Show notes
Leaving academia can be intimidating. You've spent years training as a researcher, but what jobs can you actually do outside academia? And how do you even get started? 🎓
Welcome to the first episode of After Academia: Coffee With…, our new interview series where we explore different careers beyond academia, together with the people who've made the transition. ☕
In this episode, we're joined by Maria, a Senior Lab Operations Scientist in the pharmaceutical industry, who shares how she transitioned from academia to industry after her PhD.
We talk about what her job actually involves, how she found her first opportunity in industry, which skills from her PhD turned out to be valuable, and what surprised her most about working outside academia.
Maria also shares practical advice for PhD students and postdocs considering a similar career change, including how to approach networking, what to put on your LinkedIn profile, and why understanding the pharmaceutical industry can make finding the right job a lot easier.
Whether you're actively planning to leave academia or simply curious about what else is out there, we hope this conversation helps you explore your options! 🙂
⏰ Chapters
00:00 🎓 Why transitioning from academia to industry is difficult
00:25 ☕ Meet Maria: What does a Senior Lab Operations Scientist do?
03:08 💼 A typical working day in the pharmaceutical industry
05:26 🔄 Why Maria decided to leave academia
07:00 🔎 Finding an industry opportunity through a fellowship
09:07 🧠 Transferable PhD skills that are valuable in industry
11:37 📚 Industry fellowships, training and leadership skills
15:33 🤔 What Maria had to unlearn after her PhD
18:02 🏢 The biggest surprises of working in industry
20:24 💡 What she wishes she'd known before applying
23:54 🚀 Practical advice for PhDs looking for industry jobs
25:59 🧪 What is GMP, and why is it useful to know?
29:08 ☕ Final thoughts and a small coffee confession
🔬 About After Academia: Coffee With…
There are many career paths beyond academia, but it isn't always easy to understand what these jobs actually involve or how to get into them.
In this series, we sit down with former academics working in different fields to talk about their career transitions, their day-to-day work, the skills they use, and the advice they would give to researchers considering a similar path.
Our goal is to make exploring careers beyond academia just a little bit less of a struggle.
💬 Which career should we explore next?
Are you considering leaving academia? Or have you come across a job outside academia that sounds interesting, but you have absolutely no idea what someone in that position actually does?
Let us know in the comments! We'd love to hear your suggestions for future guests and careers to explore.
🔔 Subscribe to The Struggling Scientists for more career conversations, research tools, and practical advice for PhD students and researchers.
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https://thestrugglingscientists.com
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