Taking small steps to build up your transferable skills and contacts can be the key to moving away from academia and towards your dream job.

Guest contributor Lauren Emily Wright

{credit}Image credit: Lauren Emily Wright{/credit}

Ever thought “I want to leave academia, but all I know is lab work”? Well despair no more — the path out isn’t as treacherous as it may seem. In a great keynote speech at the Naturejobs Career Expo 2015 on 18 September 2015, Phill Jones told the story of how he left academia to become the head of publisher outreach at Digital Science, a company that provides a multitude of services to scientists, institutions, publishers, and funding bodies.

Jones gave the audience the sense that calculated planning and sheer luck had both played their part in his career. With a PhD in physics, he was firmly grounded in the world of academia. But after following his wife to Boston, Jones realised that a postdoc in physics would be hard to come by in such a biology-centred city. “I had to be a little more flexible in my career,” he said.

As Jones notes, it is necessary to have an open mind when thinking of changing career paths. “You can’t think ‘all I know is how to pipette’.” Instead, think about what sort of transferrable skills you can offer an employer. For example, Jones finished his PhD with an in-depth knowledge of optics — perfect for a position in a biology lab that used optical imaging to investigate strokes.

But how can you identify which transferrable skills you already have, and which you need to gain for that ideal new career? How can you make contacts outside academia? Continue reading →