‘Only those who are not successful in academia move to industry’, or ‘when I move to industry, I will earn a lot, but others tell me what to do, and I cannot develop myself any further’ on the one side, and ‘those scientists life in their own world, will we even be able to communicate with them?’ on the other – these are some myths and prejudices challenging those looking for their next job. How can you deal with these?
When defining your career strategy or applying for jobs, you will face a number of prejudices – your own, your community’s, and those of potential employers. If you stay in academia, you may be told that you live in an ivory tower, or asked why you do not do something useful (yes, I have been asked this many times). If you aim at getting a non-academic job, your colleagues may ask why you are giving up, or call you crazy (yes, experienced this as well). In fact, according to a study of the Royal Society, more than 50 % of scientists leave academia after their PhD, and another ~45 % do so later in their science careers, while <1 become professors. Thus, making the step from academia to the private or public sector is the rule rather than an exception. Why do we still think that everyone (or at least all the successful ones) stay in academia? Because we meet them at conferences, read their papers, and sometimes even collaborate with them, while we lose contact with those who embarked on different career paths. They may no longer publish, because achievements are measured and communicated differently outside of academia.
Not only achievements or success may be measured differently in academic vs non-academic environments, but also the everyday work is described in a different language. Many tasks that are done on the side and taken for granted in academia are actually useful skills in the non-academic world: For example, presenting your research at a conference means that you design and plan experiments, acquire and process data in a systematic way while ensuring its quality and reliability, visualize and report the results, meet the submission deadline, allocate resources to travel, and then find the courage for public speaking in front of an expert audience in a foreign language. The tasks and responsibilities in a future job may be very similar to tasks you already are familiar with, though described in a different way. Few companies will ask for experience with conferences, though many will ask for communication or project management skills. Therefore, when moving from one environment to the other, it helps to adopt their language.
To deal with your own prejudices, you can treat them as scientific hypotheses, and collect data to test them. These data could be company ads and reports, or informational interviews with people working at a specific company or in a specific position.
Finally, how do you deal with prejudices a potential employer may have towards scientists? First, is it their prejudice, or something you are worried they may think about you? If it is theirs, can you take it up in an open conversation, or can you put up with it? Be assured that none of the company representatives I talked to said anything negative about scientists (admittedly, those who might would likely not be interested in a collaboration with the PSI Career Center). Rather, they are eager to get in contact with motivated and ambitious young talents, and prepared to help someone develop and gain new skills. Similar to us scientists, they may find it hard to start a conversation and find a common language, or wonder whether they are attractive enough as employers. Therefore, do not let myths and prejudices stop you, but know that it is your career and your decision. Just take the first step and see where the path leads you.