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    PhD Transition Report On-Demand

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    Latest Episodes:
    How PhDs Can Make Connections That Count Feb 21, 2020
    Show notes

    Author Karen Wickre joins us first to explain the nature of introversion and how PhDs can make connections, and how they can use their innate talents to achieve networking success. Then Daniele Paradiso, PhD, joins us to explain his job as a process engineer and how other PhDs can work toward a similar industry role.

    Extroverted PhDs have an easier time networking than their introverted counterparts.

    But as Karen Wickre tells it, introverted PhDs actually have a networking advantage. And Karen’s an expert on corporate culture…

    This week on the Cheeky Scientist Radio Show, we are joined by Karen Wickre: veteran connector, editor, and communicator. Karen will share her networking advice (particularly for introverts) and tips on how PhDs can make connections that count. We’ll also be joined by Daniele Paradiso, PhD, Process Engineer. Daniele will share his transition journey, his new role, and how other PhDs can move into similar roles.

    Skip Ahead in How PhDs Can Make Connections That Count:

    00:09:16 Show Me The Data
    00:25:54 Karen Wickre
    00:44:30 Daniele Paradiso

    About Our Guests

    Karen Wickre is a corporate writer who has developed stories, styles and cadence for Google, Twitter, and many other startups. As an early “Googler” (she was employed by Google when there were only 500 employees), she has seen her share of war rooms and fire drills, crafted scores of posts covering products and pivots, shake-ups, corporate apologies, and company culture. More recently, Karen has worked as an advisor to companies on strategy and content.

    Often introduced as someone who “knows everybody, Karen’s level of connectedness has become her secret power. In 2018 Karen took this superpower and interest in connecting people and wrote the book Taking the Work Out of Networking: An Introvert’s Guide to Making Connections That Count.Now she joins us to discuss how PhDs can make connections that will serve their career.

    Daniele Paradiso, PhD, studied Physics both at the undergraduate and graduate level, pursuing a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Milan. During the time of his graduate studies in Milan, he had the opportunity to visit the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the Department of Chemistry, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), to work under the guidance of Prof. John Z. Larese. He continued to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemistry, conducting research primarily on the experimental development of a deposition methodology to decorate metal oxide powders with metal clusters for energy applications, along with the characterization of their properties.

    After graduation in August 2019, he already had a job lined up in the technology industry with STMicroelectronics in Sweden. He’s engaging with silicon carbide (SiC) technology and applications in his current position.

    Key Takeaways On How PhDs Can Make Connections

    1. Adding value can be really simple, like being friendly with someone in a natural way.
    2. Introversion and shyness are not the same thing, but they often get confused.
    3. Introverts tend to be great listeners, which is a huge advantage in the networking department.
    4. A process engineer needs to look ahead and support the course of development for a company’s products

    How PhDs Make Connections That Count: A Conversation With Karen Wickre

    Isaiah: How would you explain the concept of adding value?

    Karen: Well, we appreciate being in touch with people we like, right? We might say there’s maybe “no-asshole” rule here about this. Think about the people that you liked – people that you were in the trenches with and that you worked on a hard problem with. Those are the ones that you want to keep in touch with. Maybe they follow a football team, and you know that their team won or lost a big last night, and you just say, I saw that. Sorry about that.

    Or their favorite person won a Grammy – whatever it is. That’s their other interest. You say, I’m just thinking of you – hope you’re doing well. And that’s a little bit of social lubrication, right? In person, in the workplace, you might have that kind of exchange before going back to work. Adding value is not so different from this.

    Isaiah: Can you talk about some advantages that quiet, more introverted, technical-type people have?

    Karen: People often confuse introversion with shyness. They’re really not the same. Even as a kid, I thought I was shy, and my friends would say, No, you’re not. I did like to connect with people – just one-on-one instead of in a group. So we’re all on a spectrum here. And lots of extroverts have said to me, Listen, I also need quiet time. I also need a break. The thing is, that’s how some of us on the introverted side kind of regain our energy: After an experience, you go and process what happened. Let me think about what I want to do. You just have to sort of pull away from the group.

    Extroverts get a little more energy from more frequent interactions with people. They don’t need as much of a break as we do. As an introvert, I always wonder how soon I can go home. But we introverts are listeners. We don’t like to reveal ourselves first, so that’s a perfect opportunity. When you are getting to know someone or going deeper into a conversation, let them talk first. Then you’re ahead of the game because you’re paying attention. You’re remembering things about them – what they like and who they are. That’s a superpower…

    Process Engineer Career Track: A Conversation With Daniele Paradiso, PhD

    Isaiah: So what did your interview process look like?

    Daniele: The person interviewing me was kind enough to do everything on Skype, and I was able to communicate with them, tell them what they wanted to know about me and learn about the job. There were two phone calls and a video call, and I even interviewed with two future colleagues. That was enough for them to be impressed with me, and for me to get a sense of the type of people I’d be working with. And here, I could mention company culture.

    If you’re a PhD immigrating for work in a foreign country, that’s important. Here in Sweden, there is a certain way to work. The environment is very employee-friendly, and they respect people’s time. So it’s important to know about the culture of the company and the country.

    …

    Isaiah: What does a process engineer do?

    Daniele: I work at a small company that’s being integrated into a larger one, so there’s a growing process right now. I have the opportunity to see a lot of different aspects – I see a lot of the goings-on in R&D. Developing a process looks at what’s going to happen in a product’s first year or two. There is already an investment during this time, so money has already gone into the “pipeline” for this product. But what will happen in three years? Or five?

    A process engineer needs to figure this out and how it will affect the development process. I also have to learn about specific production processes and all the potential problems that can occur when a product is being developed…

    ** for the full interviews, check out the video above: How PhDs Can Make Connections That Count.

    Want to learn more about how PhDs can make connections? 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 a private online network of PhDs, get on the waitlist for the Cheeky Scientist Association now.

    The post How PhDs Can Make Connections That Count appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.


    Real-World Emotional Intelligence For PhDs Feb 07, 2020
    Show notes

    Author Justin Bariso joins us first to explain the theory and research behind emotional intelligence and how PhDs can use it to get industry jobs. Then PhDs Elizabeth Thatcher and Yuri Klyachkin join us to explain their science liaison roles and how other PhDs can work toward similar industry roles.

    What is emotional intelligence? Can PhDs develop and use it to get industry jobs?

    Justin Bariso thinks that they can.

    This week on the Cheeky Scientist Radio Show, we are joined by Justin Bariso, Author of EQ Applied: The Real-World Guide to Emotional Intelligence. Justin has studied Emotional Intelligence and combines the theory and research into practical applications for PhDs.

    We’ll also be joined by Elizabeth Thatcher, PhD, Director at Pfizer, and Yuri Klyachkin, PhD, Medical Liaison at Amgen. Elizabeth and Yuri will be talking about their respective positions and how other PhDs can move into similar roles.

    Skip Ahead To:

    00:06:23 Show Me The Data
    00:23:56 Justin Bariso
    00:47:55 Elizabeth Thatcher
    (Yuri’s interview is accessible to Cheeky Scientist Associates only – get on the waitlist today!)

    About Our Guests

    Justin Bariso is an internationally known author and speaker who helps organizations and individuals develop their emotional intelligence. His thoughts on leadership and EQ draw over a million readers a month, and LinkedIn named him a “Top Voice” in the field of management and workplace culture three years in a row. His new book, EQ Applied, shares fascinating research, modern examples, and personal stories that illustrate how emotional intelligence works in the real world.

    Yuri Klyachkin, PhD, is the senior inflammation and immunology medical liaison at Amgen. Yuri is an accomplished medical affairs professional with over 15 years of experience in the fields of immunology, rheumatology, and dermatology including roles as medical science liaison for Celgene and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

    Elizabeth Thatcher, PhD, is Director of Field Medical Malignant Hematology at Pfizer. Elizabeth began her career as a medical science liaison in small pharma. Throughout her career, she has utilized both scientific and communication skills gained in her graduate and post-graduate experience, combined with expertise in Oncology, Immunology, and Neurology with an emphasis on novel therapies. Elizabeth also has an extensive background in teaching, training, and public speaking.

    Key Takeaways

    1. Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand both your own emotions and those of others.
    2. This knowledge allows you to make emotions work for you instead of against you
    3. The role of medical science liaison relies heavily on relationship building and networking, which makes EQ an important skill for any prospective MSL

    Real-World Emotional Intelligence For PhDs: A Conversation With Justin Bariso

    Isaiah: What does EQ encompass in terms of individual skills?

    Justin: “EQ” is great shorthand for practical knowledge. Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions. So that includes your own emotions – being able to take feedback, to grow, to keep your emotions in balance… But it’s also your relationships with others. Being able to manage those, being able to communicate in a way that others can understand, and be able to understand your audience. So it’s the knowledge – it’s understanding how these emotions work.

    And then it’s practical – it’s being able to put that knowledge into action. That’s the tagline of my book: making emotions work for you instead of against you. And that’s something that we all have to do. I mean, I’ve been studying this for years and still get myself into situations like when I respond to an email and look at my response an hour later… Then I’m like, Oh man, what was I thinking? Or I react to my kids or my wife and in a negative way. Why did I react that way? So it’s really a lifelong process, but the more we’re aware of it and working on it, the better we get.

    …

    Isaiah: Some people say that “EQ” doesn’t exist. They say it’s just IQ. What do you say when you hear arguments like that? What new research is out there?

    Justin: You know, I’m a lover and not a fighter, Isaiah. To me, it doesn’t matter. And I’ve had people attack me on LinkedIn and accuse me of proffering pseudoscience. This is rare, actually. I mean, 95% of the comments are positive, but my response to those people is, Okay, explain to me more – elaborate. And by listening to them and having a discourse with them, I’m sort of proving that emotional intelligence exists. It doesn’t matter what you call it – you can call it “EQ.” You can call it empathy. The important thing is that we’re working to make emotions work for us and not against us. Nobody can deny that there’s been a point in your life where you have made a decision or you have said something or done something that you later regretted. And it’s because you were in an emotional moment. The amygdala is the part of the brain that produces the fight-or-flight response. That’s a good thing, right? If we’re getting attacked, then we need to be able to fight, flee, or freeze. But there are other times where we misinterpret what someone is saying to us or we misinterpret the situation. And then we react in a way that we later regret. That’s what emotional intelligence is all about: recognizing those moments…

    Medical Science Liaison Career Track: A Conversation With Elizabeth Thatcher

    Isaiah: A lot of PhDs, we initially think of all the reasons why we couldn’t get into a position. Did you have any initial limiting beliefs that came up for you?

    Elizabeth: Oh, absolutely. Every single job description asks for 3+ years of MSL experience and clinical experience. And I was a traditional postdoc. I actually have an engineering background, and then I got my doctorate in Molecular Biology, and then a traditional postdoc. So I was like, I don’t really have any clinical experience. How am I ever going to break in? Definitely a limiting belief,

    Isaiah: So when you first started to try to get into this role, what are some of the early things that you did on the technical job-search side (resumes, etc.), and what are some of the early mistakes that you made?

    Elizabeth: I probably applied to a hundred positions, just applying “cold” into the system. And you know, everybody tells you, It’s who you know in this field. But for some reason, I felt like brute-force hard work was going to be enough to overcome it, and I was going to be unique, and I wasn’t going to have to network. I was still a part of CSA at that point, but I was being hard headed. It wasn’t until about 6 months into it that I realized my strategies were not working. So obviously I need to change something up. I thought, Maybe I should try this networking thing. And ultimately, I ended up with 3 job offers in the same league.

    If you truly understand the MSL role, it is a relationship-building, networking job. So it makes sense that you have to network to get the job because it’s sort of like proving that you have the ability to build those relationships before you even get the job. So when you get the referrals and you get references to people advocating for you for these positions, they’re like, Well, she can obviously do it. She’s already got people in her, in her background who are rooting for her and pushing for her to be hired…

    Medical Liaison Career Track: A Conversation With Yuri Klyachkin

    Isaiah: So I wanted to know how you found out about the MSL role. Did you have concerns with the contractor role? And what is a contract MSL role?

    Yuri: I’m similar to Elizabeth. When I began, I really didn’t know much about the MSL world. I just thought it was such a far-off goal. I thought it was completely unattainable. But I started to talk with colleagues in the field. These colleagues were doing pharmaceutical sales, and they connected me to a couple of MSLs. Essentially, my networking really developed once I joined the Cheeky Scientist Association. And I met an MSL while I was presenting a poster at our conference, and he actually came up to my poster, and he looked at my research, and we began a conversation. Then we had a phone call and I asked him how he broke into the role.

    And he said, Listen, I’ve spent two years trying to find a prominent role in the industry. The shortcut is these contract goals – you should really look into that. He told me to diversify my job search, so that’s why I started looking at contract MSL roles. The way these contract companies work is this: Let’s say Pfizer or Bristol Myers Squibb will reach out to a contract company. They’ll say, I need five or six MSLs for this particular project for the next six to 12 months…

    ** for the full interviews, check out the video 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 Real-World Emotional Intelligence For PhDs appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.


    How PhDs Can Master Their Code for Industry Jan 24, 2020
    Show notes

    Author Darren Gold joins us to share how you can figure out your own psychological “code” and optimize it to move your career forward. Understanding your own subconscious is the key. Then industry PhD Sherri Ter Molen brings listeners important tips for getting a job as a communication associate.

    Do you actually know where most of your own thoughts and values come from?

    Darren Gold’s psychological model pinpoints the source of your deepest convictions as a PhD…

    This week on the Cheeky Scientist Radio Show, we are joined by Darren Gold, Managing Partner of The Trium Group, where he serves as an executive coach to the CEOs of many of the world’s most influential companies. Darren joins us to share how you can figure out your own code and then optimize it to move your career forward.

    We’ll also be joined by Sherri Ter Molen, PhD, Communication Associate at National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Sherri imparts critically important career tips she has picked up throughout her industry transition and how other PhDs can move into similar roles.

    Skip Ahead To:

    00:08:18 Show Me The Data
    00:03:29 PhD Advantage
    00:32:17 Darren Gold
    00:56:53 Sherri Ter Molen

    About Our Guests

    Darren J. Gold is a managing partner of The Trium Group, where he serves as an executive coach to the CEOs of many of the world’s most influential companies. He is the author of the book Master Your Code: The Art, Wisdom, and Science of Leading an Extraordinary Life. The book has already received significant praise from the CEOs of companies like The Home Depot, Lululemon, Dropbox, StubHub, Roche, and from experts in the field of leadership and personal development like Greg McKeown, author of the NYT best seller Essentialism.

    Sherri Ter Molen, PhD, is an associate in Nursing Regulation at the National Council of State Boards of Nursing in Chicago, Illinois. She earned her PhD in Communications from Wayne State University where she wrote her ethnographic dissertation on the American reception to Korean pop culture. She has also published 4 book chapters, a journal article, and a book review on Korean topics. In other words, she is not a nurse, but she is applying her PhD-level skills in this not-for-profit role.

    Key Takeaways

    1. As human beings, we subscribe to subconscious beliefs that drive our behavior and limit our results.
    2. There is some alternative “code” that we can insert into our subconscious
    3. Waking up to your own potential starts with awareness.
    4. Even if a company or organization doesn’t have a role that’s open for you right now, they may soon…

    How PhDs Can Master The Industry Code: A Conversation With Darren Gold

    Isaiah: What is the industry code you write about in your book? Can you break it down for us?

    Darren: Well, the basic premise of the book is that over the course of our lives—mostly in our formative years—we construct what I call a “computer program.” This is a metaphor for a set of subconscious, safety-based beliefs, values, and rules that automatically drive our behavior but also limit our results. And I assert that our fundamental choice as human beings derives from the simple knowledge that our entire life has been run by a program. I was almost 40 years old when I discovered that I was living a life run by a program written by a 7-year-old boy. That 7-year-old boy was writing a program that he needed to keep himself safe and protected.

    The discovery that we’re driven by a juvenile subconscious is incredibly liberating. In my book, I offer some alternative “code” that we can insert into our subconscious. This code represents intentionally constructed beliefs, values, and rules designed to lead to extraordinary results. And that choice is really the essence of the book: How do you construct this code that’s really going serve you? (Instead of you being run involuntarily by your own programming.)

    Isaiah: Fascinating! I’m really going to “dig in” here because this is something that I’ve always been very interested in. It’s one thing to know my beliefs are vestigial childhood constructs, but how do you rewrite them? These beliefs are so anchored in you. How do you do it in an effective way where you don’t just feel like you’re lying to yourself about those beliefs? How do you go about doing that in a way that actually sticks?

    Darren: Sometimes it takes what the late leadership expert Warren Bennis called a “crucible moment”: some crisis that forces you to re-examine everything. But you don’t need that. You don’t need to have some major, life-altering event to wake you up to your potential. It starts with awareness. The late author David Foster Wallace once provided this philosophical parable: These two fish are swimming along, and an older fish swims by and says, “Hey, boys! How’s the water?” The two younger fish look at each other, and one of them asks, “What the hell is water?” This is a great metaphor for life because we’re metaphorically swimming through the waters of our culture, our conditioning, our programming, and our beliefs…

    Communication Associate Career Track: A Conversation With Sherri Ter Molen, PhD

    Isaiah: What was the moment in academia where you realized that you weren’t going to stay there – that you were going to do something else with your life?

    Sherri: I think I was really into my dissertation by the time I realized I didn’t want to live like this anymore. I didn’t want to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I wanted time with my husband and my friends. I was tired of missing all of my friends that were coming to town—coming to Chicago where I live—and I couldn’t even see them. So I just decided I didn’t want the lifestyle anymore.

    Isaiah: But when you started, did you think you were going to be a professor?

    Sherri: Oh, absolutely. The whole point of going to a PhD program was to become a professor – my undergrad professors were really inspiring, and I wanted to be just like them.

    …

    Isaiah: What were some of the changes you made that led to you getting hired? Was it the resume? Was there somebody you talked to on the phone? A referral?

    Sherri: In my case, it was definitely the resume. I actually applied for a position called “research associate,” and that position was going to be charged with writing literature reviews for the researchers in our division. When my HR directors sent my resume to my (now) manager, he looked at my resume and said, Hmm, not exactly what I was looking for, but I could use her in this other role.

    …

    Sherri: Before me, this job didn’t exist. They created it around me, so this is a great message for every Cheeky who is applying with various organizations: Even if they don’t have a role that’s open for you right now, they may soon. I do 3 big things here at my job. First, I work on what’s called the educational initiative. We offer online courses to nursing regulators, and we use a learning management system called Canvas. It is run like a university, so basically, I’m a university professor in a not-for-profit situation. I get to develop and teach Communications courses, and I get to be the incoming acquisitions editor for the Journal of Nursing Regulation. We have an academic/professional journal published by Elsevier, and I get to be the acquisitions editor for all the people in the world. Me – I get to do that. It’s amazing…

    ** for the full interviews, check out the video 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 PhDs Can Master Their Code for Industry appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.


    Accelerating Your PhD Career Transition Jan 17, 2020
    Show notes

    Author Whitney Johnson joins us to share her disruptive job-search strategy for PhDs who want to transition into industry. You’ll learn how to model your own transition after market disruptions. Then industry PhD Robert Hable will share tips on working toward a career in leadership development.

    Market disruption is a powerful phenomenon…

    But what happens to PhDs who embrace disruption at a personal level?

    This Week On The Cheeky Scientist Radio Show, we are joined by Whitney Johnson: award-winning author, world-class keynote speaker, frequent lecturer for Harvard Business School’s Corporate Education, and a leading expert on personal disruption. She is the host of her own podcast, Disrupt Yourself.

    Whitney will share her expertise on strategic adaptation for job seekers and how to use these insights to accelerate your career transition.

    We’ll also be joined by Robert Hable, PhD: a graduate of Cheeky’s SMBA program who is currently involved with BASF’s PhD Leadership Development Program. Robert will share his industry transition experience and how other PhDs can move into similar roles.

    Skip Ahead To:

    00:06:45 PhD Advantage
    00:09:35 Show Me The Data
    00:33:30 Whitney Johnson
    00:54:18 Robert Hable

    About Our Guests

    Whitney Johnson is the CEO of WLJ Advisors and one of the 50 leading business thinkers in the world as named by Thinkers50. An expert on helping high-growth organizations develop high-growth individuals, Whitney is an award-winning author, world-class keynote speaker, executive coach, award-winning former Wall Street stock analyst, lecturer for Harvard Business School’s Corporate Learning, and popular contributor to the Harvard Business Review.

    An innovation and disruption theorist, she is the author of the bestselling Build an “A” Team: Play To Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve, and the critically-acclaimed Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work. Whitney also hosts the weekly Disrupt Yourself podcast and publishes a popular weekly newsletter.

    Robert Hable, PhD, has his BS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State and the University of Kansas, respectively. His research interest and passion is renewable and sustainable fuels and chemicals, which he studied for 10 years in academia. “Robbie” joined the Association in the Fall of 2017 when his collaboration, graduation, and career plan were at their lowest points, and he had lost all hope in his dream of getting a PhD. With the help of the Cheeky Scientist tools and community, he was able to change his mindset, graduate, and use the skills he acquired to make the most of his PhD.

    Upon graduating in December 2018, Robbie’s first transition was in April 2019 with the corn starch ethanol company POET Biorefinery. He was working as a Pilot Plant Engineer at their cellulosic ethanol pilot facility. Surrounded and managed by younger, BS-level engineers, Robbie enrolled in the SMBA and RDS groups of Cheeky Scientist. A few months later, he had his second transition to his current position, which is in the PhD Leadership Development Program (LDP) with the world’s largest chemical company, BASF.

    Key Takeaways

    1. Disruption isn’t just about products – it’s about people too. And disruption is a crucial component of human happiness.
    2. Skill mastery occurs in a cycle: The “S Curve.” After mastering a skill, you have to start over again.
    3. SMBA shows PhDs how to adapt their mindset to industry and use the powerful tools they already have in order to secure industry jobs.

    Accelerating Your PhD Career Transition: A Conversation With Whitney Johnson

    Isaiah: I want to start by asking you about this: What is a “disruptor”?

    Whitney: What is a disruptor? A disruptor is a silly little thing that ends up taking over the world; like the telephone did to the telegraph; like the automobile did to the horse and buggy. Or more recently, we’ve seen Toyota disrupt General Motors and Netflix disrupt Blockbuster Video. And now, Uber and Lyft are disrupting cabs. But this theory of disruption… It isn’t just about products; it’s about people. But in the case of personal disruption, you’re both Toyota and General Motors. You’re both Netflix and blockbuster. You’re the disruptor and the incumbent because you are disrupting yourself. So that’s my definition or the term of art of personal disruption.

    Isaiah: And your identity is a powerful thing, right? So if you’re disrupting it, that can cause some waves. And one of the biggest areas–which you’re very familiar with–where this personal disruption happens is when you change paths. What would you say is a good way to harness this disruptive energy or see it as a good thing rather than a bad thing? Some people see disruption as a bad thing, but it’s actually a healthy thing for both an individual and an organization.

    Whitney: Absolutely. If you’re familiar with the diffusion curve, the “S Curve” that was popularized by PM Rogers, I have re-imagined that in the work that I do. I see everybody as being on an S Curve, and at the bottom of that S curve, you know that growth will be slow–or it will feel slow. There’s this sense that everything’s new – it’s a jumble of pieces. You don’t know how they fit together, which can be somewhat discouraging, but then you move into the sweet spot of an S curve and you think about when you were writing your dissertation. During that time, you got to this point where you were like, Okay, I know what I’m doing. It’s exhilarating, and a lot happens in a short time. You’re starting to feel very competent and engaged. But then you get to the top of that S Curve and the growth starts to slow down.

    You’re no longer engaged like you were because you’re not learning, and you’re not getting the dopamine that makes you happy. And so once you get to that top of that S curve, you have to jump to the bottom of a new S Curve because you need dopamine. And when you’re willing to do that, your sense of self will solidify in a positive way. Your happiness will improve. And as put forth by Clayton Christian, when you disrupt, your odds of success are 6 times higher and your revenue opportunity is 20 times greater. So there’s a practical, functional reason for being willing to be disruptive, but there’s also an emotional reason: It literally makes you happy to disrupt…

    PhD Leadership Development Program Career Track: A Conversation With Robert Hable, PhD

    Isaiah: Let’s just jump right in. Describe what your position is and what you do at BASF.

    Robbie: The leadership development program is a rotational program, so it’s 2 years, and you do 3 separate 8-month rotations at different R&D sites within the company. You do it all across North America, but you also get an opportunity to travel internationally to their world headquarters in Germany. I’m on my first rotation right now, and that assignment has to do with quality control and quality assurance. So I’m at their pilot scale-up facility, and they’ve taken on a lot of small manufacturing jobs. But they don’t yet have an established quality-control lab. I’m kind of the project lead for questions like, How do we do quality control? And, How can we make it fit for this group? A big thing right now is digitalization, so they’ve got this new software that they’re training people on how to use: how to get the most out of that tool. That’s the current rotation, and then I’ll start my next one in May. So later on this year, I’ll have a brand-new position, and I’ll have to start all over in a new location.

    Isaiah: What do you think are the transferable skills–or the way you communicated them–that allowed you to get into this leadership position? This is essentially a management track position we’re talking about.

    Robbie: Definitely, I’d say the biggest one is being able to understand your customer and being able to ask a lot of questions. That was one of the big interview points: Give us a time that you had a customer and you had to meet customer needs. And that’s where the SMBA training really helped me to get this job. I didn’t feel like I had a lot of training in working with customers from my time spent in academia, but working in SMBA helped me to adapt my thinking to: Well, I’ve had to deal with students as a TA. There were a lot of student needs like, Hey, I need help with this homework or How do I do this problem? Same with research. I was doing alternative fuel research, and it was like, How do I meet demands so that the alternative fuel-making was the same as the current petroleum crude that we’re doing? What are those needs?

    Before SMBA, I really hadn’t made that ideological connection between academia and industry. I was stuck in an academic mindset where the emphasis was completely on my technical skills, but SMBA helped me realize, Oh, a lot of my skills are transferable, and they can be adapted to a “businessman mindset.” So ultimately, I was able to answer those interview questions really accurately and impressively, and I could do it in ways I wouldn’t have thought of without the SMBA background…

    ** for the full interviews, check out the video 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 Accelerating Your PhD Career Transition appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.


    How To Go From Rejection To Business Success Dec 20, 2019
    Show notes

    Author and PhD Coyte Cooper joins us to share his own wild transition out of academia. He explains how other PhDs can see rejection as an opportunity and use it to their advantage. Then PhD Yaping Moshier, sMBA, discusses how PhDs can work toward their own industry career in regulatory affairs.

    What happens to PhDs who experience rejection?

    According to Coyte Cooper, that depends on their own perspective and initiative

    This week on the Cheeky Scientist Radio Show, we are joined by Coyte Cooper, PhD and former professor, bestselling author, executive coach, Tedx Speaker, and expert in personal leadership. Coyte will share how he transitioned out of academia, faced and recovered from rejection, and used it to build ultimate business success as an entrepreneur.

    We’ll also be joined by Yaping Moshier, PhD, Regulatory Affairs Coordinator at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Yaping will share her industry transition experience and how other PhDs can move into a similar role.

    Skip ahead to:
    00:11:08 Show Me The Data
    00:30:02 Coyte Cooper, PhD
    00:56:06 Yaping Moshier, PhD

    About Our Guests

    Dr. Coyte Cooper is a bestselling author, international speaker and high performance coach who is one of the premier experts in the area of leadership and maximizing human potential. A former NCAA Division I All-American, college professor, and the CEO of Earn the Right Incorporated, Dr. Cooper has worked closely with thousands of proactive professionals the past few years to develop a unique transformational system that helps audience members radically enhance their clarity, focus, ENERGY, motivation, passion and results on a consistent daily basis.

    Dr. Cooper has poured into creating transformational books, coaching programs, keynote talks, and trainings that are designed to help people flip the script on negative patterns so they can maximize their potential.

    Yaping Moshier, PhD, sMBA, is a business-minded clinical research professional currently working as a regulatory affairs coordinator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. She supports investigator-initiated trials from the start-up to close-out, oversees compliance mandated by national and institutional regulatory authorities, and serves as a liaison between internal and external stakeholders.

    Yaping completed her PhD training in Pharmacology at the University of Minnesota. After 5 years of postdoctoral training and during her 19-month career gap, she grows interest and passion in clinical research and medical affairs. She continues extending her network with medical affairs professionals in oncology, neurology and metabolic syndrome therapeutic areas to propel her career growth.

    Key Takeaways

    1. Hardships can be opportunities – it’s all a matter of perspective. Find the opportunity hidden in adversity.
    2. Use adversity as a lesson – quickly mobilize by responding to challenges with decisive planning.
    3. In regulatory affairs, you can expect to collect a lot of information from different parties to make sound decisions about important company issues.

    How To Go From Rejection To Business Success: A Conversation With Coyte Cooper, PhD

    Isaiah: Let’s talk about your biggest rejection. Maybe you can start with that darkest hour when you actually found out… What led up to that? Tell us about the feelings that you had.

    Coyte: So I was being trained as a professor, and I heard horror stories about tenure. Yet for some strange reason, I never imagined that it would come knocking at my door. I always thought, I’m going to show up, work hard, and put everything I can into my academic work. And I did that. I mean, I worked really hard. The decision about my tenure was delayed for months, but everyone kept telling me it was fine, that everything was good… Then I got a message from my chair, and he said he wanted to meet with me. I thought this was the moment where they were going to give me good news. I was ready to celebrate and go buck-wild with my family. And I go into my chair’s office and he says,

    “Hey Coyte, how’re you doing?”

    And I say, “Well, I’m good.”

    He says, “I have something I need to talk to you about.” He had this envelope in his hand. He sat me down, we set up his conference table, and he said, “I just want to thank you for everything you’ve done for our department. You’ve been a valuable citizen. You’ve just been amazing the last six years.”

    Now, I’m an energetic guy. I’m enthusiastic. So I cut it in and I’m like, “Man, thank you. I’ve loved being here. Everybody’s been amazing. It’s been so special to me.”

    And then I looked in his eyes. I could tell something changed. He had tears in his eyes and he slid forward the envelope and he goes, “Coyte… I’m so sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you’ve been denied tenure.”

    My thoughts weren’t even the first thing that responded. It was my emotions. I felt like my stomach had just dropped out from under me. My throat just closed off. I was having a hard time catching a breath, and my face was flushed, and then my thoughts caught up. I remember thinking, What does this mean for my family? We just bought a house. I have two young kids. Our plan was to be here. This was like a dream job for me in my field.

    My second thought was, Am I damaged goods now? Am I going to be able to get another job? It’s so crazy how those thoughts pop into your mind. But I just wanted to get out of there. My chair was talking about some other options where they would keep me on, not tenure-line, but there at the university. I just wanted to leave…

    Isaiah: So that was the trigger for you to start your own business. But how did you get bitten by the “entrepreneurial bug” that bites so many PhDs? What made you want to take control and start your own business?

    Coyte: The strange thing about all this is that even before I was denied tenure, I had urges to go out and write books and work more with people. The idea of going out and like she striving to change people’s lives, and to do it on a broader scale – there was always like a desire to teach and inspire people…

    Regulatory Affairs Coordinator Career Track: A Conversation With Yaping Moshier, PhD

    Isaiah: Yaping, can you describe your current role to us? What do you do on a day-to-day basis?

    Yaping: In general, I support investigator-initiated studies. Sometimes, I’m invited to an IAT committee meeting to listen to any MDs propose their own studies. Once one of those is approved by the IT committee, I–as a regulatory specialist–will make sure everything is planned out to fulfill all the regulatory requirements. I also help them to develop protocols that can be carried out by their study team. And if the study has a pharma partner, then I contact them, and if the study is conducting an investigation on new drugs, then I am also their spokesperson…

    Isaiah: So it sounds like a lot of coordination, clearly, from the job type. But a lot of documentation too. What is the field of regulatory affairs to you–now that you’re in it–versus what you thought it was before getting hired? What are some of the surprising things that you do that maybe the average PhD wouldn’t realize?

    Yaping: I used to think this job was more on the manufacturing side, like it was all documentation. Luckily, it’s not. I am an investigator, and I am also responsible for sponsors. There are a lot of decision-making points – project managers might come to me and need help dealing with violations or deviations from some protocol. Or if certain records need to be submitted to the FDA for regulatory review, I get to decide what needs to be done. So I collect a lot of information from different parties involved to make a sound decision…

    ** for the full interviews, check out the video 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 Go From Rejection To Business Success appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.


    How PhDs Can Own Their Focus Dec 18, 2019
    Show notes

    Author Nir Eyal joins us to share his research on the psychology of attention, self-control, and time management. Technology distracts, but it’s not the root cause… Then PhD Irene Mencia Castrano describes her transition out of academia and into her current role as a senior innovation consultant.

    Are you struggling to manage the distractions in your life?

    Are these distractions pulling you from more important goals like finishing your PhD or your industry transition?

    Nir Eyal has identified the root psychological cause of these distractions

    This week on the Cheeky Scientist Radio Show, we are joined by Nir Eyal, time management expert, speaker, and author of the national bestseller, Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. Nir will share his results-driven techniques for honing and owning your focus and time in order to reach your goals.

    We’ll also be joined by Irene Mencia Castano, PhD, Senior Innovation Consultant. Irene will share her industry transition experience and how other PhDs can move into a similar role.

    Skip ahead to:
    00:09:26 Nir Eyal
    00:33:53 Show Me the Data
    00:59:05 Irene Mencía Castaño

    About Our Guests

    Nir Eyal – Author, Speaker, and Thought Leader

    Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. The M.I.T. Technology Review dubbed Nir, “The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology.” Nir founded two tech companies since 2003 and has taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. He is the author of the bestselling book, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. In addition to blogging at NirAndFar.com, Nir’s writing has been featured in The Harvard Business Review, TechCrunch, and Psychology Today.

    Nir is also an active investor in habit-forming technologies. Some of his past investments include Eventbrite (NYSE:EB), Refresh.io (acquired by LinkedIn), Worklife (acquired by Cisco), Product Hunt, Marco Polo, Presence Learning, 7 Cups, Pana, Kahoot!, Byte Foods, FocusMate, and Anchor.fm (acquired by Spotify).

    Irene Mencía Castaño, PhD, is a Pharmacist & Biochem Masters from Universidad Complutense of Madrid that spent some time in Germany and completed her PhD in the RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) Dublin – Ireland. With 2 years post-doc, she spent 7+ years in the regenerative medicine R&D area and generated relevant IP leading to a CEO innovation recognition award, also accumulating over 10 peer-reviewed publications, over 30 conference presentations (EU & US), talks at primary schools, and 10+ communication awards.

    She joined CSA in March 2018 and began networking and gaining confidence to surpass the Impostor Syndrome and transition from academia. Since summer 2018 she works as Senior Innovation Consultant for Inspiralia Group – a middle size company leading the Public funding consulting in Europe and also expanding in the US. Here, she coordinates the preparation of bids by EU-wide clients, many start-ups! requesting up to 15 M€ from the H2020 Framework.

    Key Takeaways

    1. Technology distracts, but it is not the root psychological cause of distraction

    2. The opposite of distraction is not focus – it’s distraction

    3. Distraction is in itself a form of traction in which you are pursuing less important goals instead of the priority

    4. The role of senior innovation consultant is part project manager and part project coordinator

    The Behavioral Psychology Of Getting Hired As A PhD w/ Nir Eyal: A Conversation With Nir Eyal

    Isaiah: Say you’re trying to get something done like trying to get a job or a promotion. Can you walk us through the key principles that you covered in your books? Like how to set up good habits and what we can do to not be a slave to technology but leverage it to our advantage.

    Nir: I know the pain. I mean, I wrote this book for me. I was Patient Zero. There’s so much that can potentially distract you from doing what you know you should do. And that was exactly my position. I mean, five years ago, I constantly got distracted, whether it was when I was with my daughter or when I was doing my work or when I was with friends and family – I was constantly getting distracted. And so I wanted to understand why. So I bought every book I could find on the topic. And they all basically said the same thing. The self-help industry basically says it’s all technology’s fault: Stop using the technology and you won’t get distracted. But of course, that doesn’t work. I tried it. I got rid of my smartphone and I got a flip phone. I got a word processor from the 1990s that I found on eBay. And I still got distracted. You know why? You sit down at your desk and say,

    Okay, now I’m definitely going to work. But there’s that book I’ve been meaning to read. I should probably do some more lit review, or wait, let me just clean up my desk. Oh, and then take out my trash.

    Right? That’s feels like a productive thing to do. And I kept getting distracted because I didn’t find a book that explained the deeper psychology of distraction. I really wanted to dive into the root causes. So the way I set up this paradigm is that if you think about the word distraction, what does it really mean? Well, the best way to understand distraction is to understand the opposite of distraction. The opposite of distraction is not focus. Many people think that the opposite of distraction is focus. I don’t agree. If you look at the etymology of the word, actually the opposite of distraction is not focus. It’s traction. Both come from the same Latin root, trahare, which means to pull. Traction is any action that pulls us toward what we want to do.

    Now, the opposite of traction is distraction. Anything that pulls us away from what we plan to do. So why is this so important? Number 1, anything can be a distraction, right? How many times have you sat down at your desk and said, okay, now I’m going to work on that dissertation. Now I’m going to work on that hard project. I’m finally going to stop procrastinating. I’m going to do what I said I’m going to do – right after I check email – right after I Google this one quick thing. Right after I do just a bit more research. And I would argue that those tasks are what we call productive procrastination, right? It feels productive, but it’s still a distraction because it’s not what you plan to do with your time. So conversely, just like how anything can become a distraction, anything can be an act of traction.

    I argue the time you plan to waste is not wasted time. That if you plan to go on Facebook or YouTube or Netflix, there’s no moral hierarchy here. Why is Facebook inferior to watching a football game? There’s no difference. If you want to play a video game, enjoy yourself, but do it without guilt. By planning ahead, by saying, This is what I want to do with my time, as long as it’s consistent with your values and you’re doing it on your schedule, there’s nothing wrong with it. So we’ve got traction, we’ve got distraction. Now, the missing piece is: Why are we drawn to traction or distraction? This is where it gets really interesting, because all of our behaviors are prompted by two types of triggers…

    Senior Innovation Consultant Career Track: A Conversation With Irene Mencía Castaño

    Isaiah: I have to know… What is a senior innovation consultant? I love the title. I’d love to hear what you do.

    Irene: It’s a part of innovation where you are mainly directing companies. I meet with clients, I organize calendars with my collaborators and with our writers. We organize a work plan to prepare all the documentation for a proposal that is sent to a public body. This involves a lot of things. It involves a lot of technical expertise in multiple areas. It involves a lot of meetings, lots of questioning to get the information from the client, lots of portraying guidelines to the person who is working with you, a good bit of traveling… Actually, traveling at least once a month. The company’s very dynamic, so we are all over Europe, really. Basically, I’m working with profiles that involve high management in all cases.

    Isaiah: So you help small, medium-sized companies get funding. Whether it’s from the government or from private sources.

    Irene: I’m specially dedicated to government, but we have some part with connection for private sources too.

    Isaiah: Are you technically an industry company, or would you be more in the nonprofit sector? Or more in the government?

    Irene: My employer is definitely a for-profit company. We have our KPIs very established.

    Isaiah: So the company gets a commission from a small-to-mid-size company client if they get awarded money from any of these sources, and you are really doing a lot of the coordination. Are you consulting more with the businesses or the funding sources – or both equally?

    Irene: We have instructions, basically public guidelines, from the funding sources because everything has to be public. But my real contact is with the client. I have days where the average number of meetings with different projects and clients is at least 2 or 3.

    Isaiah: So you’re, so you’re managing people – you’re managing the project overall. Probably multiple accounts, I’m guessing multiple projects. And then this involves a lot of time management and understanding the budgets, the commissions, everything that is involved…

    Irene: Yes. There is a lot of free planning. I just have to spend so much time organizing how we’re going to do everything.

    Isaiah: What are some similar roles to yours? It sounds like senior innovation consultant has some aspects of a project manager and some aspects of a project coordinator.

    Irene: Yes. I think the most similar role would be that of a project manager at an intermediate level. I’m not doing most of the technical work itself – of actually controlling the project execution. My position is kind of overseeing that and the person who is executing the technical work reports to me. But there is also a strong component of the technical writing itself that is very much like medical writing – the majority of the projects I’m working with involve medical writing of some kind…

    ** for the full interviews, check out the video 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 PhDs Can Own Their Focus appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.


    Onboarding Into Industry As A PhD Nov 22, 2019
    Show notes

    Author and PhD Donald Asher joins us to share his formula for successful salary negotiation. Donald is a renowned master of business acumen and industry survival. Then author and PhD Michael Watkins shares onboarding tips for industry jobs gleaned from over 15 years of personally coaching CEOs.

    Have you ever wondered where the interview stops and the job officially begins? When are you truly a full-fledged employee?

    Donald Asher and Michael Watkins have the onboarding process down to a science.

    This week on the Cheeky Scientist Radio Show, we are joined by Donald Asher, PhD, internationally recognized author and speaker on careers and higher education. Donald is known as “America’s Job Search Guru,” and he has authored 12 books published in multiple languages around the world.

    Donald will share his formula for successful salary negotiation strategies for your industry job.

    Then we have special guest Michael Watkins, PhD, founder of Genesis Advisers and author of The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter. Michael will share his best onboarding tips for PhD industry jobs which he has gleaned from over 15 years of coaching CEOs to master career transitions at the highest levels.

    Skip ahead to:
    00:07:55 Show Me The Data
    00::28:48 Donald Asher, PhD
    00:57:16 Michael Watkins, PhD

    About Our Guests

    Donald Asher, PhD, is an internationally recognized author and speaker on the topics of careers and higher education.

    In America, he was named a “Career MasterMind” by the award-winning portal, QuintCareers. He is well known for having written 12 books including Cracking the Hidden Job Market, The Overnight Resume, How to Get Any Job, Who Gets Promoted, Who Doesn’t, and Why (named career-management book of the year), and the best-selling guide to getting into graduate school, Graduate Admissions Essays.

    Donald has been the career columnist for USAirways Magazine, education columnist for MSN, and a contributing writer for the Wall Street Journal’s CareerJournal.com and CollegeJournal.com, college.monster.com, monster.com, careerbuilder.com, wetfeet.com, jobstar.org, Dow Jones’ Managing Your Career Magazine and National Business Employment Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, and the NACE Journal.

    He is a featured speaker over 150 times per year, including recent lecture tours in Canada, Mexico, India, China, South Korea, Ireland and Germany, where he spoke about international career trends and the borderless career.

    Michael Watkins, PhD, is the co-founder of Genesis Advisers, a global leadership development consultancy based in Boston Massachusetts, specializing in transition acceleration for leaders, teams and organizations, where he coaches C-level executives of global organizations.

    He is also Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change at the IMD Business School and previously was adjunct professor at INSEAD, and an associate professor at the Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government.

    Michale is author of the international bestseller, The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, referred to as “The Onboarding Bible” by The Economist.

    Key Takeaways

    1. Hiring includes several phases, including orientation, onboarding, and acculturation.

    2. After getting hired, PhDs need a “work buddy” to show them the ropes.

    3. Academia is fundamentally different from industry, and you must always research a company’s culture before investing your time with them as an employee.

    4. Look for ways to add value in your new role – they may be different than what you came onboard to do…

    Onboarding Into Industry As a PhD: A Conversation With Donald Asher, PhD

    Isaiah: I’m very excited to talk to you today, because this is the 1st time that we’re going to get a chance to hear your onboarding insights. Can you help us understand onboarding and why it’s important?

    Donald: Well, I always like to differentiate onboarding from orientation and from acculturation. I call orientation “badges and benefits.” Where’s your ID coming from? What keys do you have? What’s your password for the intranet? These questions are answered during the 1st day or 3 of employment. A lot of people think that they’re done at that point, and that orientation takes care of things. Onboarding is when you acculturate to the overt norms of the organization – the written rules.

    But you’re not done until you get to acculturation, and the interesting thing about this phase is that you acculturate not to the rules, nor the regulations. You acculturate to the people and the norms, the unwritten rules. And once you know the unwritten rules, then you’re a member of the organization – that’s when you’re really done learning the foundations.

    Isaiah: Where do you see people struggle the most within these 3 areas? As somebody who’s worked with a lot of academics who were getting their 1st job, where are the sticking points?

    Donald: The biggest problem is thinking that the rules are what you’re supposed to do. So with PhDs in particular, they want to know the rules, and they want to follow them! But in organizations, the rules are step 1, like the “baby step.” PhDs don’t get that you have to acculturate to what the other employees do. On Wall Street, for example, you typically don’t leave the floor until the senior person on that floor goes down in the elevator. So if the senior person works until 5:20, you work until 5:20.

    But the minute that senior person leaves, everybody clears out. No one’s going to tell you that. But that’s a norm. That’s a completely acculturated norm. It’s important for PhDs to realize they’re not done just because they have a badge and someone told them where to park. That’s just the beginning of trying to figure out how to succeed in that organization.

    Isaiah: So really, you’re talking about the unspoken rules. And what you’re alluding to is that PhDs are very literal, which we are. You’re a PhD yourself, right? You can really be very direct here. How can we get better at finding the unspoken rules when we’re very literal? You know, we like to read through things. If it’s not on paper, we don’t really follow it. How can we be more aware?

    Donald: Well, let’s start by figuring out how to get you a work buddy. I once conducted a program for mentoring. As a side note, I want to encourage all of our listeners not to use the word “mentor” – it’s just going to get you into trouble. Call them “work buddies.” The best relationships with a work buddy are not in your reporting structure, so they’re not your boss, nor your your boss’s boss. But they do need to be a superior. Sometimes, it can be hard to find someone who is senior to you, but not in your reporting structure. You need someone you can call up and say:

    Hey, what do I do about this?

    Or:

    What’s the record response to that?

    You might look through the list of people at the company, find a PhD, and say:

    Hey, I just got hired. I’ve been a postdoc for three years, not really sure how industry works. Would it be okay if I asked you a question from time to time?

    Mostly, PhDs will have to find their own work buddy. Of course, a well-designed mentoring program will also do this. They’ll assign someone who is supposed to work with you and answer these types of questions. But my advice is not to wait for the organization to do this for you. Find your own work buddy. And I want to give everybody a warning. When you join a company, there’s going to be someone who comes up to you and wants to be best friends forever. They’re they’re going to glom onto you.

    You’re like new, fresh meat in the organization. I want to encourage you to keep your distance from people who are overly friendly right off the bat – possibly, they’re like that because they’re like the unpopular kid and you’re new. They may not give you the best advice. You might feel the urge to say, I want to be friends with this person ‘cause they’re super friendly, but they may be a pariah to the other employees. So keep your eyes on the horizon at least until you see who gets along with whom and who is admired and who is respected…

    Mastering the Onboarding Process: A Conversation With Michael Watkins, PhD

    Isaiah: So why did you decide to write books about onboarding?

    Michael Watkins: I was teaching at the Kennedy School of Government. I was very interested in organizational change-type work. I was teaching a particular class about a framework on change and some very experienced leader raised his hand and said to me, That’s all very well, Michael, but you’re assuming I know everything about the organization. And that was the impetus to start down the road of thinking about transitions, because the reality is that you’re taking a job and you’re kind of struggling your way up the learning curve. At the same time, you’re trying to begin to have an impact – begin to establish yourself. It’s hard, right? It’s challenging. It continues to motivate me even today, many years later, as I’m studying the subject.

    …

    Isaiah: I think a lot of our viewers would say that they’ve been academics their entire lives, and they’re trying to make the transition to industry. Of course, we see on our side, over and over again, that all they care about is getting the job. And I’m sure this is the same for any population. Then they get the job and they have no idea what to do. They’re excited, but then it’s a black box. Is this something that you work with people on?

    Michael Watkins: Absolutely. Here’s the closest parallel to the kind of people you’re talking about. I do a lot of work with healthcare companies–like Johnson & Johnson–that have very serious R&D organizations, and they bring a lot of people from clinical and research organizations into this commercial environment. And then people really can struggle, right? Because the whole logic of the way those institutions works – it’s just completely different, right? It’s not that places like Johnson & Johnson don’t care about research – they care about it deeply. But they’re running a company, and there are commercial realities, right? They’re highly regulated. They care deeply about their reputation. And then there’s the reality of navigating these complex organizations, right? Academic organizations are as Byzantine as they can be politically, yet they’re pretty simple in some senses, right?

    …

    The most basic question to ask yourself in a new role is, “How can I create value here?” This is effectively a research question, right? So activate your research skills! Figure out what role you are going to play here that creates value, and keep asking yourself that same question. Don’t assume that what you’ve been told you’re there to do is actually what you’re there to do. There is a difference between recruiting and employment – recruiting is like romance, and employment is like marriage. During the recruiting process, we’re falling in love. I’ve got my best suit on, the organization is telling the best version of its story (why it wants you to come onboard and the exciting things you’re going to get to do). You promise that you’ll always do the dishes, and they assure you that they really like your mother. And then there’s the reality – you get into the environment, and it’s a little different. So don’t assume that everything you learned during that recruiting process is the full story. And it’s not that anyone’s lying. It’s just that everyone’s got their best suit on, you know?

    You also want to get a read on the organization before you go in. It may not be a natural thing to do, but you should be asking yourself, “What’s the culture of this organization, and is that a culture I want to live in?” So you’ve got to do some triangulation. There are more online resources these days that can give you insight into the nature of the workplace culture you are thinking of joining. You can also try to find people who have worked for the organization before. That culture fit is just so critical – what you don’t want to do is get into that job and find out, I really hate this place.

    Isaiah: What questions can you ask about culture, and how can you figure out those unspoken rules?

    Michael Watkins: I think it helps, 1st of all, to recognize that organizations can have very different cultures. You may, for example, assume the normalcy of the culture you grew up in. The same is true of the organizations you’ve “grown up” in, and if you’ve developed your career in academic research environments, they have a certain culture. Yet the culture of most large industry organizations looks nothing like that at all.

    The way status works in an industry organization, or the way things are rewarded in those organizations – these are typically very different from academia. You want to ask yourself things like, “What is valued here? What are the behavioral norms that operate in this place?” I’ll give you a simple example: When I was doing my doctorate at Harvard, I was somewhere between the engineering and economics and social science folks. And an economics graduate seminar is kind of like an armed conflict, right? I mean, you go in and you (so to speak) beat the crap out of each other. And then at the end, you smile and move on. Now, if you do that in an industry company, if you come in and you go, “What a stupid idea,” they will not respond well!

    ** for the full interviews, check out the video 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 Onboarding Into Industry As A PhD appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.


    Unknown LinkedIn Features for PhDs Nov 15, 2019
    Show notes

    Skip ahead to:
    00:13:10 Show Me The Data
    00:33:43 Donna Serdula
    01:01:13 Kristeena Wright, PhD

    Are you utilizing your LinkedIn profile to its Full Potential?

    We reached out to one of the world’s foremost LinkedIn profile pioneers…

    This week on the Cheeky Scientist Radio Show, we are joined by Donna Serdula: author, LinkedIn expert, and founder of LinkedIn-Makeover.com.

    Donna has created an optimization methodology specifically for LinkedIn and built an entire business around this concept. Donna will talk about how her organization works to help professionals stand out in the crowd and ultimately land their dream job.

    We are also joined by Kristeena Wright, PhD, Application Scientist at Advanced Instruments. Kristeena will talk about her career transition as an application scientist and what she’s doing in her current role.

    About Our Guests

    Donna Serdula LOVES LinkedIn, and is one of the foremost experts on LinkedIn profile optimization. Her current mission: to help people create an impactful online professional brand that leads to amazing opportunities.

    With over 40 writers on her team at LinkedIn-Makeover.com, Donna has helped thousands of executives, entrepreneurs, professionals, and companies from all over the world tell their unique story and successfully brand themselves on LinkedIn. Donna is also the author of LinkedIn Profile Optimization for Dummies and LinkedIn Makeover: Professional Secrets to a Powerful LinkedIn Profile, in which she shares her proven formula for LinkedIn success.

    Donna has been featured in Business Insider, Time, Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, and many other news outlets.

    Kristeena Wright, PhD, works as a scientist at Advanced Instruments, driving the development of scientific content to support the value of osmolality testing in Biopharma. Kristeena entered the world of academic science as an undergrad research assistant at Duke University. She went on to obtain her PhD in Biomedical Sciences before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is a motivated spokesperson for endometriosis research, as shown by multiple publications, international presentations, and in-person petitions to US legislators and a dedicated STEM mentor.

    Key Takeaways

    1. LinkedIn quizzes are becoming more populous – use them to your advantage!

    2. Your LinkedIn profile should let people in on who you are, why you do what you do, and what you stand for.

    3. Application scientists must be versatile collaborators who can work in exciting, fast-paced environments.

    Unknown LinkedIn Features for PhDs: A Conversation With Donna Serdula

    Isaiah: So, Donna, what’s new on LinkedIn?

    Donna: There are so many changes, I’m really excited to talk to you about some of them! Formerly, on your profile, there were skills that you simply added. You just put them on your profile and that was it. All of a sudden, LinkedIn offered endorsements, which gave other people the ability to endorse you for those skill sets. And now, LinkedIn has this “take a skill quiz” option. So if you want to prove that you’re better than everyone else, that you truly have the right skills, this is the way to do it – you take a quiz. These are quizzes that the LinkedIn learning instructors put together, and they are graded on a curve. So it’s not that you have to get 100%, but you just have to do better than, you know, 95% or 80% of the other people who have taken that quiz. If you pass it, you get a nice little badge on your profile. This is something that I think recruiters and hiring managers are absolutely going to be on the lookout for.

    Isaiah: I love this because one of the questions we get the most is, well, can’t anybody just put whatever skill they want on their skill list? I remember that when you first told me about this, there were only five quizzes on there, and now there are already a lot more, especially for those of you who are into programming or data. Even the basics – skills like Microsoft PowerPoint!

    Donna: Now, what happens if you take the quiz and you fail? It could happen. But if it does happen, no one is alerted. You get 3 months to study and get yourself where you need to be in terms of skill and knowledge. Then you can take it a final time, and hopefully, this final time, you pass! So no one is at any point alerted that you didn’t pass. And if you only just barely bass, don’t worry – you still get the badge. No one’s badge says “61%” or something. It’s a pass or fail type of deal. And people are only alerted if you pass.

    Isaiah: Just the fact that you’re taking the quizzes, sharpening your skills, and willing to put yourself out there will help with employers. But also it makes LinkedIn happy. And who knows? Maybe they give you a little extra boost in their algorithm.

    Donna: You know, there are certain jobs that are actually asking you to take a quiz to prove that you really want to apply for the job. I think you’re going to see that more and more.

    Isaiah: And it’s only a matter of time before they start implementing quizzes on business concepts like due diligence, or in specific arenas like medical affairs. It’s going to build out from here.

    …

    Donna: Years ago, I had this epiphany that your LinkedIn profile is not your resume. Your resume has to align with a specific job. But your LinkedIn profile, on the other hand, is more about your career future. It’s who you are – your digital introduction or first impression. It’s your calling card, your elevator pitch. And it really needs to let people in on who you are, why you do what you do, and what you stand for. Why do you have a PhD? Why are you looking to get into corporate America? What’s driving you? That’s what excites people. And that’s what this is all about. I really think of it as branding – we’re helping people tell their story and LinkedIn is the best vehicle to do it.

    Application Scientist Career Track: A Conversation With Kristeena Wright, PhD

    Isaiah: So Kristeena, I was just telling people about why I love the application scientist position. How long have you been on the job now?

    Kristeena: It’s actually been just over a year now. I started October 15th of last year.

    Isaiah: Well, happy work anniversary! That’s great. What did you enjoy most about the job right after you started?

    Kristeena: Honestly, I would say that going from my postdoc straight into this position, I appreciate how quickly things have kept moving. I think there’s something to be said for taking your time and feeling comfortable, but for me, it was actually really beneficial to go slightly out of my comfort zone and into this industry position. So I kind of hit the ground running! I’m at a company of about 100 people, so I’m the only application scientist. They had a lot of stuff lined up for me to take care of, so there was plenty to do as soon as I started. That was really exciting, just having that fast pace.

    Isaiah: What does your average workday look like?

    Kristeena: What’s great about my position at Advanced Instruments is that it’s very cross-functional. Technically, I’m part of the marketing department, which was very new to me when I was hired. But then another large aspect of what I do is pre-and-post-sale support for the sales team. I also interact a lot with the R&D team in the lab. So typically, I work closely with the product manager on a specific device, and we are both very cross-departmental.

    Isaiah: That defines the application scientist role very, very well: “cross-departmental.” You’re doing a lot of coordinating and communicating. But the nature of the role is helping people apply a company’s product or service. So you’re like this conduit between the company and its different departments: the sales team, the marketing team, maybe the executives, etc. And the clients! Are your clients scientists? Clinicians…?

    Kristeena: So we make Osmo monitors, which are not common. They’re typically used in the clinical field, so Advanced Instruments started out more as a clinical company, but now we’re starting to see them become more and more relevant–critical, really–in biotech. We do have clinical technician clients, but I’m specifically working with the biotech division at our company. That means I work with a lot of process development scientists and manufacturing scientists – a lot of people who have similar backgrounds to me, really! It’s like being the liaison, if you will, between our company and all of those departments and the scientists within biotech. It’s a unique, very specific area, but there’s plenty to be done for sure…

    ** for the full interviews, check out the video 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 Unknown LinkedIn Features for PhDs appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.


    Start With Your Why For PhDs Oct 18, 2019
    Show notes

    Skip ahead to:
    18:10 Show Me The Data
    36:32 Peter Docker
    1:10:04 Mariano Cardenas, Ph.D.

    Are you a PhD struggling to find your motivation? Your driving purpose?

    Peter Docker calls this your “WHY,” and he is your guide to the contemplative journey in search of that latent career passion.

    This week on the Cheeky Scientist Radio Show, we are joined by Peter Docker, co-author of Find Your Why with Simon Sinek, and part of the latter’s “Igniter” team. Peter has worked with leaders all over the world, helping them find purpose and create teams where everyone thrives. He’ll be sharing both why and how successful PhDs connect with a sense of purpose for career satisfaction and success. We are also joined by Mariano Cardenas, Ph.D., who will discuss the exciting application specialist career track.

    About Our Guests

    Peter Docker is a trained leadership consultant and executive coach with a passion for enabling people to be extraordinary. Peter teaches leaders and organizations how to harness the power of “WHY” to do extraordinary things. He illustrates his insights by drawing on examples from his experience with industry, military, and even piloting to explain principles that can be applied in any business.

    Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Simon Sinek since 2011, Peter is an Igniter and implementation specialist on the Start With Why team, helping organizations foster both extraordinary cultures and high, yet sustainable performance rates. Peter has drawn from his years of practical experience to co-author–along with Simon Sinek and David Mead–his career-energizing manifesto, Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team, a step-by-step guide on how to discover your WHY, published September 2017.

    Mariano Cardenas, Ph.D., works as an application specialist at NanoTemper Technologies. After obtaining his PhD in Biochemistry in Buenos Aires, Mariano moved to the USA to conduct postdoctoral research in oncology and bioassay development. There he ultimately joined forces with NanoTemper, where he now helps scientists use microscale thermophoresis to characterize proteins with just a tiny amount of sample. This work advances research in drug discovery, oncology, targeted therapy, and more.

    Key Takeaways

    1. Discovering your WHY (your primary cause or belief) can lead to extraordinary things.

    2. Life is made up of content and context – content fills our lives, but without context, it is meaningless.

    3. Discovering your WHY is a process of careful reflection on key memories and identifying the emotions that accompany them.

    4. From these feelings you can derive a growing sense of purpose – your instinctive motivational philosophy.

    How PhDs Can Find Their Why: A Conversation With Peter Docker

    Isaiah: You have to have a really strong reason to keep moving forward. What was your WHY in that sense? Why did you want to write this book?

    Peter: “WHY” is shorthand for “what’s your cause?” or “what’s your belief?” Why do you get out of bed each day? My WHY is to enable people to discover that they are extraordinary so that they can do extraordinary things. I believe that everybody, when they’re in “flow,” when they’re loving what they do – that can be pretty extraordinary. I get my fulfillment through helping people to discover that themselves. So it was quite a natural thing to write a book with Simon. And David’s all about finding your higher purpose. We all have one, it’s just that some of us haven’t discovered it yet. It’s a joy to know that our book is in 26 languages, so it’s reaching all corners of the world!

    Isaiah: That’s fantastic. And you mentioned that you define WHY as both a noun and a belief. We have a lot of PhDs here who might be looking at the dictionary right now for what WHY is, and I want to break it down more practically. How do you make it concrete for people so that they know exactly what WHY is and how to start finding their own?

    Peter: There are only two things in this world: content and context. Content is the stuff that we do, the things we say, the work we’re engaged in, etc. But content has no meaning whatsoever without context. Context gives meaning to what it is we do. The whole thing is like a jigsaw puzzle – all those puzzle pieces on the table represent contents. But it’s only when you see the picture on the box that you get the context, and you can make sense of it all. This is what it’s like to discover your WHY – having all the puzzle pieces on the table: your work, home life, whatever. But when you can paint the picture on the box, your WHY or reason for being just makes all those puzzle pieces come together. And also not to push the analogy too far, but sometimes it helps to realize that one piece of the jigsaw never felt quite right, and that you no longer need to focus on that piece. The WHY is the context in which you do everything; the WHY is the meaning that’s brought to the work you do or to your life.

    Isaiah: I love that. So let me put this in the context of the PhDs here. Most of them feel like they’ve lost their WHY because they thought they were going to be a professor – things were going to go one way in academia, and now they’re realizing the jobs are outside academia. You’re saying that they’ve lost their WHY, but their WHAT is changing. How can they discover that WHY – whether it’s new or has always been there?

    Peter: Mark Twain said that the two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why. We all have one WHY–and one WHY only–although we may have many different WHATs in our life! When I speak to mothers, they often say, “My WHY is clear: it’s my kids.” But that’s actually just a very important WHAT. You were a person before you had children, and you will be a person after your children have left home. And for those of us who have been very focused on one particular specialized area for many years, it’s difficult to figure out what else we can do – all of our energy has been in that particular sphere. But when we hear people say, “I’ve lost my WHY,” they’ve probably just lost their way a little bit, and they need to be reminded of their WHY. This discovery is a retrospective process of reflection.

    Our book is a step by step guide because we wanted to share this. The book asks you to identify key moments in your life, going back perhaps to things in early memory – things that you’ll never forget because they changed the course of your life or were otherwise very meaningful. But they need to be specific memories. When we reconnect to a specific memory, it reignites the emotions that we felt at that time. Those emotions are there because the experience either resonated with us or challenged the values that we instinctively hold. And when we look at those memories, themes start to emerge. Those themes pointing toward what’s really important to us. The first amongst them becomes our Why, and the rest become what we call our HOWs – our guiding principles…

    Application Specialist Career Track: A Conversation With Mariano Cardenas, Ph.D.

    Isaiah: As an application scientist, your home office is often a Starbucks or anywhere else that has wifi, right? Let’s get your perspective! What do you do on a day-to-day basis as an application scientist?

    Mariano: I do tons of things, but I didn’t know what those things were when I joined the company! Basically, it’s like I’m a scientific advisor for all the people that have the instruments. I’ll set up development and set up the assays. If prospective clients have doubts, then I meet with them and demonstrate our technology. I do webinars, seminars, and workshops too. So it’s a little bit of everything. One day, I’m teaching in California – the next, I need to go to Boston for an instrument demo. I’m not doing a single thing every day. I need to give presentations and meet people at a certain time, especially those from different pharma companies and universities. It’s amazing – I’m really happy with this job!

    Isaiah: Yeah, I can tell you love it! It’s great if you enjoy a lot of variety – if you’re self-organized, a self-starter with a lot of autonomy. But on a broader scale, can you tell us in one sentence what you do? If there is one overarching thing that you do as an application scientist, what is it?

    Mariano: I help researchers succeed with their research. I love it! That’s basically what I do. It’s a mix of everything because you want clients to succeed with your instruments and to use those instruments to do the best research possible.

    Isaiah: So you’re taking information from the company and communicating it to the client. You’re also taking information and feedback from the client back to the company. What departments do you work with? How does that flow of communication work?

    Mariano: I work with many departments, so it’s a very interactive job. Basically, it’s one team working toward the same purpose: improving science and human health. My team communicates with production teams, R&D, sales teams, and order management. We need to know what’s going on in the company and then gather the information. Let’s say an instrument has been purchased. The sales team will tell order management that an instrument that has been bought. Then order management tells production, and production tells them when the instrument will be ready. Then we need to organize a visit to the customer to install the system, and I usually deliver a seminar and conduct some training…

    ** for the full interviews check out the video 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 Start With Your Why For PhDs appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.


    The Science (and Humor) Behind A Good PhD Job Search Oct 11, 2019
    Show notes

    Skip ahead to:
    17:15 Show Me The Data
    38:05 Jeff Kreisler
    1:01 Addis Fuhr, Ph.D.

    Is it hard to know how much of your personality to share when you are at a networking event, or in a job interview?

    Humor has often been devalued in industry in favor of being stoically professional. But what if using your full personality was an advantage in your career transition?

    This week on the Cheeky Scientist Radio Show we are joined by Jeff Kreisler. He’s editor-in-chief of PeopleScience, bestselling author, behavioral science advocate. We are also joined by Addis Fuhr, PhD and Senior Modeling & Simulation Engineer/Analyst at MITRE. Addis will join us to talk about his career transition as an R&D Scientist into his current role.

    About Our Guests

    Jeff Kreisler is just a typical Princeton-educated-lawyer-turned-award-winning-comedian, author, speaker, TV pundit, speechwriter, and advocate for behavioral economics. He is co-author of “Dollars and Sense” – about the psychology of money, with Dan Ariely – Editor-In-Chief of PeopleScience.com and speaker with Leading Authorities. He uses humor & research to understand, explain and change the world. Jeff runs PeopleScience.com, writes for TV, politicians, and CEOs, shares witty insight on CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC & SiriusXM and tours most of this planet.

    Addis Fuhr, PhD is the Senior Modeling & Simulation Engineer/Analyst at MITRE with an expertise in computational materials science, laser spectroscopy, X-Ray diffraction, electrochemistry, and materials characterization. Excellent communication skills as demonstrated by peer-reviewed publications, patents, conference presentations, and collaborative research awards. He is interested broadly in technology related to energy, communications, defense, and electronics/photonics.

    Key Takeaways

    1. How humor can be an asset in your job search but why it’s important to not try to be funny.
    2. How allowing your personality to come out in a natural way in networking and interviews can help you determine company culture and if it’s a fit for you.
    3. In industry, how your skills from academia in research and love of problem solving can manifest into one career that feels custom designed for your strengths.

    The Science (and Humor) of a Good PhD Job Search: A Conversation With Jeff Kreisler

    Isaiah: Very excited to have on Jeff. Thank you Jeff for joining us. So, you’ve been involved in a lot and you’ve changed careers a lot, it sounds like. Can you tell me a little bit about your journey and why you’ve taken so many kind of left turns?

    Jeff: Basically I was on a path for traditional success through Princeton and law school and offer those big firm jobs, to be, you know, at age 22 the next step was 45 alcoholic and divorced. And, it was not something I wanted. I admit I have some privilege in that I had some good degrees and I had a sort of a safety net built in, so I took some risks. And I was always that guy that wrote down little observations that are, that has the little funny sayings, actually as I was studying for the bar in California, I took a comedy workshop, and it just really resonated with me as being this incredible tool for communication potentially for behavior change, for education. The only rule in comedy is you have to be funny now. t’s a big role. It requires an emotional response, and connection and all these other elements. But you can sort of talk about anything. And more than that, what I found was really powerful was that, that anything you could talk about was, open to topics that others might find challenging or difficult or stressful. I spent most of my career talking about politics. I talked about cheating in our culture. Now I do a lot of stuff about sort of behavioral science and psychology. And I’ve always taught about finance and money and economics and all of the topics. Different people find them to be intimidating or stressful or they might even disagree, particularly in politics. But I’ve found through the use of humor, that I’m able to engage in a conversation with folks and at least get them to listen, and hopefully retain and learn and, and have a conversation with me, educate me back. So, you know, I would say the last sort of through line I’ve seen through it all is that, you know, comedian like a Jerry Seinfeld or there a David type, they say, Hey, ever notice people do the stupid thing. And then the behavioral scientists or the, the PhD says, yeah, this is why. And so they sort of fit together nicely on either, you know, begin yang sides of the coin.

    Isaiah: I love that. I love that comparison. And, I want to ask you a little bit about, you know, the transition you had, especially from a, you know, how advanced degree law, you know, as a, as a lawyer to, to getting into these different fields. Cause we have a lot of people watching who are trying to do their own transition. But first on her humor, you’ve talked a lot about it and you know, let’s imagine we’re talking to people that have no idea what humor is, which we might be for some. How would you describe humor, especially on a practical day to day basis? Not so much standing up in front of people as a comedian, but daily. How does it help? What are some of the behavioral psychology insights you could give us on the importance of humor and how to be humorous?

    Jeff: There are a lot of benefits to being to using humor. And I should put forward like a very important like caveat or, or warning that bad humor as I think you addressed in the previous segment. Like things that are aggressive or offensive or just misfire. Like there’s a big danger there. So when thinking about using humor, whether in the workplace or otherwise, like if you think it might not hit, I would say don’t do it because the risk is far too great. So that’s my general warning. But when humor is used effectively, it can, create more engagement. It can lower people’s, sort of defenses, and create a community feeling, right. There’s, there’s something powerful if you have, if your listeners and viewers haven’t been to a comedy show, a theater club, otherwise, like when a collective group of people all laugh together, it’s incredible.

    It’s this shared emotional experience that is so rare to any other setting and that creates a sense of community amongst strangers. And that then it creates a bond that helps listening. You know, obviously you said not just on stage, but, using humor, the self deprecating humor in particular is, is particularly powerful because, none of us are perfect and oftentimes I think in the quest to seem perfect, we can come across, whether it’s abrasive or too full of ourselves. And,you know, I always think that, the word humor is the same as human and humanity. That’s kind of a silly comparison, but there is, you know, when you’re self deprecating, you sort of acknowledge your human humanity. I think of Jon Stuart as the perfect example when he’s on the daily show, like he was, you know, a very smart person had very in great insight and you know, w whether you agree with them politically or not, you see, it’s hard to argue that that’s not the case.

    But he also was very silly and self-deprecating and often made himself sort of the butt of the jokes. And that allowed the higher level commentary that he had to be accepted a little more easily because he didn’t come across and say, I’m super smart. You’re super dumb. Here’s what I have to say. He said, we’re all dumb and here’s something I noticed. And humor allows you to do that. But then comedians, whether they’re stand up or they’re people that write for political speeches or whatever it may be, I think harness the fact that that using humor can we reflect the absurdity of our life and our existence and sometimes reflecting that reality allows you to relate more easily to people…

    Analyst/Medical Writing Career Track: A Conversation With Addis Fuhr, PhD

    Isaiah: We will bring Anand on with us and we’ll talk to him about how he got into his medical writing role, what he does on a daily basis. And any other questions that you have. Great suit and headset. I can see you and I can hear you…how are you?

    Addis: So I basically develop a modeling and simulation techniques to analyze different, physics space problems. And then I analyze them, for my work.

    Isaiah: Perfect. And how did you get into this? So maybe talk about all the way from, you know, the, I guess the conception of where you learned about this role and then what did the transition process look like for you? And be as specific as you can in terms of, you know, I, you uploaded a resume or I got a referral or, you know, then I did a phone screen, a video interview and a site visit. What did it look like?

    Addis: I’ll start with actually about midway through my PhD. So midway through my PhD I got a fellowship to work at Los Alamos national lab, which is part of what’s called the FF RDC system that stands for federally funded research center. Uh, they’re basically government labs or government funded labs that basically do research for defense related topics. And so when I did that fellowship, I realized that I really loved the working and the FFR DC system because it’s basically a lot like academia in the sense of you can do all this really cool research and development beginning fundamentals to applied, um, but not necessarily like academia. We have to teach or constantly do grant proposals. So it kind of seemed like the perfect kind of combination for me. Uh, however, I did not necessarily want to stay at Los Alamos, not because of any problems with Los Alamos, which just because I needed to sort of be by the coast.

    So I moved to Washington DC and, what I found is if I’m MITRE, uh, when I was looking for a job title, had a lot of work related to, I did my PhD, which was basically competition material science. They do computational work more broadly than just material science, but, you know, basically physics-based computational work. And, it just seemed like, when I did the interview, I found that application online put in my resume. I’ve talked to some people during the interview. It seems like the main thing that they were looking for is someone who just wanted to apply physics-based models to really just broad array of problems. Any sort of problem was kind of thrown at you, not necessarily just materials or optics or whatever. Just very, very broad. Perfect. For me. I just kind of like solving problems. And so a came in for my interview, uh, just really got along with everybody. Had some other interviews in the pipeline, cancel them all once I got the offer and just that this is a place for me, then moved down.

    ** for the full interviews check out the video 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 The Science (and Humor) Behind A Good PhD Job Search appeared first on Cheeky Scientist.


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