On this Naturejobs blog we’ve looked at quite a few things on moving from academia to industry: we spoke to Nessa Carey from Pfizer on her transition from academia to industry, we’ve written about transferable skills that are needed, we’ve been through our archives to find you some great reads on our Windback Wednesday round-up: From academia to industry. We’ve even looked at how to find your path when leaving the academic track.
But however much information we give you, or stories we bring you from those who have left academia to go on to do other things, we would like to know what YOU are doing now. How have you taken your transferable skills and used them in your new position? Why did you decide to leave academia? We want to understand why you leave, what tipping point led you to take the plunge? Was leaving academia a good or bad decision? All these insights could help future scientists who are currently trying to make this decision right now.
To figure this out, Naturejobs have joined forces with Vitae to try and find out what academic staff (postdocs, assistant professors etc) do when they leave the higher education sector.
By sharing your stories, adventures and experiences with us, you could help thousands of others in academia who are looking for advice on what to do next, and what options are available to them.
Some really exciting and diverse stories are already being shared:
@Vitae_news Where do I start?! My #postacstory‘s an odd one: Forensic Sci > Whisky Flavour Sci > Farmers’ Market > Street Food – lots of Fs!
— Em BÁNH MÌ BOOTHroyd (@Market_DrEm) May 12, 2014
Although this is a rather unique career path, you might find some inspiration from it. You can get involved with the discussions around this survey by following the #postacstory hash tag on Twitter.
To take part in the survey, just follow this link. If you know anyone who has left an academic career behind for one in industry, please consider passing this survey on to them.
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