Careers outside of academia

Postdoc stories: Non-research careers

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Former postdoc Lee has taken his love of teaching and technology and applied it to a new role as a Technical Training Content Developer. Here, he tells us about the similarities with his academic career, how he appreciates his flexible working hours and how he drives his own career development

Please give us a brief career history

I was lucky enough to study Natural Sciences at Cambridge, eventually specialising in Materials Science, staying for a PhD and submitting my thesis in 2012. I then continued my research journey by moving to France for a postdoc, working in a related area to my PhD. After three years I had produced a reasonable body of work and could have continued, but I felt ready to try something outside of research. I returned to the UK and joined Granta Design, an established Cambridge spin-out, making teaching resources to go with educational software about engineering materials. I still work there, but moved to the part of the company making commercial enterprise software and became their only Technical Training Content Developer. I maintain a library of slides, exercises, videos and other resources that my colleagues use to deliver training to our customers in large engineering companies around the world.

Why were you attracted to this role, how did you find it?

I always enjoyed the teaching side of being an academic – during my PhD I was a supervisor, lab demonstrator, and did quite a few outreach activities. Part of teaching is designing course content: it’s a huge challenge to get your own head around some very technical knowledge, and then to organise it in a way that is easy for someone else to access. In some ways, that challenge is the same whether you’re an academic lecturer or working for a company. That’s what I like most about this job.

decision point

Did you explore other career paths?

Always – I’m very indecisive! At every point in my career where I’ve had to make a choice, I’ve looked around at the other options. For example, I considered going straight to the private sector rather than doing a PhD, but I graduated in 2008 when the economy was shaky, so research seemed like a safe haven for a few years, as well as being interesting and exciting. When it came to leaving research in 2015, I evaluated several job adverts and literally wrote out the pros and cons, and gave them all a score. I could have applied for another postdoc in Spain or Finland, but the lure of a permanent job and returning to Cambridge won me over.

What do you do in your current role – what is an ‘average’ day?

My working hours are later than some of my colleagues, so there are a few emails waiting for me when I get in. Someone from the services team is about to deliver training to a large customer who needs to know everything about our product’s security and access control features. I point them to the right resources, and suggest a few ways to tweak their itinerary and alter the content for the users they’ll be dealing with.

Then I get down to the week’s main project – some meaty exercises about how to parse text output from mechanical test machines. I use my allotted learning time to read up on regular expressions, and get to work mocking up some examples that customers might recognise. In the process I find and report a couple of obscure bugs in the software – nothing mcommunicationajor, but they’ll be fixed in the next update.

After lunch I’ve got a meeting with a product manager – they’re excited about their pet project, a new feature to solve a particular customer problem to do with regulatory compliance. I ask the usual questions: who is the audience for a training event on this? What will they know already, and what will they need to learn? They share with me a few case studies and an example project file they were working on, so I can start planning the training content. I won’t do the work on this before next month, but it’s good to think ahead.

In the late afternoon I host one of my regular video conference webinars for existing customers. Quite a few tune in – they say it helps them stay sharp. This month I’ve coached one of my colleagues to be a guest speaker, talking about how to use our product with CAD projects and simulations. I set up a laptop to record their great demonstrations, and tomorrow I’ll edit and publish some clips on our customer-facing archive for anyone who missed it.

What do you enjoy about your job?

As the only training content developer in the building, I’m almost a department unto myself, and I’m largely responsible for organising my own time – I like working this way, it’s not so different from when I was a researcher. I set up meetings and listen to all the stakeholders – like the product managers who oversee the software, and the services consultants who deliver training – to establish what customers need to learn, and what they are struggling with. And as an intensive user of the software myself, I can give the developers a lot of feedback about the product, trying to make the user interface easier to get to grips with. So it’s a varied, communicative and social role that involves regular chats with most people in the company. It all helps me feel like a valued and respected member of the team. I’m not just stuck at my desk churning out slides.

Finally, and quite importantly for me, the company is also flexible about working hours, and I can work part-time (4 days per week) to make time for my other interests. I have a serious hobby – I’m a musician playing with two semi-professional acts that I also co-manage. Staying well-rehearsed while also promoting the acts for paid opportunities like weddings and other functions, well, it takes time and energy!

Any aspects that you don’t enjoy?

You do have to continuously advocate for the importance of your role – some people don’t get how important it is that customers be able to learn about the product in a way that speaks their language and suits them. Recent trends towards online e-learning mean you’ll sometimes use a learning management system (LMS) to deliver the content – some of these are better than others, but they can feel restrictive and there’s definitely a sense of distance from the learner. You can end up doing a lot of the same old thing if you don’t agitate for your own career development – for me that involves talking to my manager about new ways I want to learn and develop myself.

What are the main skills you use on a day-to-day basis?

image capturing the idea of understandingIt’s a good job for a generalist – I use a lot of different skills. I have to quickly pick up new technical concepts, by reading around or from conversations with colleagues, and move from one task to another. I need good people skills to tease out what stakeholders in a project really want me to do – sometimes they don’t express it very well – and most of all, I have to be very well organised because the job involves keeping a lot of different people happy, and delivering lots of things by different deadlines. Managing my own workload, and pushing early against any sign of an unrealistic deadline, is probably the most important general business skill – it has stopped me making crazy promises and getting stressed trying to follow through on them!

The Careers Service is amazing. Their Vacancies & Opportunities database has some of the best jobs going

What is your one tip for postdocs who might be considering a move to this sector?

Make sure you ask questions at interview about what the job will really involve. I have the impression that the training role varies a lot from company to company, and you might have the opportunity to define it yourself. Also, try to make sure your prospective manager is someone you think you can work well with. That’s one for any job really, but it’s hard to resolve a personality clash with someone who has power over you.

How did you use the Careers Service in your search?

The Careers Service is amazing: their Vacancies & Opportunities database has some of the best jobs going, and they got me into my current company. Through my years in academia I always kept an eye on it, in case some once-in-a-lifetime position came up. When I was a student, the staff there were always very friendly and open to open-ended discussions when I didn’t know what I was going to do – I never felt railroaded into any particular career. I think they know that everyone is different, and that it’s important to do something for work that matches not just your skills, but your character and values.

R&D in industry over the horizon

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SunriseR&D in industry isn’t a surprising postdoc career destination but it’s still surrounded by mystery. What are the reasons former postdocs in industry say that they like it? Or there any downsides they are hiding?

This year, we’ve had lots of feedback at the Postdoc Careers Service on what’s it like and what are the key differences to academia.

Shared risk and glory

In academia if your project doesn’t go well and you are struggling to get any results, the burden is on you to fix it, limp on with the project and try to recruit some volunteers to assist. In industry, inherent team work means that you are not holding the whole weight of the project. As one postdoc now in a local biotech put it “If you are struggling (with experiments) the team is struggling with you and everyone is helping you out”. Sounds great but be aware that getting all the kudos for a project is probably off the cards too as the successes rightly need to be shared. So, if a getting the glory on an individual level is your primary driver, academia might be a better fit.

High tech shiny labs

While academia is idea cutting edge territory, industry is doing it on the technology front. R&D firms invest in equipment and technology which postdocs tell us is a step above most academic institutions and a major perk of the job. Time is money, so companies don’t tend to scrimp on the resources you need to get your job done.

stopwatchFast turn around time

Having years to delve deeply into an academic research area is heaven for some and the reason that postdocs go on to be PIs. But if you get more of a kick from shorter time frames, industry will tick that box. Project managers will be giving you targets and deadlines. It might mean that you can’t go down every interesting experimental route but it will mean you know what you have to focus on when which many postdoc tell us they yearn. But that level of organisation comes at a price. Industry postdocs say the number of meetings is a “culture shock”, the work is intense and the expectations are high.

Real world applications in sight

Certainly anyone working in pharma cites helping patients as a key driver, but that applies to all R&D careers across the sectors. Knowing that people will be consuming and purchasing what you research can be a reason to get out of bed even when the projects are tough.

What, no hidden downsides?

Sure, there are downsides. We’re well aware that the people who volunteer to come back to tell us their industry story disproportionally selects those with a positive tale to tell. But we’re keen to hear the downsides too. The downsides are often the reverse of all the positives above, it’s just a matter of your perspective. But if the positives energise you, it’s worth having a look over the horizon.  Find out more about real life postdoc R&D careers industry.

 

Anne Forde, Postdoc Careers Adviser

 

The NHS Scientist Training Programme – Corsten’s story

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Originally posted on the unicamcareers blog

A Q&A with Dr Corsten Douglas, who shares her experiences from the NHS Scientist Training Programme

Tell us a bit about yourself. What did you study and what have you been doing since you left Cambridge?

I studied for a PhD in biological sciences at the MRC mitochondrial biology unit. My thesis was ‘The assembly pathway of human ATP synthase’. Since I left the university, I started freelance private tutoring (without an agency), tutoring KS1-4 biology, chemistry and physics, A level biology and chemistry and 11+. After a year of tutoring, I started a full-time job at Cambridge Science Centre as a science communicator. I applied for the NHS Scientist Training Programme just before I got the CSC job.

How did you first hear of the NHS STP programme and what did you learn through Open Days?

I heard about the STP via a friend who was working in the NHS. I learned from going to the open day that my idea to study Ahmed’s Clinical Biochemistry – Frontiers of biomedical science textbook was the correct thing to do, and that getting some experience, even one day, in a clinical biochemistry laboratory would be advantageous.

Which specialism(s) did you apply to, and why?

I prepared for the psychometric tests by revisiting my KS3 maths revision guide that I use for tutoring. I did this because when trying the Talent-Q practice tests, it looked a lot like KS3 maths. In fact, the real test was full of even some simple KS3 maths, such as how to interpret bus timetables. For the logic tests, I printed out the Talent-Q practice tests by doing a screen print of each one, and just looking at them until I found a pattern, taking as long as I needed. I thought it would be best to make a check list of which patterns were found, and then wait a few weeks before taking the Talent-Q practice test again to make sure that I couldn’t just remember the answers and that it was just logic that I was using the answer them. This strategy was probably a good one, as I felt that I got all of the logic questions correct in the real thing.

A PhD is not an essential requirement for these roles. What did you see as the advantages/disadvantages of being a PhD graduate during the selection process?

The advantages of having a PhD were that during the general science station at the interview, I used a lot of knowledge gained during my PhD to answer the questions. I didn’t really see a disadvantage, as the introductory chapter of Nessar Ahmed’s Clinical Biochemistry mentions that clinical scientists may have a PhD in a relevant subject such as vitamin analysis. My PhD was not clinical, but is useful if I specialise in ‘in-born errors of metabolism’.

What does it mean to be ‘white-listed’?

I got a high enough interview score to be employed/accepted, but there weren’t enough spaces/my rank wasn’t high enough initially. If someone drops out, then they use your first choice hospital location to place you. I found out I was successful and got my first choice of locations on 2 August this year, nearly two months after being on the reserve list/white-listed.

Learn more about the NHS Scientist Training Programme at nshcs.hee.nhs.uk/programmes/stp

Practice Talent-Q elements in Job Test Prep, via the Careers Service

Building resilience for your career

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Whether you’re worried about having a temporary contract, applying for long-term academic jobs or making the leap out of academia, having a good supply of mental toughness to cope with the career uncertainties of postdoc life is essential.

But how can you build repalm trees in windsilience?

We were really taken by some recent examples of former postdocs who demonstrated the much- prized ability to ‘bounce back’ in real-life situations and even surprised themselves how resilient they were.

When exploring the subject of building resilience, it’s good to draw inspiration from Stoic philosophy  – a central principle of which is that we don’t control and cannot rely on external events, only ourselves and our reactions.  Or as Seneca succinctly put it: “It does not matter what you bear, but how you bear it.”

Resilience in action

Take former postdoc Stacey Jamieson, a speaker at our recent ‘Careers in R&D in biotech and pharma’ event . Stacey didn’t have the ideal circumstances to land her first choice job.  In her video she describes how, due to her immigration status, she had to think around the issue of getting a job where a company would sponsor her.  Unfortunately, the companies that offered this sponsorship were in technical/scientific roles and not in Stacey’s preferred area of Medical Scientific Liaison, (MSL).

By being resilient – researching her options and being open to opportunities where she could use her skillset – Stacey was able to ‘bridge the gap’ between academia and industry for a year in a technical role until she got permanent residency status in the UK.

Things have worked out well for Stacey who is now in MSL, a role ‘where her heart lies.’

At the same event, Winnie Yeung urges you to be brave and apply for industry positions even if you have the challenge of not having all the skills listed on the job description.

You’ll have to be resilient to handle the inevitable rejections, but by highlighting your transferrable skills you may also get the job.  As Winnie says: ‘usually the company will see how your skills will fit with the role.’

Sometimes the resilience-building technique of ‘reframing,’ (a way of viewing and experiencing events, ideas, concepts and emotions to find more positive alternatives – Wikipedia), is needed to check if a perceived challenge or difficulty can be turned to an advantage.

José Teles, a speaker at the event, worried that his diverse background in academia would hamper his chances of moving into industry – a concern that wasn’t borne out in reality.  As José explains in this video, his wide-ranging experience ‘…. turned out to be an advantage in my current role.’

José’s story highlights the importance of ‘reframing’ – seeing your situation from all angles, to build your resilience.  What you might think of as a disadvantage in your career history, may actually be seen by employer as a benefit.

Moving forward

Seneca said that ‘we suffer more often in imagination that in reality.’ By deploying resilience to interrogate challenges -moving problems from the imagination and into the cold light of reality -positive, creative ways of moving-on can be devised.

Have a good supply of resilience is essential to overcoming life’s inevitable hurdles as a postdoc.

Getting help

If you are looking to increase your resilience, the Researcher Development Programme at Cambridge University run workshops which focus on building mental toughness by developing coping strategies to overcome challenges.

Come for an appointment at the Postdoc Careers Service if you feel that the rollercoaster of job hunting and career decision making is depleting your resilience.

Heather Smith

Postdoc team

What salary should I ask for?

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The salary expectation question is something we are increasingly coming across at the Postdoc Careers Service. Employers are asking for this information in online applications, cover letters, phone interviews, way before it feels appropriate to talk about money.

Help!

You are asking us how you should handle it. Here are our tops tips to help you navigate this tricky question:

tower of coinsUnderstand why they are asking it

Why on earth do they need to ask such an awkward question before they’ve got to know you?

Well, organisations have salary budgets and the recruiters who first come across you probably have a budget they need to stick to. So, it’s one way of ruling out people who have unrealistic salary expectations. On the other hand, they don’t want to put you off with an offer so low that you’d reject the job out of hand.

Appreciate that they are not setting you a trap, just doing some broad reality checks.

The best tack is to do some salary research before you apply

How much do I ask for?

Yep, it’s the million dollar question but in truth they are not really asking you how much you’d like to earn but what are you worth to them.

The best tack is to do some salary research before you apply.

Our Careers Service alumni platform, Alumni Careers Connect, gives you access to Cambridge graduates who could give you an idea what someone with your experience might expect in this role and sector (as opposed to what they earn).

If you are stuck for time, ask around colleagues or friends for what they reckon people starting in the role should expect. The website Glassdoor is useful to get some insights – people post salary info anonymously. If that doesn’t yield results, the online careers education website Prospects gives average salaries for the entry and longer term progression in a wide range of job types.

How do you present this information to the employer?

If possible, it’s best to give the employer a range, let’s say £5K range rather than one figure.

This gives them a bit of wiggle-room so they don’t feel in a corner. If it’s a conversation rather than a digit to fill in on a form, give them reasons why you think you justify this salary.

Your reasons should be about your value to them and not about your increased costs or inconvenience taking the position.

What’s wrong with asking for more or less than they expect?

Asking for too much means that you sound unrealistic or even arrogant, especially if it is a lot more than your current salary.Happy person

If you are asked about your current salary, though, do mention the benefits of working for your current employer (e.g. pension, annual leave, subsidised childcare).

Asking for too little could give the impression you are not ambitious, and invites them to make a low offer. Keep in mind it takes time to climb up the salary scale.

Your reasons should be about your value to them and not about your increased costs or inconvenience taking the position.

Cultural expectations

Whereas in the UK and a lot of Europe, salary negotiations are uncomfortable for many people, in other countries it’s a must.

For example, in the US you will be expected to negotiate. Do your research on the salary range and also the cost of living in the area.

A former postdoc now working in biotech in the US Bay area said UK based postdocs will be shocked at how much you need to ask for!

It’s a package and not just a salary

Sure, a salary figure is a headline, but what else are they offering?

Many organisations offer other benefits: training, share options, flexible working, health insurance, gym membership. The greatest benefit of all, though, is how the role will help your confidence, career and employability in the longer term. Some people take a lower offer with the prospects of longer term salary benefits and employability.

Later stage salary negotiations

The ideal stage to give you salary expectations is when they have offered you the role.

If you are aiming at the highest figure, give the employer clear reasons why you are worth it. Ask how often and what is the process for salary review.

By Anne Forde, postdoc careers adviser

Getting the most out of conferences

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In the weeks leading up to a conference, you are probably focused on preparing what you will present to the attendees, but don’t forget that attending a conference can be a great opportunity to develop your network and facilitate your next career move.

Some research in advance into the delegates attending, the organisations exhibiting and the location of the conference can pay dividends.

If you are trying to develop a career in academia

Are any of the delegates people you would like to employ you (as a postdoc or PI) or host you (as a fellow)?  Reach out to them in advance and try to set up a meeting at the conference.  If you are presenting a talk or poster, let them know.  A quick chat can be easier and more fruitful than a carefully crafted email, particularly if you are looking to change subfields.

If you will be geographically close to any groups or departments you would like to join, try to arrange a visit before or after the conference.  They might like you to give a talk about your work.

Trying to come up with independent research ideas?  At our Fellowship event, Prof George Malliaras suggested attending talks outside your immediate field.

If you are trying to move into R&D in industry

Do any of the delegates work at companies of interest?  Contact them in advance and try to arrange a meeting at the conference.  You could ask a GradLink at the same company to forward an email, or you could reach out through LinkedIn – just make sure your own profile promotes you well.

If you are trying to move into a non-research role

Are any of the exhibitors doing roles that interest you?  You are likely to find journal editors, people working for professional bodies such as the Royal Society of Chemistry, and application specialists for lab equipment and reagents.  Don’t hesitate to ask the presenters about their own careers paths. You will often find former researchers at conferences who can share their own experiences and tips for moving into a non-research role.

Further tips? Last year Claudia Bonfio, a postdoc at the LMB, wrote a great post for The Biochemist Blog on ‘How to be better at networking at conferences’

Sally Todd, postdoc career adviser

From scientist to interactive journalist

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Anna Lombardi tells us how she made the transition from postdoc to interactive journalist

Anna Lombardi

Please give us a brief career history

Despite my purely scientific background, I’ve ended up working as an interactive journalist at the Times and Sunday Times. The path I’ve followed to get here has been anything but linear.

After completing my PhD in Physics at the University of Lyon (France) in 2013, I moved to Cambridge, where I joined the NanoPhotonics Centre in the Physics department as a postdoc.

I had the chance to work in an extremely dynamic and stimulating environment, deepening my knowledge of light-matter interaction at the nanoscale and plasmonic sensing.

Despite enjoying the work in the lab, after three years I decided to rethink my career path to pursue my passion for science communication.

Aware that I needed more technical tools to move into this field, I enrolled in a two-year Master in Science Communication at the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste (Italy) where I first learned about data journalism and visual storytelling.

While studying, I tried to gather experience in as many fields as possible: from science festivals to science publishing,press office activities and event organization. But I soon realised data journalism was something that intrigued me the most, something always in the back of my mind. This is when I started looking for jobs and, in August 2018, I applied for the one advertised by The Times.

Why were you attracted to this role, how did you find it?

The one tdatahing that has never changed throughout my career is a deep passion for numbers.

As a researcher I was used to reading through big sets of data and visualising them in the clearest possible way for publication; no surprise that, while studying science communication, I got particularly interested in the field of data journalism and visual storytelling.

When I came across this job opportunity advertised by The Times online, I immediately applied. As soon as I read the job description, I thought that it would be the perfect match between my scientific and communication skills.

What aspects of your postdoc experience were most useful in securing the job?

My scientific background has been considered a plus throughout the recruiting process.

Analytical thinking and problem solving were highly valued, as well as coding and writing proficiency. These are all skills I have developed and improved as a postdoc.

What do you do in your current role – what is an ‘average’ day ?

On a day to day basis, our interactive team helps reporters analysing and visualising data to
go with their articles.

We realise maps, charts and interactive tools to contextualise a story,to provide extra bits of information, to engage with readers and guide them through complex data, to incorporate live or location data, to create reader-focused datasets.

All these tools are added to the online edition of the paper. We often collaborate with journalists to find stories within big datasets by scraping and coding, and we sometimes write data-based stories ourselves.

What do you enjoy?

We cover several stories every day. I love learning about different topics through data, something that journalism and science have in common.

I also enjoy designing (often through coding) interactive charts and bespoke digital tools that aim at challenging and moving an often too static view of the world.

Any aspects that you don’t enjoy?

The fast pace of a newsroom is certainly thrilling but it can also be overwhelming sometimes for an ex-researcher, used to a much slower paced environment.

What are the main skills you use on a day-to-day basis?

Data analysis, few bits of statistics, as well as coding, communication and visualization skills.

What is your one tip for postdocs who might be considering a move to this sector?

Science and journalism have more in common than you might think: good journalism, as good science, relies on precision, method and clarity. There isn’t much difference between a good chart/graph going into a top peer-reviewed journal or printed in a daily newspaper: they both need to be self-explaining, complete and visually compelling.

Addressing the general public instead of your scientific peers is even more challenging for me, as you can never assume “they should already know” part of the story.

If you are passionate about data but also enjoy telling stories and deepening your knowledge of the world, journalism could be your next destination.

Tips and tricks for building your LinkedIn profile for postdocs

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Many postdocs maintain an online presence through a personal website or their research group’s website.

Often, sites such as LinkedIn are perceived as useful only for those fresh out of undergraduate studies or looking for business roles.

However, as the largest job social media site, LinkedIn is becoming more and more critical for those seeking roles outside of academia.

A LinkedIn profile is more than an online CV, it is a major networking tool and online job board. In fact, it is becoming more common for postdoctoral and academic-related roles to be posted through LinkedIn.

LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for exploring and reaching the next step in your career, but first you must take the time to build a good profile.  Luckily it won’t take too long – below are some keys tips for making your profile really stand out.

Top tips:

  • Headshot – A good headshot will not only make you seem warm and approachable, but LinkedIn statistics show your profile is ~27 times more likely to be viewed if you include a photo. It doesn’t have to be formal, but don’t dress distractingly or have a busy background. Don’t forget to smile!
  • Compelling headline– The headline is 120 characters to summarise yourself. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t have to be your job title. I can be comprehensive and doesn’t need to include full sentences. Remember LinkedIn uses search engine algorithms to match your profile so think about what keywords you want to include in your headline to make your profile searchable.
  • Succinct summary – This is a slightly longer summary (up to 2000 characters) where you can also include what you are looking for in a role or your career overall. Remember to use relevant keywords here as well!
  • Personalise your URL – it just takes a moment, and makes your profile link more memorable for you and for others.
  • Experience – You probably already have most of this section written as it will most closely resemble parts of your existing CV.
  • Connections – The more people you connect with, the broader your network. LinkedIn works on a degrees of separation (1st, 2nd, 3rd).
  • Groups – Join any alumni groups of universities you have attended, as well as any professional groups that match your interests. Bonus tip: You can directly message someone who is a member of the same group as you – regardless of what level connection they are to you.
  • Media – You can upload presentations, press releases, etc. directly to your profile. There is no need to upload all your publications or your PhD thesis, but if there are key articles or works that you would like to share, these can lend credibility to your skills.
  • Activity – as with all social media, more activity means more input from other users Again, don’t feel compelled to write blog articles and comment on every notification that comes your way, but as with all social media, the more you use it, the more your profile will get promoted.

Find out more in our video

By Sonali Shukla, Postdoc Careers Adviser

R&D in industry: which job title is right for me?

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Seeking an R&D position in industry but not sure which level you should be applying for?  Let’s take an example.  Looking  at the One Nucleus website (biotech jobs, in the Cambridge/London area), the following job titles appeared on my screen:

Scientist, Senior Group Leader, Research Associate, Research Scientist, Senior Scientist and Principal Scientist

So, as a postdoc, how can you tell which of these are the right level  for you?

Read the job requirements

The job titles a company uses may be fairly arbitrary. But they should at least be a little clearer in the job description. For example, many of you currently have the job title ‘research associate’, so you might assume this would be the right level.  But when I read the job requirements, I found this role only expected a BSc/MSc.  In fact it was the ‘research scientist’ (at the same Cambridge University spin-out!) position that asked for a PhD and postdoc/industry experience.

A ‘senior scientist’ position – at a different organisation – specified at least three years in industry.  The ‘scientist’ position was vaguer, talking about experience in a ‘drug discovery environment’.

Apply now button

So what can you do to make more sense of job titles?

Do some research.  Looking on LinkedIn, I could quickly find how much industrial experience people tended to have when appointed as ‘scientists’ in this organisation. LinkedIn also revealed a great deal about the ‘senior group leader’ position, where the job requirements said ‘Science based Degree or PhD with significant experience in a product development/ laboratory environment and proven managerial experience’.  One current senior group leader at this organisation joined with an MSc and another a BSc, but both already had years of experience managing large teams.  Admittedly, it is five years since the more recent joiner was recruited, but postdocs with only minimal management experience might decide against prioritising an application at this level.

I couldn’t use LinkedIn to find out more about people doing the senior and principal scientist roles because I didn’t know the company name – they were being advertised through a recruitment agency.  I tried my trick of taking what looked like a unique piece of text and pasting it into Google – quite often you can find the same job being advertised on the company website.  But this didn’t work as the company is in Poland, and they may well have used Polish there!

In summary, job titles vary from company to company, so don’t make assumptions.  Do read the job requirements/person specification carefully, try to find out which companies recruitment agencies are representing (by pasting a unique phrase from the advert into your browser), and look at the experience of current jobholders on LinkedIn.  This should help you to focus your application efforts on roles where you have the best chance of being shortlisted.

 

by Sally Todd, Postdoc careers adviser

Telephone and Skype interviews – how to prepare with short notice.

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Help! I’ve been called for a telephone (or Skype) interview tomorrow, and there’s no time to see a careers adviser. Can you help me prepare?

It’s one of our most common enquiries, and it’s also typical that postdocs get very little notice for these first-round ‘screening’ interviews. So we thought we’d put together some top tips to help you, if you find yourself facing a remote interview at short notice.

A short telephone or Skype interview is frequently used in all sectors – for lectureships and jobs outside academia – as a time and cost-efficient way of meeting candidates and deciding whether to invest in taking them further in to the process. As a result, they tend to be quite broad in scope aiming to assess in some way each of the elements that will be addressed in detail at a later stage.

So time is short, and the scope is broad – what should you focus your preparation on?

Find out who’ll be interviewing you. This could give you some useful clues about what to expect. For example, if you’re being interviewed by someone in an HR function, the questions will probably focus on your career path and CV, but if you’re going to be interviewed by someone in the team you’ve applied to, the questions may well focus on knowledge needed for the role or sector. If it’s a lectureship interview, knowing the research interests of the people you’ll be talking to will help you decide at what level you need to pitch your answers.

Anticipate some questions, and plan your answers.

In lectureship interviews, the questions are usually quite predictable, and you can see an extensive list of examples in our Quick Guide. Be ready to talk about your current research, major achievements, and future plans, as well as your teaching experience, and how you hope to contribute to the University or institution you’ve applied to.

If your interview is outside of academia, it’s harder to generalise, but you should always be ready to answer the question ‘why do you want this job?’, and to talk about the skills and experiences you think you can bring to the role. Check back to the job description for clues about what skills might be most important to emphasise, and have at least one example, preferably more, to show how you’ve demonstrated each skill. It’s also a good idea to read a bit about the company that’s interviewing you – what issues are they currently facing? What recent achievements are they proud of? What’s happening in the wider sector that’s relevant to them?

Be specific

Where a lot of people fall down in interviews is by being too generic in their answers. Your goal in an interview is to show how you stand out from other candidates, and to do that you need to make your examples personal to you. For instance, if you’re telling the interviewer about your experience giving presentations as an example of your excellent communication skills, don’t talk in general terms. ‘I regularly give presentations to a variety of different audiences’, makes you sound just like every other candidate. Instead talk about a specific presentation, and furnish the example with detail. What was the presentation about? Where was it, and for whom? Did you do anything different to address this audience? How was it received? What did you learn from it? By making the example your own, it becomes much more convincing.

Rehearse but don’t script!

You need to be confident in delivering your answers, but you don’t want to sound like you’ve scripted them. It’s a tricky balance, and if you’re nervous or English isn’t your first language, it can be tempting to learn answers off by heart. Instead, try to jot down two or three key points that you’ll cover for each question. Practice saying the answers out loud by following these points – perhaps even record your answers and play them back to see how they sound.

Find a good place to have your interview.

Find somewhere quiet for your interview where you won’t be disturbed – the last thing you want is a colleague walking in on you, or your baby crying next door… If it’s a Skype interview, make sure there’s nothing messy on the wall behind you, dress smartly, with no distracting patterns, and aim to look at the camera when you speak (a good trick is to put the screen with your interviewer right at the top of your screen, under your camera). The advantage of remote interviews is you can have your notes accessible to jog your memory, as long as this doesn’t become distracting. The downside is that you lose some of the useful non-verbal cues that show your interviewer understands you. Don’t be afraid to use phrases like ‘Have I answered your question?’ or ‘Would you like me to talk more about that?’.

Have a question to ask.

Finally, think of a question you’d like to ask them. It’s practical at this stage to ask about when you’ll hear about the outcome of the interview, but it’s also a good opportunity to ask questions about their organisation or the role that show you’re genuinely interested in the job.

By Liz Simmonds, Postdoc Careers Adviser

 

 

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