As a follow-up to last month’s blog on this topic, we focused on career self-assessment. In this
month’s blog we want to help you explore some career options. If you’re considering moving on from being a postdoc in academia you have several options.
Industry: Consider career opportunities in startups or larger companies in big pharma or
biotech firms.
Particularly for startups, one thing to consider up front is the financial stability of the company
you want to work for. If it’s privately held, find out if they are still depending on seed money,
small business grants (e.g., NIH SBIR grants), VC funding, or product sales. Note that in 2023,
56% of publicly held biotech companies had 2 years or less in cash on hand. Some start-up and early-stage companies aim to develop a particular technology and position themselves to be bought by a larger company that will commercialize a product incorporating that technology. The alternative is a privately-held company that goes public. Here you will likely get shiny new shares of stock that will quickly increase in value.
Postdoc positions are often paid more generously in salary and benefits when working for a
large biotech or large pharmaceutical company. Working with large companies involves learning how to succeed in a whole new work ecosystem that is very different from academia.
Your research will be focused on product development with a defined end goal, even if you are working in “discovery” research. Your relationship with your manager is going to be very
different from your past relationships with your thesis advisor and postdoctoral mentor. Your
research will likely be more cross-disciplinary and collaborative than your academic research.
You will be assigned to a project and project team – management decides what projects will be invested in and you, as a representative of your area of science, need to buy in 100%. Also, remember to be humble, be curious, and be receptive to criticism (you will probably not be the smartest person in the room).
Companies are laser-focused on product development and commercialization. The product
development pipeline is very structured and inflexible, with strict timelines and milestones –
you can’t be the one to hold up the project because you missed a deadline.
Taking a postdoctoral position in industry may make you more desirable for future positions in
industry because you gained experience performing research relevant to, for example, drug
discovery and its drug development process. You want to use your time to be a team player,
work diligently, and look for opportunities to increase your exposure to colleagues. Take
advantage of this time to learn new science and publish your work so you can share knowledge you gained.
Government: Postdocs in government can explore a variety of career paths including research, science administration, and policy. You can learn about these opportunities at usajobs.gov along with attending conferences and workshops.
Ph.D. scientists take a variety of paths to get into a career in industry and government. There is no ideal path, and sometimes there are detours or sideroads to explore. All of those experiences add up and can enrich the story that we use to market ourselves as valuable job candidates.
Here are a couple resources to assist with your career options:
The National Postdoctoral Association’s Career Center page which lists jobs looking for postdocs: https://careers.nationalpostdoc.org/jobseeker/search/results/
Book entitled: Find Your Path written by Daniel Goodman. It provides detailed stories
about the various career paths people have taken after completing their PhDs.
We can help you! The Bradley Partnerships’ team of professional certified career coaches have extensive life sciences expertise in academia, biotech, and pharma—along with other industries. They are qualified to provide researchers, early-career academic scientists and post docs the necessary tools and techniques to enhance their professional development. If you’re interested in learning more about how we can support your career development, please review our capabilities at: www.bradleypartnerships.com and contact us at: info@bradleypartnerships.com
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