I’m helping a post-doc in our lab take over the career development seminars for my program. Our program really offers no support to students looking at options outside academia, and many of the investigators actively discourage trainees from pursuing other opportunities. We are trying to help fill this gap by bringing in speakers from a variety of non-academic scientific careers to share a bit about what it is they do, how they got there, and give everyone some other career opportunities for down the road.
I’ve spent the past year or so conducting informational interviews with everyone and anyone who will sit down and talk to me about what they do, but unfortunately, I’m averaging only about a 10% success rate in regards to emails sent to actual phone conversations had. I recently sent out another wave of emails to those in the area who were willing to talk to me about possibly coming in for a general career chat with others in my department, but I’m looking for more people and more careers to explore.
So, this is where you come in. Throw those ideas at me – no matter how off the beaten path. Once you have that Ph.D. in biomedical sciences, what can you do with it? Super duper extra bonus points (and cookies sent in the mail) if you have an actual contact in the greater Washington area who might be willing to come talk to a bunch of senior graduate students and post-docs!
Thursday, November 03, 2011
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My program used to do some seminars like this. We had a lot of industry people come in (you can do science side, regulatory affairs, and business side), a guy from OSHA, and a scientific writer. I know it's still technically academia, but I also really liked hearing from people at 4 year and community colleges because it's something the program tends to refuse to acknowledge. You might want to check out versatilephd.com for more ideas since non-academic jobs for PhDs is kind of their specialty.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a clue. At all. I wish I had a clue. I feel like it might help my life. For some reason I put a star on this in my reader with the intention to comment later but I have no idea why. Obviously these earthquakes have shaken my brain out of my skull. Fail fault line! :)
ReplyDeletei work in pharmaceuticals, as contract. its a hard field to get into right now though. hence the contract bit...
ReplyDeleteBeing in the DC area, you might try hitting up some NIH peeps - see about getting a scientific review officer or program officer in to talk about their jobs. Other ideas are patent lawyers, journal editors, entrepreneurs, contract research orgs. Though it's a bit more chemistry focused, you might find some other ideas Just Another Electron Pusher at CENtral Science.
ReplyDeleteI regularly give seminars on how I got into scientific editing at Nature, and would be happy to talk with you about it. Just talked at UAB last week. Both Science and Nature have offices in DC, and you should be able to get either science editors or science journalists -- a different career path -- to come and speak.
ReplyDeleteThere is a little known area of medicine where PhDs are actually allowed. It's called Medical Genetics. As a pre-med student turned what-the-hell-was-I-thinking-grad student, I've found myself longing again for a more defined career trajectory where jobs appear to be more available than academia, but still satisfying, and came across this field. There are several training options, a few of which are strictly limited to licensed physicians but several that are also available to those with a PhD (Clinical Biochemical Genetics, Cytogenetics & Molecular Genetics). More info can be found at:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.abmg.org/pages/training_options.shtml
Both Johns Hopkins and NHGRI have programs in the three fields. Here is a complete list of schools with the training programs in case anyone on the committee knows someone at any of the places.
http://www.abmg.org/pdf/Programs%20Table.pdf
Good luck!
I also feel there are very few conversations about what to do with your Ph.D. if you don't want to be a professor. I've wanted to be the female Bill Nye the Science Guy so I've blazed my own path since getting my PhD in Neuroscience and leaving a Postdoc at Caltech for reality TV's Big Brother.
ReplyDeleteI'm the editor-in-chief of "Scientifically Proven Tips For Better Living" (doctormichele.com), I create & market celebrity health and beauty products, TV Host, spokeswoman, develop comedy and science content for TV, radio and online, develop social media strategy for science companies and celebrities and occasional moonlight as reality TV star.
I'd love to chat at your school about alternative careers.
I'd also like to offer you a guest writer position at doctormichele.com with possibility of paid Associate Editor position in the future.
Thanks, Michele Noonan
michele@engagebdr.com
How about clinical chemistry? We had someone give a talk on that at my university a few years ago. Every big hospital has at least one, and I'm sure the NIH would have a few too that could be found.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aacc.org/about/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.comacc.org/Pages/default.aspx
Science policy and science writing also seem to be pretty popular.
-a fellow disgruntled biochemist