I give the same advice to every student, “Start looking for your next job one year in advance and do this by networking.” I don’t know of one that has taken my advice. I can almost time it to the day, about one month before graduation the student has realized they have no job lined up, and desperation sets in.
Why don’t they take my advice? I think first and foremost, they are so overwhelmed with what needs to happen today and tomorrow, that one year away looks like an eternity. But it is not. And when you apply for a job last minute, the employer knows you are desperate and this indicates to them you may not be good at setting goals and achieving them. Not the first impression you want to give.
The second, and probably most prominent, reason I don’t think they take my advice, is they don’t know what to do, and many times, neither does their mentor. This is not to put their mentor down, it just is. Many academics have never taken a gap year, nor have they had a career outside of academia. This is not to say that numerous mentors have realized the importance of industry or government careers and have worked to grow their knowledge regarding how careers work outside of academia.
If you don’t know where to start, below are my top 5 tips that I give to students to help them start their networking journey.
Google yourself. Yes, open an incognito window and type in every version of your name. Click through the first two pages of search returns and look for anything that you don’t want a future employer seeing (this includes looking at the images, news, and video tabs as well, not only the main page). Delete old social media accounts, un-tag yourself from pictures, etc. Clean up your digital image.
Read blogs and books. Here are a few I recommend:
Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide by Christopher Caterine
Roostervane blogs by Author: Chris
Cheeky Scientist & their YouTube Page
Complete your LinkedIn profile. Be sure to add pictures and focus on writing a strong, clear headline. Let’s take my headline for example, “Scientist studying human movement | Passionate about equity and inclusion in STEM | Looking to expand my network”. Consider why I listed scientist studying human movement rather than “Biomechanist studying locomotor-respiratory coupling in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease”. The first is much easier to understand, it is broad, and everyone knows what a scientist is. Plus, I have added more about myself and what I am on LinkedIn to do. If you are looking for a job, this should be in your headline. One other LinkedIn tip, make sure you personalize your public profile URL and include it on your resume.
Write at least one resume. Use the internet to find resume examples. Use your career center on campus. Use the staff in the department as they each have a resume and not a CV. List your transferable skills front and center. A resume is 1-2 pages maximum so use your room wisely. Your transferable skills are much more important than your papers and presentations. For a great list of transferable skills, see this University of Michigan site. Quadruple check your resume for grammatical errors. When someone requests your resume, send it within a few hours.
Start networking early. Spend 15 minutes per day establishing your network. Possibly this is scrolling through LinkedIn and finding a possible connection (always send a note with a question when you connect so they are forced to respond). Reach out to equipment vendors they always know about a job before anyone else. Conduct informational interviews with a variety of people in industry. This is extremely important if you don’t know what job titles to search for. Ask your family, friends, and colleagues for connections. Follow up with those connections. You never know who has another connection that may be fruitful.
Remember that industry and government jobs come in all forms. I know several PhDs that have considered becoming a patent application reviewer. Why? Because having a PhD means you know how to learn. Even when you don’t know much about a topic, you know where to look for reliable and accurate information and you can decipher quickly what is important. Companies that you may not even think would hire a PhD may have several on staff already. Think of the large, corporate home improvement store down the street. They have PhDs in Data Science, Psychology, Industrial Design, Math, and so forth. Why not you? The point here is don’t think you have to work for a biomechanics company. Again, this is why the informational interviews are important to know what kinds of jobs are out there and what companies hire PhDs.
Twitter accounts to follow:
About the author:
Jenna is currently faculty in Health & Kinesiology at Texas A&M University. Before starting her PhD (a bit later in life), she had worked for large and small companies and the United States federal government.