"I don't have any industry experience. What can I write in my resume to enter the industry?"
These are the words from fresh MSc and PhD graduates who want to transition into the industry and contacted me with this concern.
The hype of getting into the industry and the divide between the industry and academia lead to such concerns. We see academia and industry skills as two completely isolated buckets.
Here, I would like to introduce transferable skills. One acquires many skills as a part of their research that are highly valued in the industry. The problem is that we don't recognise these skills.
𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁𝘀, 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀, 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀.
A few skills that researchers acquire during their research stint:
Project Management: you have a project that you handle end-to-end, from the procurement of reagents to the execution of the project to the final reporting. You have managed your experiment timelines and deadlines and acquired project management skills in this process.
Time Management: Remember when you managed your incubation time so that you could attend a seminar or have your lunch peacefully? Well, if this is not time management, then what is?
Scientific writing and documentation: You have created posters, written manuscripts and multiple progress reports, and you definitely have acquired some documentation skills on the way.
Effective communication skills: You have communicated your project details through various verbal and written presentations on various platforms and various formats. You know you can do it.
Stakeholder management: You have successfully navigated people at various hierarchy levels throughout your research: supervisor, labmates, collaborators, vendors and, not to forget, the admin staff. You have nailed it.
Team management: You have been part of multiple teams, helping them organise scientific events (seminars), leading projects and managing the students/juniors in the lab. You have definitely honed some excellent team management skills on the way.
These are the ones that came to the top of my mind (and a few from the LinkedIn comments), but the list is long for sure. Depending on your research experience, you may have unique transferable skills. If you present these skills appropriately in your resume and follow the golden rules of job application, transitioning to the industry could be a cakewalk.
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