In 1995, Sheila Tobias and Daryl Chubin co-authored the book Rethinking Science as a Career. The book was written at a time when the PhD job market was looking bleak, and many were turning to the world of industry. Without knowing it, Tobias and Chubin started a whole new way of teaching scientists about the world of business. Their book started the Professional Science Masters (PSM), a post graduate degree that prepares science students for the world of industry. But it’s been almost 20 years since they wrote this book, which gives advice on the skills needed to work as an industry scientist, there has been a lot of change in the job market. Where there hasn’t been much change is in the skills needed to make the move. The PSM’s that were born from these ideas were targeted to post-graduate students, but the post-docs of the world don’t seem to have the opportunity to go back and take these courses. In this interview with Tobias and Chubin, Naturejobs finds out what the PhD’s and post-docs of today can do to help their transtition.

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