Elizabeth Silva’s six Do’s and Don’ts on transferable skills before looking for a job outside of academia.

Contributor Elizabeth Silva

In a previous article I discussed the importance of honing the soft skills that are central to a research PhD, which are useful regardless of career path. Experiences outside the lab primarily provide the opportunity to develop hard skills. There are thousands of different skills, requested by thousands of employers, in an infinite number of combinations. It’s no wonder PhDs are daunted by the prospect of navigating the options and give up before they begin. The good news: many of these specific skills can be readily learned by someone who has already mastered dozens of ridiculously specific, esoteric and finicky experiments.

First, a few dos and don’ts:

• Don’t be tempted to develop an array of skills with the hope of marketing yourself to whatever job happens to arise. Start exploring different careers to get an idea of what you want to do, then develop skills that are related to that job or career. Continue reading →