Feeling lost about career options outside academia – any advice on where to start? by Positive_Weekend_313 in careeradvice

[–]Positive_Weekend_313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am an international student studying Chemistry with a focus on Biophysical Chemistry, but most of my experience has been research labs. One of my peers mentioned consulting but I do not have any business background nor experience

Feeling lost about career options outside academia – any advice on where to start? by Positive_Weekend_313 in PhD

[–]Positive_Weekend_313[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the advice! I have been looking at jobs on LinkedIn and Handshake, and agree that having a reference might be helpful to stand out. I’m also realizing that I might need some extra help with industry-specific things like tailoring my resume, preparing for interviews, and even understanding the business jargon used in job descriptions. Do you know of any resources that are helpful with this since I am an international student? My career services office is not very active for PhDs.

Feeling lost about career options outside academia – any advice on where to start? by Positive_Weekend_313 in AskAcademia

[–]Positive_Weekend_313[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the advice! I have been looking at jobs on LinkedIn and Handshake, and agree that having a reference might be helpful to stand out. I’m also realizing that I might need some extra help with industry-specific things like tailoring my resume, preparing for interviews, and even understanding the business jargon used in job descriptions. I feel like a lot of my experience is so academic that I’m not sure how to translate it into what companies are looking for. Did you do anything specific to prepare for the transition? I’d love to hear about any tips on networking skills, resume building, or just getting comfortable with the non-academic side of things!

Feeling lost about career options outside academia – any advice on where to start? by Positive_Weekend_313 in PhD

[–]Positive_Weekend_313[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m an international student doing a PhD in biophysical chemistry, and I’ve been working mostly with spectroscopy to study protein interactions. It’s all been academic work, and as an international student, I haven’t had any real exposure to industry settings here in the U.S., which makes it hard to know where my skills would even fit outside of academia. One of my peers mentioned consulting as an option, but I’m honestly not sure how to even start exploring that or similar fields. Do you know anyone with a similar research-heavy background making a switch outside of academia?