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**PhD Transition Report On-Demand**

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How To Deflect Comfortably When Employers Push You To Negotiate Verbally Sep 14, 2021

Show notes

Join Isaiah as he reveals how PhDs can deflect comfortably when employers push them to negotiate verbally early in the interview

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

First, Isaiah explains why PhDs should practice to negotiate well ahead of time
Next, Isaiah reveals what it takes to negotiate
Finally, Isaiah describes when PhDs should negotiate and how to deflect

From This Week’s Show…

Why Should PhDs Use Practice Negotiation Well Ahead

Negotiation is tricky. Orchestrate it well. The most uncomfortable part of negotiating is deflecting the employer’s attempts to get you to zero in on a number before they give you a written offer. There is immense discomfort in deflecting because we haven’t practiced negotiation. PhDs don’t negotiate. We don’t want to play games.

Negotiation is not a game or a trick. It is a transferable skill, a communication strategy. Prepare for negotiation well ahead. During the course of the interview this stage may come sooner. And then all of a sudden everything becomes urgent. But you really have to go deeper into how the conversation progresses, what the scripts look like? Get comfortable, don’t be surprised.

So many of us learn very topically to give the response. I will consider any reasonable offer. But get overthrown when the initial deflection is not respected.

What It Takes To Negotiate

You might have to deflect dozens of times, 30 or 40 different times in a series of conversations during a panel interview. Initial deflection may not always work. Recruiters have responded that they can’t move ahead in the interview without knowing the number. Would you just give in or agree to a number or give a range? Just because you are so terrified that they could withdraw the offer or shut down the entire interview.

Book learning negotiation is not as effective as practicing and getting comfortable. Behaviorally getting into the situation, having to feel the uncomfortable feelings and going through that over and over again until it becomes okay. That’s what it takes to negotiate. Failing to negotiate proves devastating to both your income and your career. Negotiation is a norm in the industry. You are expected to negotiate. You’re more likely to come across as unqualified, desperate, easy to replace if you don’t negotiate.

Deal making is a key transferable skill. Those at the top of any company have mastered this skill of networking. Negotiation and deal making are two skills that will drive you to the top of industry. And so as you stay in industry on a long enough timeline, those two skills, they’re the ones that will matter in terms of being promoted.

When To Negotiate And How To Deflect

Be ready to deflect prior to having a written offer. Most PhDs erroneously believe that negotiation only comes into play later in the interview. Never bring up salary or concrete numbers until you’ve received the written offer. Know that the entire hiring process involves negotiation. During every interaction with the company, you should be building a case for why you’re the best person for their open position. Increase your perceived value and create leverage for later salary discussions. Be aware that the company will try to negotiate salary with you by giving you a written offer. Any number you provide in this context will hurt you.

You should never negotiate without a written offer because you have no leverage. You should prepare to deflect early attempts. So every attempt without a written offer, you may have to deflect dozens of times to the same person. Deflect, don’t be uncomfortable. Or you will not get your worth. Keep the discussion relaxed and conversational. If you find yourself getting uptight, take a step back mentally and relax. Get back to a calm place. Practice deflecting by answering a question with another question approach.

Ask questions with curiosity in a conversational way. It puts the impetus on the other person to decide. They’re trying to get numbers and do calculations. Recruiters will ask you about your salary expectations. Deflect by saying I haven’t thought about this much yet. I’m more concerned about learning who I’ll be working with, learning more about the team. If you go right into negotiation, you’re talking about money, it’s going to make you look greedy and weaken your negotiation position. Stay focused on the team. Everything you want to learn.

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

To get advanced access to the full length versions of these podcasts, as well as access to our live training webinars, exclusive training videos, case studies, industry insider documents, transition plan, and private online network, get on the waitlist for the Cheeky Scientist Association now.

The post How To Deflect Comfortably When Employers Push You To Negotiate Verbally appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

The Best Note To Send With Your LinkedIn Connection Requests Sep 07, 2021

Show notes

Join Isaiah as he reveals how PhDs can add value in their LinkedIn connection requests to connect with industry professionals and get hired

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

First, Isaiah explains why PhDs need to add a note to their LinkedIn connection request
Next, Isaiah reveals how PhDs can add value to their connection request
Finally, Isaiah describes the three types of professionals PhDs must reach out to on LinkedIn

From This Week’s Show…

Why Should PhDs Use A Connection Note For Connecting On LinkedIn

LinkedIn connection request is the first step to networking on LinkedIn. But how do you connect with people on LinkedIn? How do we specifically reach out to the right people? How can we get them to accept our connection request? You must also know about the kind of obstacles that LinkedIn creates to throttle us from reaching out too much. LinkedIn has to create a better user experience even for the person on the other side. Hence, it creates some obstacles. It is a good practice to send a connection note to the industry professional instead of merely sending a connection request.

Not everyone has the same level of patience. Especially if they don’t have a PhD and they don’t understand your condition. Often they may not have the time to respond at all. Don’t focus on yourself. Focus on them. A lot of PhDs write a whole paragraph about themselves and their technical skills.

The reason is because we wait until we’re desperate for a job.

How To Add Value In Your LinkedIn Connection Request

Stop focusing on yourself. You need to add value to the other person even in your LinkedIn connection requests. The only way to avoid desperate messages is to do things correctly when there’s low pressure and you have plenty of time to do it. When you can take a step back and focus on the other person, you can add value. How can you add value ? There’s a variety of ways to do this. It depends on the type of person you’re reaching out to. You can show appreciation as a colleague. Appreciation is the best value you could add to somebody who just got into their first industry role or their first promotion.

You can compliment their work, congratulate them on their career progress. You could ask them for their personal opinion or advice. So in an unsolicited fashion, give them a chance to give you advice. You can also offer to introduce them to somebody you do know with a shared interest.

Your LinkedIn connection request must have a rationale. And that rationale has to be specific for the person.

The Three Types Of People PhDs Should Be Reaching Out To

There’s three types of people you should be reaching out to at every single company you’re interested in. You should be reaching out to the gatekeepers directly. Hiring managers, recruiters, the internal recruiters, talent acquisition specialists, HR or human resources. So on LinkedIn, search the company and its employees. You can go to the filter section and you can search certain terms under job titles, to see who the gatekeepers are., Search human, to find human resources or resources. For hiring managers, search hiring or talent for talent advisor, talent, acquisition specialist. Those are the gatekeepers.

Then there are the decision makers. These are people that are beyond middle management. So they’re above senior or principal level roles, executive or director roles. Look for an operations manager or a COO. And then finally look for people in proximal positions. They’re in the position you want to get into or similar. Focus your efforts first on the people, especially those that have PhDs that are in the roles you want to get into or in similar roles. Remember they get employee referral bonuses. The average is $2,000. If they refer you and you get hired, there’s something in it for them too, but they’re not going to do extra work for you. Alternatively, somebody that’s at the executive level or gatekeepers, they are not interested in your appreciation. Their most valuable resource you can add is time.

Many people go on LinkedIn maybe once a week, once a month. So it can take a while for them to connect. And LinkedIn does not allow you to reach out again after your connection, unless you have some InMail credits. Don’t be discouraged if they don’t accept your connection request because they likely are not going to even see it. They likely did not see your message. So send a connection request and an InMail beyond that.

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

The post The Best Note To Send With Your LinkedIn Connection Requests appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

What Is Your LinkedIn SSI Visibility Score And How To Increase It Aug 31, 2021

Show notes

Join Isaiah he reveals how to increase your LinkedIn SSI visibility score to to get hired into high-paying industry careers

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

First, Isaiah explains what is LinkedIn SSI score
Next, Isaiah reveals why it is important for PhDs to update their LinkedIn
Finally, Isaiah describes the factors that influence LinkedIn SSI scores and strategies to increase it

From This Week’s Show…

What Does SSI Score Indicate

The LinkedIn SSI score is imperative for getting hired into top-paying industry positions. As a PhD, you may be looking for a job. You may have even increased your activity, but employers are not reaching out to you. Not the spam messages from external recruiting sharks but messages from hiring managers or internal talent acquisition specialists. If they are not reaching out to you even when you have a PhD. There is clearly an issue. The problem is most likely your SSI score.

SSI score is your social selling index. It is determined by four unique factors. As a job candidate, you have to sell yourself. You have to emphasize on your skills and why you are the best candidate for the job. Your resume and LinkedIn should show how sellable you are. You have an industry SSI rank and a network SSI rank. The most important number is your current social selling index out of a hundred. If you have only 200 or less connections, SSI score is not really high. The SSI score is not the same as your visibility score for LinkedIn, but it is a very strong indicator of it.

Why It Is Important For PhDs To Update Their LinkedIn

As a PhD student, who’s about to defend or a postdoc unemployed, you need to have confirmation bias. You need to sell yourself as the best candidate for the job. If you have a LinkedIn profile then it’s visible to employers. They use LinkedIn recruiter or LinkedIn talent insights or even regular LinkedIn to find you. If your profile is not ready, the employer clicks a box so your profile won’t show up again.

You’re limiting your options. Incomplete profile shows you are not ready in the job search process. As PhDs or postdocs you have worked with undergrads or junior staff. And you can tell just by what they say that they are unprepared. You know exactly where they are in their training. It’s the same for your unprepared LinkedIn profile. Employers can tell you are not ready. They live and breathe on LinkedIn. Recruiters do six to seven different interviews a day, and they spend all of their time on LinkedIn. They can instantly tell where you are in terms of your readiness, where you are in your job search. How qualified you are based on your progression from moving from that academic mindset set to the industry mindset. It is better for you to delete your profile altogether. Take your LinkedIn profile and LinkedIn networking seriously, if you plan to be hired in industry.

The big key here is to go from the academic mindset to an industry mindset.

Factors That Influence LinkedIn SSI Score

Polish your LinkedIn profile. Make it job ready. Send a strong message to the employers that you are ready for the transition from academia to industry. Establish your professional brand. A complete profile also paves way for networking. You will find the right people to create a robust professional network. Number three is to engage with insights. Number four is to build relationships.

You can establish your professional brand by filling out as many LinkedIn profile section sections as possible, and as robustly as possible. LinkedIn profile should be keyword centric. Use as many job relevant keywords specific for the sectors of industry you are trying to get into. Also, focus on keyword connectedness.

Continue to iterate this. Don’t try to do it all at once. Do a little bit every day. Your visibility will dramatically increase. After that start networking. You have to start connecting to people in industry overall. And with people in the sectors of industry that you want to work in. The more focused the sector and the more contacts within that sector. These will escalate your score for the component of finding the right people. But LinkedIn is very big on ratios. So, if you have connected or pressed the connect button with a hundred people today and only five of them connect back in the next seven days, that’s a problem. But if you do it with a hundred and say 60 connect back with you. It’s a much better ratio.

You must start connecting with people that are in the industry you want to get into well, before you need a job offer. Start now, do not wait to do this.

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

The post What Is Your LinkedIn SSI Visibility Score And How To Increase It appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

Why PhDs Dread Coming Up With Quantified Results On Their Resumes (& What To Do About It) Aug 24, 2021

Show notes

Join Isaiah as he shares why PhDs dread coming up with quantified results on their resumes, why it is important and what you can do about it

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

First, Isaiah explains why PhDs dread coming up with quantified results on their resumes
Next, Isaiah reveals how PhDs can reinvent their professional brand on their resume
Finally, Isaiah describes how PhDs can communicate quantified results on their resumes

From This Week’s Show…

Why PhDs Dread Coming Up With Quantified Results On Their Resumes

A resume is your marketing document. A good resume is not enough to get you the job but a bad resume can keep you from getting hired. The number one problem, and the top solution that comes up most consistently for PhDs is correctly formatting the bullet points on the resume. You may be facing many struggles, if you’re trying to get hired into your first job or for your promotion. These struggles can be narrowed down to correctly formatting these bullet points. As a PhD, you understand the nature of limiting factors in any equation. You know that there is a weakest link in any chemical reaction.

Incorrect formatting of bullet points in the resume is the number one issue. And I am going to fix it for you today. Staying in academia for long causes changes to our psychology. We get a wandering eye for other career paths hoping that might fulfill us. Eventually, in academia, we realize we’re not having the impact that we thought we were going to have. So, we look for a vehicle to have that impact. The vehicle being our career.

Tenure is dying. We see ourselves underpaid and underappreciated. But we hope for a better life when we see that other people are living a more fulfilling life. As PhDs we work hard, are intelligent. So it’s easy to feel like we haven’t achieved anything. You need to know the job titles to make bullet points impactful. You don’t know what other job titles are out there until somebody puts them in front of you. How do you search for something when you don’t know the keyword to search for it? And so we get this wandering eye. We start looking for other careers that are available.

Learn how to how to position ourselves for an industry job!

How Can You Reinvent Your Professional Brand

So, how do we reinvent our professional brand so that the employers see this brand, which is our resume. When the employers see your resume how do they recognize that there’s value? How do they find that profile in the first place? If they’re scanning through it among thousands of resumes uploaded online. What can you do to grab their attention?

And it comes down to communicating results. It’s not the result or the answer that matters as much as the process. Employers know that PhDs know how to communicate results. You should be communicating results on your resume. And how you write your results that appear appealing to an initial gatekeeper who does not have a PhD is more important.

Many PhDs opt for lower jobs. You are confronted with the overwhelming process of getting a job outside of academia. And you don’t understand that process.

How Can PhDs Communicate Quantified Results On Their Resumes

Get to that limiting factor which holds you back. That factor is understanding and communicating your value. In academia, we don’t make claims over any results. Everything’s very passive. You want to avoid confirmation bias in academia. This is the exact opposite of what you want to do in your industry job search. You want to have extreme confirmation bias. You want to say, I achieved this. I did this. And it resulted in this. Even if many people were involved, it doesn’t matter. It’s a resume. It’s a persuasive marketing document not a peer review timeline of your study.

Quantified results are numbers. The number of reports or documents of any kind that communicate your expertise in an area. You will be spending a lot of time creating maybe figures for white papers, several types of reports. They’re based on the company’s culture or brand. That’s a result that matters in business. Number two, resulting in X number of poster presentations on ABC topic. Number three, resulting in X number of publications, including a publication in a reputed ABC journal. Results with transition language, as evidenced by, resulting in, as demonstrated by that’s, how you end the bullet point properly.

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

The post Why PhDs Dread Coming Up With Quantified Results On Their Resumes (& What To Do About It) appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

How To Ask For A Job Referral Without Things Getting Awkward Aug 17, 2021

Show notes

Join Isaiah as he shares how to ask for a job referral during an informational interview without things getting awkward

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

First, Isaiah explains what should PhDs know about referral and informational interviews
Next, Isaiah reveals the different parts of informational interviews leading to referral
Finally, Isaiah describes the questions that frame things positively in an informational interview

From This Week’s Show…

What Should PhDs Know About Referral and Informational Interviews

Referral is one of the most reliable methods for getting hired. But it starts with networking. Setting up informational interviews is imperative for networking. PhDs often get stuck at the connection phase. Some may not hear back even after sending a personalized message to recruiters, talent, acquisition specialists, or even just employees working at those companies. You may doubt if you are even on the right track or following the right strategy. You don’t know how to go from connecting or even getting a connection to getting that job referral. It is important to learn how to ask for a referral in your informational interview without sounding awkward.

You need to interview the person, with a discovery mindset. There is an authentic process, a structure. Something that is not painful to you. When there’s a lot of uncertainty, we feel like we’re putting ourselves out there without knowing what’s going to happen next. You will have to understand what’s going to happen next and control it. An informational interview is your conversation that you have to carry forward. You’re the one that wants a referral.

At Cheeky Scientist, we talk about the three-step job search referral strategy to attain success. And this is a proprietary methodology that I invented for PhDs because we like structure.

Different Parts Of Informational Interviews

Informational interviews to generate referrals have three main parts. So the three parts are getting a reply, adding value, and then going into the deeper stages of the informational interview. You need to understand that every problem is followed by another problem in your job search. You reach out and the person answers, and then you’re stuck. Next you wonder what to speak about.

Going from getting a reply to the second step needs adding value. This requires you to carry the conversation forward. And from there, you can go into more informational interviews and structured questions. You can congratulate them on where they are in their career. You could ask them what they’re working on at their home? And then that goes deeper into asking about challenges and more.

As you get into that third stage you would have more formal informational interview questions. They’re clearly informational interview questions about the person and their career, but not formal. You should never ask somebody to do an informational interview. It adds too much pressure, you want to keep it casual.

You’re keeping things within the realm of professionalism, career, but you’re keeping it light.

Questions That Frame Things Positively In An Informational Interview

The way you do this casually is to start from the first level of professional intimacy. After getting a reply, you can ask them what they’re working on that they’re excited about. Although, it’s the same thing as asking, what’s new, but you’re keeping it within the context of their career. This is a great way to get people talking. When they talk, they’re going to tell you something it’s easy for them to think about. There’s always something in the mind of every individual that they’re working on. So that allows you to go to the second level of professional intimacy.

Just extending the first question you can comment on something that they mentioned. And ask, what are some of the challenges that are associated with that right now? They’re going to go deeper. But now you’re elevating not just their credibility in the sense, but you’re elevating their work ethic. You’re showing appreciation for the challenges they’ve overcome. And they’re going to tell you the challenges at the same time that what’s going on subconsciously, this person is having a deeper conversation about the challenges that they’re facing.
The first level of professional intimacy may be topical with everything’s going fine. But you just subtly went a little bit deeper. You asked them about the challenges associated with what they said to the first question. Subtly, change the context from talking about their career, to specifically asking them how they got hired.

** for the full podcast, check out the audio player above
To get advanced access to the full length versions of these podcasts, as well as access to our live training webinars, exclusive training videos, case studies, industry insider documents, transition plan, and private online network, get on the waitlist for the Cheeky Scientist Association now.

The post How To Ask For A Job Referral Without Things Getting Awkward appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

Do This Everyday If You Want To Attract Recruiters Aug 03, 2021

Show notes

Join Isaiah as he shares the strategies that PhDs must do everyday to get hired into high-paying industry roles

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

First, Isaiah explains what PhDs should know about using LinkedIn for their job search
Next, Isaiah reveals the different metrics LinkedIn uses to highlight people seriously looking for jobs
Finally, Isaiah describes the 5 strategies to follow everyday in order to procure high-paying industry positions

From This Week’s Show…

What PhDs Should Know About Using LinkedIn For their Job Search

PhDs should work everyday to land their dream job. You have to attract recruiters on LinkedIn who are looking for PhD job candidates. You spend a lot of time in academia following academic social norms. So, the number one thing you require is to overcome that obscurity. This is something that I know very well, not just from working with thousands of PhDs, but myself. I thought I would be found much easier until reality showed me otherwise.

No matter how many resumes I uploaded, or how much time I spent on LinkedIn, nobody contacted me. But I still saw some employers looking at my page. The question hounded me: why were they not reaching out to me? I could not understand this. If my profile was unsearchable, how did they come across my profile in the first place? I had no idea how I would show up if I wasn’t even connected to them.

Later, I found out that there was a separate LinkedIn page called the LinkedIn recruiter or LinkedIn talent insights. Recruiters use the platform to scan for potential candidates. I was showing up and of course they were coming to my profile but they were bouncing away.

Metrics LinkedIn Uses To Determine Who’s Seriously Looking For A Job

Recruiters were bouncing away everyday. That’s what is called when you bounce off of a webpage or a profile page. This metric shows how quickly somebody bounces off of your page is used by LinkedIn. If your bounce rate is very high, it decreases your visibility. This was all new to me.

As academics, we really get into the weeds of a particular field. We may know how academia works, but we certainly don’t understand how industry works. This makes it difficult for us to comprehend how a job search for an industry job works. And so we get demotivated pretty quickly. We do something, but it doesn’t yield results. So, we learn to be helpless. It may look like what we do doesn’t matter but that’s not true. We just don’t have the right strategies. PhDs need to learn the rituals that must be done everyday. The little things that you can do everyday matters.

The number one metric that LinkedIn uses to determine who’s seriously looking for a job in industry, is updating your LinkedIn profile. PhDs have to update your LinkedIn profile a little bit every day. Now, if you’re LinkedIn, you would want to keep all of your big contracts with big companies open. You can do that by making sure that you’re showing them the job candidates who are actively looking for jobs. So they don’t waste their time.

Update your profile a couple of days in a row, it’s like putting your hand up and waving it on LinkedIn. Then, LinkedIn takes your profile and shows it to the recruiters.

5 Strategies PhDs Must Follow Everyday To Procure Top-paying Industry Positions

So I want to recommend updating your profile a little bit every day. You could start with your headline then go to your summary. Then go to your experience section every day, this can go on for months, depending on when you need a job. But you’ve to start this extremely early and do it seriously for months.

Make your resume keyword-intensive. You see a job posting, you take your resume template and look at the key words. You must read the job posting carefully, which is a good daily practice in itself. And target your resume to that job. This is so important because it’ll help you start seeing things from the employer’s point of view.

Reach out to two new people every day. Just do every weekday to start. That’s 10 people, 10 new people a week. On average, if you’re using our networking scripts, you’re going to get 30-40% replying to you. You will have activated a network. You’re having these conversations, which will further increase your visibility on LinkedIn.

Conduct an informational interview per day. This can be simply by LinkedIn chat or email. Make it about their subjective experience. Always build your rationale. As PhDs you should dominate any rationale based questions. Build rationale for the job you want and stick to it.

Remember you’re selling yourself. This is persuasion. You have to have confirmation bias. You have to tell them I want to work here over anywhere else.

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

The post Do This Everyday If You Want To Attract Recruiters appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

How Wage Push Inflation Is Getting PhDs Hired Into Senior Roles At Higher Salaries Jul 27, 2021

Show notes

Join Isaiah as he shares how wage push inflation is getting PhDs hired into senior roles with higher salaries

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

First, Isaiah explains why PhDs should know about wage push inflation
Next, Isaiah reveals the different checkpoints to go through for transitioning from academia to industry
Finally, Isaiah describes the 5 strategies to use wage push inflation to procure senior industry positions

From This Week’s Show…

Why PhDs Should Know About Wage Push Inflation

Wage push is imperative especially when we are in a very rare time in terms of the timeline of humanity. We’re going through a period that’s called wage push inflation. So it’s an overall rise in the cost of goods that result from a rise in wages. Companies need to maintain corporate profits even after an increase in wages. Therefore, employers must increase the prices they charge for goods and services that they provide. The overall increased cost of goods and services has a secure, circular effect on the wage increase. Hence, everything increases together.

Globally, since the pandemic we are seeing inflation occur. Governments helped people with money stimulus packages because of the pandemic. These have caused an influx of liquidity into the marketplace which has pushed wages up. Although money in the market has increased there is a shortage of labor. People are reluctant to get back into the job market, many of them have either gone back to school or they’ve applied to higher level jobs at the same time.

So there is an increased liquidity but a decreased supply of labor.

Checkpoints To Go Through For Transitioning From Academia To Industry

There’s a lot of different checkpoints that you have to go through to get a transition. Some goals for transition can even be just moving out of bench work, getting into a better management role and a good salary hike. This is something every PhD can get whether you have industry experience or not. You may have a gap on your resume or been in academia for too long. But now is your time to take advantage of the wage push inflation, and what’s going on in the job market. You must understand where you have leverage.

So number one, it’s important to face the reality that you are still invisible. Arguably, PhDs are now more in demand than they ever have been before in the job market. But you’re fighting obscurity right now. Many PhDs don’t even have their recruiter button turned on. They haven’t even alerted LinkedIn that they’re looking for work. Many of us don’t even know there is a LinkedIn Recruiter, the separate LinkedIn that employers use or LinkedIn talent insights, many don’t know what their SSI score is. Their social selling index, which is a metric that measures your visibility.

Most PhDs have at most a couple of hundred connections on LinkedIn when they need thousands. You must construct a complete LinkedIn profile and position it for an industry job. If you don’t, you will never be found by employers who are just searching on LinkedIn Recruiter.

The top three search fields are job titles, locations, and skills, and mostly transferable skills.

5 Strategies To Use Wage Push Inflation To Procure Senior Industry Positions

The opportunity here in terms of wage push inflation lies in starting at a higher job title that pays you a higher salary. Think about it as, somebody at level one because of wage push inflation is now getting a job at level two slightly higher than the entry level. So everything is shifted up because of the liquidity and because of the labor shift. So this is your chance to get into a higher job title.

There was an article that came out from the wall street journal talking specifically about data scientist roles, how there is a shortage because that’s a higher level role. A lot of people start as data analysts, but now these individuals that would get into data analyst roles are getting into data scientist roles. This is the best time to focus on your ideal career, not as an entry level-career. A lot of us as PhDs have a sense of imposter syndrome. When we start our job,we think we need a safety net. We look for safety jobs that we can do. Instead, you need to show your commitment. Build a rationale for why you’re the best person for the job and why this company is your number one choice for some reason. So find a reason that has to do with their mission statement, or their values, etc… Every company can be your number one choice. For a reason, every company wins in the marketplace in a different way. Find out what that reason is and build a case.

Remember you’re selling yourself. This is persuasion. You have to have confirmation bias. You have to tell them I want to work here over anywhere else.

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

The post How Wage Push Inflation Is Getting PhDs Hired Into Senior Roles At Higher Salaries appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

A Complete Guide To Getting Hired As An Industry Research Scientist Jul 15, 2021

Show notes

Join Isaiah as he reveals the strategies for PhDs to get hired as an industry research scientist

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

First, Isaiah interviews a panel of PhDs who have successfully transitioned into industry careers
Next, Isaiah explains what is an industry research scientist role and how it is different from academic researcher
Finally, Isaiah reveals the strategies for PhDs to get hired into top paying industry research scientist roles

From This Week’s Show…

Advice From Fellow PhDs

As PhDs, trying to transition into industry, you need credible information about the R & D roles. You have to build a professional network using the right protocol. Get ambient exposure to decision-makers in your job referral network who are willing to do informational interviews with you. The industry norms are different from that in academia. The big key here is to go from the academic mindset to an industry mindset. There are a few challenges though that PhDs face moving from academia to industry R&D roles.

Some of the biggest pre-transition challenges that we had was transitioning from an academic CV into a clean, crisp, marketable resume. I respect the illustrious history of everything you’ve ever done since you first picked up a pipette but filling your resume with job-irrelevant information is unnecessary. I think it was really killing my prospects. And my CV was not able to beat some of the electronic screening to get into the hands of a hiring manager. Now I’ve written industry resumes, and learned how to look at the job description. I zeroed in and had a hyper-focus on what skills I do have. This makes it so much easier for a hiring manager to understand why I’m the best applicant for a job and why I would be worthwhile bringing in for an interview

I was doing cold applications, 200 plus applications. My applications were rejected. I had no idea what ATS was. So my applications went nowhere. I didn’t know how to approach people for networking. I was sending LinkedIn requests without the note. Then I took a step back and started networking. Giving 70% of my time towards networking instead of cold applications made the major difference.

What Is An Industry Research Scientist Role And How Is It Different From Academic Research

Research scientist position is one of the research driven roles in the industry. Academics have a research background. But in R and D, research is only half of the equation. In academia, PhDs do research but little or no development. Most development is done in the industry. So if you want to get hired as a research scientist, you need to learn about development, distribution and commercialization. A lot of the questions asked in the interview will revolve around this. Recruiters want to know if you’re thinking like an academic. And they don’t have the time to completely wake somebody up to the reality that R and D requires developing a product, a treatment, a drug.

You need to understand that language of the industry. As a research scientist, you’re going to work in an R and D team that facilitates companies to stay ahead of the competition. You would be creating things that people need now, not something that they needed 20 years ago. So you have to be very innovative. You also have to realize that you’re trying to commercialize and scale things. This is the process that most PhDs don’t understand.

As a research scientist, you’re going to do applied research development. Rarely done in academia. You have to develop something first to innovate it. Innovation and development are closely linked in the industry.

How PhDs Can Be Hired Into Top Paying Industry Research Scientist Roles

Research scientists are hired in Hilton hotels, Nestle Hershey, Estee Lauder or Trivago. And it’s not just in the biotech or pharmaceutical sectors. All sectors of industries such as telecom, automotive, gaming, tourism etc. hire research scientists. Advertising revenue has plummeted at companies because they know that PhDs in the R and D teams can innovate.

As PhDs, you’ve gone beyond mastering a field to pushing a field forward. You have skills, you have experiences. But you have no industry network. PhDs have no exposure to industry hiring managers or decision-makers. A robust professional network is a critical factor for R and D.

Coming from academia PhDs like to flex their technical skills, publications. They’re speaking the language of academia. They talk about technical skills such as HPLC or chromatography. You don’t really have numerical values in terms of results, quantified results. PhDs highlight their 10 years of experience in microbiology on their resume. No one does these manually in the industry. Advanced robotics, or bachelors graduates, that are far cheaper than a PhD perform these tasks.

On the contrary companies hire you for your mind, your ability to manage those robotics and the technicians. You are able to comprehend, do research analysis, innovation and work autonomously. Hiring in the industry is based on these expertise.

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

The post A Complete Guide To Getting Hired As An Industry Research Scientist appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

How Projects Are Managed In Industry & What All PhDs Need To Know Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

Join Isaiah as he reveals how projects are managed in the industry and what PhDs should know to be hired in the industry

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

First, Isaiah explains why PhD students should understand the structure of project management in industry
Next, Isaiah reveals the different phases of project management in the industry
Finally, Isaiah describes the models of project management in the industry

From This Week’s Show…

Why PhDs Should Know The Structure Of Project Management In Industry

Project management in industry is different from project management in academia. This is important to understand because if you’re still in academia, you might think that managing small projects or thesis is project management. But the level of structure that is required to manage projects in industry is much greater. There are different lifestyles and factions of this process in the industry.

In industry, people attend even a week-long conference to learn about one style of project management. Companies dedicate millions of dollars on this, because how projects are managed will determine what gets done at a company. For instance, budget timelines, resource allocation, scope of the project, the milestones and the like.

There are four different parts in project management in academia. Academics usually plan a project, and then execute it. Subsequently, we may get some negative or some positive data. Then we go back to planning and then we execute. However, this is only half of the equation in industry.

Even though, you don’t plan to join a company as their project manager, you must learn how companies get stuff done. You will be asked questions related to how the company gets their stuff done. Can you get stuff done according to their project management methodology?

PhDs are expected to provide convincing answers to these questions during their job interview.

Different Phases Of Project Management In Industry

There are several facets of specific and structured project management in the industry. It starts with the initiation phase which includes paperwork, such as the statement of work or a project charter. There might be an office where projects need to get approved. So, first comes the initiation phase and then following approval comes the planning phase, and the execution phase. Lastly, a prolonged closure phase analyzes the project. There’s a lot of signing off on different parts of a venture before going from one phase to another. We call it the phase review.

The scope of the project, budget, timelines, the actual milestones and then where all of these things converge is quality and it’s never perfect. That’s what a lot of PhDs struggle with. Sometimes you have to sacrifice what’s best, just because there’s a tighter deadline or a smaller budget. So you may be able to get it done on time on budget, but the quality is not quite there due to a tight budget. And this is something that employers are really concerned with when it comes to hiring PhDs. You have to balance all of the different factors to get a project done in the best way possible for that situation. Things are contextual.

Models For Managing Projects In The Industry That PhDs Should Know

In academia we are most familiar with the waterfall model. It’s a sequential, non iterative process made of discrete linear phases that do not overlap. Once planned the flow is like a waterfall going down. The agile model is more popular in the industry. A PhD invented agile method.

Agile consists of a series of regular and consistent iterations called sprints. At the end of each sprint, the team has to deliver results and discuss how the project is advancing. You aim at discovering important deliverables as early as possible. Companies also use a combination of both agile and waterfall methods for maximum productivity.

Another important document for project management other than the statement of work is the blueprint. A project management blueprint is a document that delineates the goals of a project. Sometimes it will also describe how the project will contribute to the organizational objective. Yet another measure is the burndown chart. This chart is used for scrum and agile project management. Burndown chart shows the relationship between the number of tasks to be completed and the amount of time left to complete the task.

You will be involved in a lot of project management. As a project manager, business development manager, or in R&D applications. Get this information. Learn about management. Understand the industry structure. Begin expanding your industry vocabulary.

Speak the language of the industry.

The post How Projects Are Managed In Industry & What All PhDs Need To Know appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

Comprehensive Job Search Guide For PhDs: Job Titles, Resumes, LinkedIn, Referrals, And Interviews Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

Join Isaiah as he shares the five key steps of the comprehensive job search process for PhDs to be hired into top industry positions

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

First, Isaiah explains why PhD students should follow the comprehensive job search process
Next, Isaiah reveals how lack of specific keywords weeds phd resumes out of the system
Finally, Isaiah describes the 5 core steps of the comprehensive job search process

From This Week’s Show…

Why PhD Students Should Follow The Comprehensive Job Search Process

Today , I will talk about a comprehensive job search guide for PhDs. If you could break down the job search process into steps, what would those steps be? The PhD job search process is extensive and mandates planning and determination. Each step has to be carefully planned and executed to land success.

PhD job search is a multi-step strategy. Learning about only one or two steps will only let you reach a certain point and not the ultimate goal. You never stop at one step, you need to read it through all the way from beginning to finish. Gather all the information about all the steps to know the scope of what is involved. You need to be prepared for the next step.

Many PhDs don’t update their resume, they use the same resume for every other job posting. Some PhDs started targeting their resume to specific roles a few times. Then they stopped as it didn’t work. They just started using the same resume or they targeted it with a bare minimum amount of change. A perfect resume alone can’t get you the job but a bad resume can keep you from getting a job. Resume is the only document that is pertinent to all stages of the job search process. Even during the last stages of the interview, a resume is analyzed to finalize your candidature. It is a very important document and has to be very specific.

PhDs must follow a comprehensive pattern and set that into their schedule for achieving success.

Lack Of Specific Keywords Weeds PhD Resumes Out Of The System

Some academic keywords are weeding PhDs out of the race. The applicant tracking system sidelines you when it can’t find the relevant experience as you have listed your academic job titles as graduate research & assistant postdoctoral fellow. Algorithms are smart today. It goes into your work experience section. And keys in on that title to compare it with the database that the employer has put in as important words. If there are no matches, you won’t proceed to the next step.

Salary expectations are the second criteria. Hence, don’t leave that blank. If you do, you will be weeded out. There’s a strategy for filling in the salary expectations. So, you need to find out the salary of that position from a few websites. And take their average. Then decrease it by 10% and make that your top number for the salary range question. Now you can’t put zero in the bottom. So cut that top number at half. That’s your bottom range.

Remember this early on in your job search, that you don’t negotiate unless you have a written offer. You just want to deflect.

5 Key Core Steps Of The Comprehensive PhD Job Search Process

Job titles, resumes, LinkedIn, referrals and interviews are the five core steps that need attention. You need to go through the entire process not just a part of it to ensure transition into an industry position of value. Recruiters don’t just hire people, they ensure that you are the perfect fit for the company and its culture.

You have to choose your right resume format. Give a different resume to a recruiter because they know that you’re prioritizing them by putting those technical skills to the top. Therefore, you have to get your resume into a functional format, a recruiter format, a combination format, or a sidebar format. Then remove the phrases that have been seared into your resume from reading outdated articles. After that choose a few job descriptions of your interest and go through them with a fine-tooth comb. That will help you while creating your bullet points. Each bullet point must highlight your transferable and technical skill with the results accomplished.

Highlight your skills but in corporate language. Hence, scan through a few job descriptions, look at the way the technical skills are highlighted. Then use the exact terminology to highlight the relevant skills on your resume. The ATS software is way too smart. Hence, don’t generalize your skills as, 10 years of experience in microbiology, team player, enthusiastic, you’re weeded out. They have databases of the words they’re looking for which can be found in the job description.

Concrete numbers, results oriented bullet points will increase your credibility.

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

The post Comprehensive Job Search Guide For PhDs: Job Titles, Resumes, LinkedIn, Referrals, And Interviews appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.

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PhD Transition Report On-Demand

Join Isaiah as he reveals how PhDs can deflect comfortably when employers push them to negotiate verbally early in the interview

From This Week’s Show…

Why Should PhDs Use Practice Negotiation Well Ahead

What It Takes To Negotiate

When To Negotiate And How To Deflect

Join Isaiah as he reveals how PhDs can add value in their LinkedIn connection requests to connect with industry professionals and get hired

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Why Should PhDs Use A Connection Note For Connecting On LinkedIn

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Join Isaiah he reveals how to increase your LinkedIn SSI visibility score to to get hired into high-paying industry careers

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What Does SSI Score Indicate

Why It Is Important For PhDs To Update Their LinkedIn

Factors That Influence LinkedIn SSI Score

Join Isaiah as he shares why PhDs dread coming up with quantified results on their resumes, why it is important and what you can do about it

From This Week’s Show…

Why PhDs Dread Coming Up With Quantified Results On Their Resumes

How Can You Reinvent Your Professional Brand

How Can PhDs Communicate Quantified Results On Their Resumes

Join Isaiah as he shares how to ask for a job referral during an informational interview without things getting awkward

From This Week’s Show…

What Should PhDs Know About Referral and Informational Interviews

Different Parts Of Informational Interviews

Questions That Frame Things Positively In An Informational Interview

Join Isaiah as he shares the strategies that PhDs must do everyday to get hired into high-paying industry roles

From This Week’s Show…

What PhDs Should Know About Using LinkedIn For their Job Search

Metrics LinkedIn Uses To Determine Who’s Seriously Looking For A Job

5 Strategies PhDs Must Follow Everyday To Procure Top-paying Industry Positions

Join Isaiah as he shares how wage push inflation is getting PhDs hired into senior roles with higher salaries

From This Week’s Show…

Why PhDs Should Know About Wage Push Inflation

Checkpoints To Go Through For Transitioning From Academia To Industry

5 Strategies To Use Wage Push Inflation To Procure Senior Industry Positions

Join Isaiah as he reveals the strategies for PhDs to get hired as an industry research scientist

From This Week’s Show…

Advice From Fellow PhDs

What Is An Industry Research Scientist Role And How Is It Different From Academic Research

How PhDs Can Be Hired Into Top Paying Industry Research Scientist Roles

Join Isaiah as he reveals how projects are managed in the industry and what PhDs should know to be hired in the industry

From This Week’s Show…

Why PhDs Should Know The Structure Of Project Management In Industry

Different Phases Of Project Management In Industry

Models For Managing Projects In The Industry That PhDs Should Know

Join Isaiah as he shares the five key steps of the comprehensive job search process for PhDs to be hired into top industry positions

From This Week’s Show…

Why PhD Students Should Follow The Comprehensive Job Search Process

Lack Of Specific Keywords Weeds PhD Resumes Out Of The System

5 Key Core Steps Of The Comprehensive PhD Job Search Process

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