains why you should not only consider but also favor small and midsize companies in your job search

If you’re like me when I started my first industry job search, the extent of your online research for companies that would hire you was typing “top jobs” into a search window and pressing enter.

Maybe you went one step further and typed “top jobs UK” or “top companies UK.” Or maybe you just typed in “job openings.” Whatever the specific case, this is a very poor job search strategy and a very poor research strategy in general.

You can’t find unique opportunities specific to your situation by relying on short-tail keywords. Short-tail keywords are not specific; therefore, they’re likely to pull up many results but few that fit you, your goals, and your overall circumstances.

Long-tail keywords, on the other hand, provide very specific information as an input to the search browser and yield very specific information to you that fits your very specific situation.

So, instead of searching “top jobs” or “top companies UK,” try searching things like “midsize engineering companies, greater London area” or “fast growing R&D companies, Manchester” or “small biotech companies, project manager, Sydney.”

These long-tail keywords will inevitably turn up aggregated lists of companies you’ve never heard of. Did you get that? These lists have already been aggregated for you.

By using long-tail keywords in your research efforts, you’ll go beyond just identifying the same handful of companies that everyone already knows—Pfizer, Intel, Apple, Google, Amazon

When you start searching for small to midsize companies as well, you reveal millions of other companies in your space ready to hire you right now.

Small to midsize companies are often in the fastest part of the industry growth phase, which means they are hiring aggressively.

You might want to work for a large company, and that’s certainly an option. But does the company size alone matter?

Small companies can have anywhere from 10 to 1,000 employees and midsize companies go up to several thousand employees.

Even if you get hired at a very large Global 500 company, you’re only going to be working with a few hundred to a few thousand people in one office building.

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 Find Target Companies appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

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

• First, Isaiah does a quick review of the hiring funnel
• Next, Isaiah reveals how you can leverage the information you add to your resume to increase your chances of wowing employers down the line
• Finally, Isaiah explains why the resume will never die and why you should always apply to any position with a targeted and convincing resume

There are layers and layers of barriers between your resume and a hiring manager, recruiter, or any gatekeeper.

Large companies can receive up to two thousand resumes per open position with the average sitting at 250 applications per open position. Only three or four of those candidates will be interviewed face-to-face, by video or in person. That’s a 98.4% drop-off rate.

Importantly, your resume will follow you through the entire hiring process. It will be one of the first things an employer sees about you and the very last thing they pass around the hiring committee table after your site visit when deciding whether to extend you a job offer.

A good resume is not enough to get you hired, but a bad one can keep you from getting hired.

Even if your resume gets into the hands of a hiring manager and you’re contacted for a phone screen, most of the questions you will be asked on that initial call will stem from your resume.

If you wrote your resume correctly, you’ll be prepared for every question the employer asks. That’s right. You can use your resume to play a game of inception with employers by putting content that makes them ask for clarification on points that you can back up strongly.

The same is true of video interviews and in-person interviews; employers will go back to your resume during these stages of the hiring funnel. Your resume will be passed around the hiring committee table after every interview is over. It’ll be the very last touchpoint employers have with you prior to deciding whether to extend you a job offer.

Think about it. Not everyone who is on the hiring committee will meet you. Instead, they will have to rely on word of mouth from those who have met you—and from what they read about you on your resume.

One of the reasons your resume is so important is because of how easily it can be passed on. Regardless of how powerful LinkedIn has become in the world of talent acquisition, the resume will never die.

This is because a resume is short and succinct. It can easily be printed and passed hand to hand between people on the hiring committee very quickly.

Ultimately, your resume is subjective leverage that you control. It’s a persuasive marketing document that should build the strongest case possible for why you’re the best fit for that position.

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 Is Your Resume Persuasive? appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

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

• First, Isaiah explains how a cover letter can make your job application stronger
• Next, Isaiah reviews the information you should include in your cover letter
• Finally, Isaiah presents the two main formats you can use for your cover letter

Including a cover letter in your job application will make you stand out from other job candidates. It’s also a great way to prepare your rationale for why you want the job in the first place and why you are the best candidate for the job.

The most important thing to bear in mind when sending a cover letter is that you should address it to an actual person. You want to avoid using vague, general salutations like “To Whom It May Concern” because such introductions indicate laziness, disinterest, and disrespect.

If you can’t even put forth the effort to find out who will be reading the cover letter, how will you ever convince them to hire you? Today, many job postings, especially those on LinkedIn, mention who is responsible for hiring for the position.

You cover letter should only be one page. If it’s longer, you must shorten it. You need to show respect for the hiring manager’s time by only including information that’s relevant to the job and using short, easy-to-read paragraphs with lots of white space around your text.

The first paragraph should mention three things: the person who referred you for the job, the position you are applying to, and the name of the company offering the position.

The second paragraph should detail how your experience matches the role you want, including what differentiates you from other job candidates. Here, focus on what makes you uniquely fitted for the role.

The third paragraph should move beyond your unique skills and experiences and explain how you and your personal working style will fit into the company’s culture. This paragraph is where you should showcase your knowledge of the company’s mission statement, corporate strategy, values, and, again, culture.

There are only two cover letter templates you should consider: the standard business format and the newer, very popular T-format.

The standard business format includes the three written paragraphs we just discussed, as well as formal address and signature sections. The entire letter is left justified except for your name and contact details at the very top, which are right justified.

The T-format, on the other hand, completely replaces the second paragraph with a two-column table. In the left-hand column, you add the most important transferable and technical skills and requirements listed in the job description. In the right-hand column, you match these requirements with your qualifications by discussing the skills and experiences you have that exactly match the requirements, as well as the relevant skills and experiences you have, and the skills you have the ability to learn. The rest of the T-format is the same as the standard business.

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 Cover Letter 101 appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

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

• First, Isaiah explains how timidity can set your back in your job search
• Next, Isaiah explores why showing certainty instead of timidity is especially important at the interview stage
• Finally, Isaiah discloses how you come across to employers when you show uncertainty at a job interview

Timidity destroys careers. This isn’t just a cute saying. It’s reality.

How timidly are you communicating your skills and results on your resume? How timidly are you reaching out to connections on LinkedIn? How timidly are you communicating your competency to employers during interviews?

Your timidity is likely a way of protecting yourself. By not going all in on your job search, you think it will hurt less if you get rejected. You think you’ll protect yourself from tough questions about your skills and expertise. So, you pull back, or you posture.

Why would you work so hard to finally talk to an employer only to pretend like you don’t really want the job in the first place? How could you possibly get on a phone or video interview without being 100% ready to articulate why you are the very best person for the job and why you really, really want the job?

The main reason employers are interviewing you is to gauge your desire for the role. Only once they know you really want to work with them will they move on to evaluating your fit for the role.

When interviewing, you better have dozens of reasons written down for why you’re the best person for the job and why working at that company is your number one choice.

Every company you apply to can be your first choice for at least one reason because every company wins in the marketplace in at least one area or they wouldn’t be in business in the first place. Even if another company is your top choice holistically, there is at least one thing about every company you’re interested in that they’re better at than any other company.

Find that reason and lean on it. You must believe that the company across from you is highly desirable. They have to be your first choice for some reason. You must really want the job in front of you, and it has to show. You have to believe it.

How can you expect an employer to extend you a job offer if they aren’t certain that you will likely take it? You must project certainty at all times. You must convince them that you want the job and build a case for why you want it and why you’re the best person for it.

Hiring managers and recruiters will know that you’re a phony and that you’re not serious if you don’t truly commit to the job at hand.

They will know that you’re unsure of yourself or unsure about whether you should work for them. And if they detect that you’re unsure, they will see no reason to continue the job search process with you.

Of course, none of this means you can’t get additional offers and continue interviewing elsewhere. It doesn’t mean you can’t leverage multiple offers against each other. It also doesn’t mean you want to work at the company you’re interviewing with forever and ever.

But if you’re there now, investing your time and taking their time, you better know why you want to work at that company, where they win in the marketplace, and how you can help them win more in the marketplace.

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 Don’t Play Hard To Get In Your Job Search appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

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

• First, Isaiah presents the law of relaxed productivity and its two main components: efficiency and effectiveness
• Next, Isaiah gives an example that illustrates the importance of balancing efficiency and effectiveness to increase productivity
• Finally, Isaiah discusses how to combine effectiveness and efficacy to achive maximum productivity, thus getting the best of the law of relaxed productivity

Your job search doesn’t need to be stressful. Even if you need a job yesterday, you can still get hired by executing a relaxed, yet productive job search. The key is learning the law of relaxed productivity.

The law of relaxed productivity states: The more effective your process is, the more productive you will be. The more efficient your process is, the more relaxed you will be.

The key to being productive and relaxed at the same time is to be as effective and efficient as possible at the same time. Anyone can be either effective or efficient; few can do both simultaneously.

Let’s look at an example from Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln once wrote, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.”

What did he mean by this? Why was balancing the time spent sharpening and the time spent chopping important? The answer lies in balancing effectiveness with efficiency.

Let’s say swinging the ax consistently to hit the tree in the same spot over and over again was a measure of efficiency while the number of times the ax was swung before the tree finally fell was a measure of effectiveness. The more consistently the ax was swung, the more efficient the ax swinger was. The fewer times the ax was swung, the more effective the ax swinger was.

An efficient but ineffective person would sharpen the ax briefly and spend the majority of his time swinging consistently against the tree in the same spot. The amount of time he spent sharpening his ax doesn’t matter in this case because the ax swinger was going for maximum efficiency only.

An effective but inefficient person, on the other hand, would sharpen the ax for nearly the full six hours and then hack away at the tree like a mad man to chop it down in a few minutes (possibly cutting off his leg or giving himself a heart attack in the process).

Lincoln would do things differently, he would spend the first four hours sharpening his ax (to allow for effective chopping) and the last two cutting down the tree (to allow for efficient chopping). In the mind of Lincoln, both effectiveness and efficiency are necessary for peak performance.

Lincoln favors effectiveness over efficiency 2:1 when it comes to performing well.

If you follow Lincoln’s practical model of peak performance—valuing both effectiveness and efficiency but favoring the former 2:1—you will not only excel in every area of your life, you will perfectly follow the law of being relaxed and productive at the same time.

This balance between effectiveness and efficiency is at the heart of pragmatic action. A pragmatist is not an extremist. Instead, she is someone who leverages the right method in the right way and at the right time to achieve the right results in your job search.

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 Law Of Relaxed Productivity appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

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

• First, Isaiah tells the story of a PhD who transitioned by redefining her professional brand
• Next, Isaiah reveals why being a mysterious candidate will only hurt your chances of getting an industry position
• Finally, Isaiah explores what employers think of PhD candidate who fail to define a professional brand

I remember when I started working with Nathalie, a PhD and good friend who is now a Director at a major pharmaceutical company. She was in academia for over 17 years after getting her PhD, thirteen of which she spent as a professor.

When Nathalie and I first talked, she was convinced she had spent too much time in academia to ever get into industry. She wondered how anyone would see her as more than an academic professor.

But not only could we adjust her LinkedIn profile to showcase her as a credible industry professional using the language of industry but we could also reinvent her overall professional brand to showcase her as director-level material given her extensive experience.

Shortly after rebranding Nathalie, she was hired as an Associate Director and has since been promoted to Director with a Vice President position in her sights.

No one wants to work with, let alone hire, a mysterious person. When it comes to hiring, industry employers are risk-adverse. If they can’t figure you out, they will not risk hiring you and putting you on their team.

By failing to communicate a clear professional brand, you fail to sell yourself to the employer. From the employer’s point of view, if you’re incapable of articulating who you are and what you stand for, you’re also incapable of doing the work at hand.

There are only three ways a PhD comes across to an employer when they fail to communicate a clear professional brand: annoying, awkward, or intimidating. You may not have these traits, but I assure you that as a PhD, if you don’t define and communicate a clear professional brand, you’ll be perceived as having them, especially by people who are not PhDs.

Would you want to work with someone you couldn’t figure out? Would you want to sit next to a colleague you perceived as annoying, awkward, or intimidating? Absolutely not. Instead, you’d want to work with someone who’s approachable and who you know how to approach, which is what professional branding provides.

Professional branding also encompasses rebranding yourself from an academic researcher to a credible industry professional. This is something you can do before getting hired in industry, regardless of how long you’ve been in academia.

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 Take The Mystery Out Of The Job Search appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

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

• First, Isaiah discusses the first bad trait of unproductive people: indecisiveness
• Next, Isaiah discusses the second bad trait of unproductive people: not keeping a consistent schedule
• Next, Isaiah discusses the first bad trait of unproductive people: not knowing how to prioritize

There are three key traits that unproductive people have in common (other than not getting hired).

First, unproductive people make up their minds slowly and change their minds often. Due to this inability to decide quickly and firmly, they end up being far less successful in life than decisive people.

Unproductive people don’t keep a consistent schedule. The problem with never keeping a schedule or never sticking with a routine is that each time you vary from the routine, you have to make a decision on what to do next.

These decisions reduce your mental energy stores. Remember, you only have so much willpower each day. You have a set number of willpower units you can use.

Once your willpower units are used up, your mind is weak. You’ll make bad decisions. Like eating a whole box of cookies before bed. Or staying out late Friday night after a hard week at the office. I know—it happens. The best strategy for avoiding decision fatigue is to fill your life with healthy habits.

Unproductive people are horrible at prioritization. If you want to start being more productive in your job search, you need to start prioritizing. You need to start organizing your day sequentially based on your top priorities.

What you spend the most of your time doing is your top priority. You might say something noble is your priority. You might think it’s your top priority. But if you’re not spending most of your time on it—guess what—it’s not your priority.

Start putting first things first. Spend time on whatever your top career and life priorities are first thing in the morning. Do what’s most important when your brain is at its best. Before your willpower units are used up. Then do the second most important thing. Then the third most important thing. And so on.

Unfortunately, unproductive people always avoid the most difficult task of the day. If you want to start being more productive, start doing the thing you dread the most first. Choose the item you want to do the least and execute it in full force.

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 Traits Of Unproductive People appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.