She found she could still do the work she loved at the bench by doing product development research at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Andy Briggs, the UK government’s new adviser on older workers, told The Times this week that 27% of men of UK men aged 65 to 70 are in paid employment, compared to 15% in 2006. The figure for women is 18% and rising, and one in ten people aged over 70 are still working. And employers have an unconscious age bias.
Employers have an unconscious age bias
“Just as there are resources invested in younger workers in coaching and career development, and similarly when women return from career breaks, companies should invest in their older staff and give them midlife career counselling. It’s in business’s interest to do this,” he said. Continue reading
Guest contributor Aliyah Weinstein
Sometimes, a career change into a new environment is just the thing you need to refresh your love for science. But how can an academically-trained scientist make this transition?
Read the report on the keynote speech, Career paths: Out of the Ivory Tower, on the Naturejobs blog.
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Contributor David Proia
A career in the life sciences can be incredibly rewarding, more so if you are in the right environment with a solid leader. We have all seen or heard of the student who changed labs in their fifth year because of poor interactions with their mentor, the eight year postdoc too afraid to move on, the senior research associate unable to progress to the Scientist level because of degree requirements, or the scientist pigeonholed into doing the same type of work day in and day out. Some of these problems can be eliminated by doing due diligence prior to joining an academic lab or industry position and asking some key questions.
In looking back at my career path, I wanted to share some of the things that I learned in transitioning from academia to multiple industry positions, and some of the questions that I learned to ask along the way. Like most things, it is best done with music. Continue reading
Career paths vary a great deal and choosing a scientific vocation can involve challenging and unanticipated decisions. In a new series from the Soapbox Science blog on nature.com, 13 guest bloggers share their stories of career transitions. From a UK politician who started out in biochemistry to a scientist who gave up a career in IT to do a PhD, the posts highlight some of the diverse routes into and out of a career in science. Have a read and let us know your thoughts, either here or in the posts below.
