Recap

We started off with an input on potential steps of your career strategy before splitting into smaller groups. There our guests provided insights about career opportunities for academics in their companies, talked about their company culture, and discussed job postings in the industry sector.

Here are our guests’ main takeaways:

Seher Abbas advocates making the job description your friend – relate your skills and everything you accomplished to that, like a checklist.

Jochen Büscher and Sang-Kyun Park (KWS Group) emphasized that the job ad is more of a wish list for companies – don’t be shy even if you don’t meet all the criteria. Researchers in particular bring a lot of transferable skills to the table.

Mauricio Toro-Nahuelpan (Santiago Advisors) said that the fit is important – find out if the values of the company align with yours. When transitioning from academia, we often just want to get a job, but remember it’s a two-way street and you can and should ask potential employers tough questions or those that are important to you.