Using your postdoc position as a springboard to your next role
For postdoctoral researchers, navigating the job market has never been easy, and the Covid-19 pandemic has not improved things. Policymakers around the world are beginning to take notice. The Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU, for example, is making research careers a priority. The council recently released a draft statement calling on the European Commission to improve working conditions for younger researchers.
Research careers were also on the agenda at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in February, when three members of the Marie Curie Alumni Association—a network of researchers previously funded under the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions scheme—spoke about how they navigated their own postdoctoral career crossroads. Their central message was that staying in academia should not be thought of as the natural choice, and that pursuing other career paths means putting in the groundwork before finding yourself on the job market.
Challenging stigma
Karen Stroobants, who leads the science policy unit at the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK, said she knew she wanted to leave academia but faced some cultural barriers. “There’s still [a belief] that the academic career is somehow superior to following other tracks,” she said.
Valentina Ferro, a physicist and science illustrator who recently accepted a job at an electronics manufacturer in the US, explained that the stigma associated with switching to an industry role can be internalised. “That was the most challenging part: it wasn’t the research of the job sector, and it wasn’t the networking; it was fighting with myself to validate my own choice of moving to industry.”
Ferro said the transition was much easier once she reframed how she thought about her career, reflecting on what she enjoyed about academia and what she didn’t. At some point in your career, she explained, “you should reflect on whether you’re on the right path, or whether it’s time for a change”.
Think ahead
The first step in exploring career options is to get to know people beyond your research group. Gábor Kismihók, a research group leader at the Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology in Germany, said this can often flow naturally from your research field. He said reaching further out to people who might be interested in your research is important for career development both inside and outside academia, since research funding often comes from non-academic environments.
As a supervisor himself, Kismihók pointed out that supervisors can be a valuable entry point for industry networks. Do not leave discussions on research direction and career options until the last minute, he advised. “If you have a supervisory board, make them think about where your project can lead you. What is the next logical step after your contractual period is over?”
Since starting work with the Royal Society of Chemistry, Stroobants has more regular conversations about professional development. “I think we should be having those conversations equally in academia,” she said, adding that many researchers do not make the most of the careers advice services that are available. For Stroobants, making the most of the extracurricular options available through her university when she was a postdoc helped her figure out her next career move. She joined a volunteer organisation focused on science policy, which was set up by other postdocs and PhD students who wanted to interact with policymakers.
Getting involved in volunteer groups helped Stroobants not only to meet people but also to develop her understanding of policy work. “Obviously, in the current virtual environment, that is more difficult,” she observed. “It is easier to interact with someone at a reception after an event, with a glass of wine.”
Ferro agreed with Stroobants on the value of volunteering. “You can just play with a different sector and realise whether or not you like it,” she said.
Communication is key
Having decided to move beyond academia, making that first job application can be daunting. As the panellists noted, researchers often have professional skills that put them above entry-level jobs, but they can fall short when it comes to communication.
Ferro had made an illustrated book about science and decided to weave this into the job interview. “I had a slide that was completely unrelated to my technical skills. I had my cat in that slide, I had my book, I had my blog—it was just a way to show myself, to show exactly what I could bring to the table.”
Stroobants had to learn how to talk about her skills in a non-academic interview setting, she said. Starting as an intern, she quickly realised that her PhD and postdoc prepared her for a policy advisory role. “What I didn’t know was how to talk about those things in the right way,” Stroobants said. “There is a big difference between having the right skills and knowing how to talk about those skills in the right way.”
This is an extract from an article in Research Professional’s Funding Insight service. To subscribe contact sales@researchresearch.com