#1 The Idea that Helped me Switch from Academia to Industry
Hi everyone,
Welcome to my website and my first blog 😇. My name is Aritra Misra. I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine - Copenhagen. I am one of the many people worldwide leaving academic research for a job in the industry.
Career Day at Novo Nordisk Foundation
Of course, the stress in academia is one of the reasons. However, it is my core competencies and my passion that are misaligned with the academic demands. Academia demands publication in high-impact journals incorporating technically challenging techniques and performing research classified or acceptable by journals as state-of-the-art. This attracts grants, which help you secure a tenured position in a research institute.
Thus, it is impossible for people interested in simple curiosity-driven questions to get an Assistant Professor job, and I am one of them. Furthermore, global academic circles' stressful and underpaid work culture is scary. A survey by Nature identifies that 32-37% of early, mid, and late-stage scientists are unhappy with their current positions (https://go.nature.com/3NAEwq0).
So, I decided to leave academia. Getting into the biotech industry was one of the options. However, I was unaware of what role I could contribute to.
That’s when I met Dr. Tina Persson, who infused the IDEA of how to succeed in a switch from academia to industry. Dr. Tina Persson is a global ICF-certified career development coach. She was the instructor in a career development workshop at the research center. In a 1-day workshop, she showed me that a Ph.D. generates not only technical expertise but also a lot of management qualities required to drive projects of different kinds. However, people can apply for technical positions in the industry. But when someone combines her / his management skills with technical prowess, it opens many more options for the candidate.
Thus, one can serve in technical positions, project management positions, communication, or people management jobs. This was a completely new IDEA and a new way of looking at my capabilities.
However, to prepare myself, I needed to identify: 1) What kind of work I am most interested in? (Things you Love doing) 2) What are my core competencies? (Things that you are Good at) and 3) What is the economic support I require? (Positions that will Pay you well?). The LGP rule. This became my Point of Focus.
The LPG rule reverberates the Japanese philosophy of Ikigai, a concept that asks people to combine their passion with an economic return. This will provide life support, which in turn will fuel the commitment to their job. In the last 13 years, from my bachelor’s to my Postdoc life, I have seen people make mistakes in identifying their Ikigai. Thus, failing to prepare early. I am one of them. I learned all this at the age of 31.
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To identify my Ikigai: 1) I am developing influential LinkedIn contacts to understand the job market 2) developing personal connections through informational interviews, 3) introducing myself through in-person meetings at industry events, and 4) speaking about diverse job positions with PhDs, who have succeeded in this switch.
Currently, I am still in the job-hunting phase. But I am much more optimistic about the future outcomes. I work as a technician in my lab, and I will resign in August 2022.
I have also started some volunteering work to develop my work experience and personal skills. I worked with the Government of Delhi, India, in a mentoring program for Government School Children. I am also working with Dr. Tina Persson to run the Ph.D. Career Stories podcast 😃
Do tune in to the podcast if you want to gain experience from the career history of other PhDs (https://phdcareerstories.com/).
That’s all for now. In the coming blogs, I aim to write about how I identified my core competencies, how I used social media to advertise my presence, how I performed effective networking, and how I am trying to crack the hidden job market ✌️
I hope my mistakes and learning become a resource for others in their Career Development Plans.
Do let me know below if the blog was helpful. Leave a comment if you align with the thought process or have something to share.
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Write to me if you want to talk about something 🙂. I am all ears. (Contact below and in the About section of the website)
See you soon… 🤟
