{"id":1748,"date":"2013-10-10T12:14:30","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T11:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/?p=1748"},"modified":"2013-10-10T12:14:30","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T11:14:30","slug":"how-to-find-a-career-away-from-the-bench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/2013\/10\/10\/how-to-find-a-career-away-from-the-bench\/","title":{"rendered":"How to find a career away from the bench"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laura Thomson, cross posted-from the Digital Science blog<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Deciding to leave the bench after dedicating years to your career as a scientist can be a daunting prospect but with only about half of science graduates having a lifetime career in research it is an increasing reality for many scientists. Last week over 60 scientists joined us at the\u00a0Nature Jobs Career Expo<\/a>\u00a0for the Digital Science workshop Life beyond the bench: I love science but I don’t want to stay in research!<\/p>\n

After a brief intro to some of the\u00a0careers available to scientists<\/a>\u00a0we opened a panel discussion with representatives from communications, marketing, product management, software engineers and start-ups to answer attendees questions about\u00a0establishing a career away from the bench<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Exploring<\/a>

Exploring the options at the Naturejobs career expo{credit}Adby Creative\/Naturejobs{\/credit}<\/p><\/div>\n

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A common theme during the panel discussion was gaining relevant experience for a job away from the bench. Be proactive and write to companies you are interested in to find out if they have internships <\/a>available. An internship will not only give you experience but it will also let you find out if that really is the career choice for you \u2013 the realities of a job can be very different to what you might think it will be like.<\/p>\n

It isn’t always going to be possible to get an internship but there are other things you can do. Start a blog<\/a> focusing on you area of interest to get your name and voice known, contact the companies you\u2019re interested in working for even if they\u2019re not actively recruiting, engage with science start-ups as they\u2019re most likely to be in need of another pair of hands or apply for an entry level job in a larger organisation simply to get a foot in the door.<\/p>\n

After the panel discussion attendees shared their take-homes and here are some of our favourites:<\/p>\n