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Career change after PhD is not easy. You keep on asking yourself, “Shall I keep on going, or is this high time to look for a new career?” So, when is the best time to change career path towards industry and how to prepare for this major step in your career?
Have you ever thought to yourself: “Why do I have such a broad network and so many contacts, yet, for some reason I still cannot find a job? Asking around for opportunities, and no one gets back to me with proposals? Does no one open doors for me and create new career options for me? What did go wrong here? Do I have contacts in all the wrong places? Why did my friend — who is introverted and closed for people — get the next job, and I didn’t?
Dr. Laura Pirro is an Italian chemical engineer, who obtained her PhD at Laboratory for Chemical Technology of Ghent University at the end of 2020. Currently, Laura works as an R&D engineer at Yara Sluiskil, in the Netherlands, in the field of agricultural products.
In this episode, she will tell us more about several aspects which characterized her professional life choices so far and some lessons learned on the way.
Here are some highlights:
Not everybody is ready to start a PhD at the same time. After obtaining her master in 2014, Laura decided to work in the chemical industry for a couple of years, to get a taste of the ‘world outside of academia’, before deciding whether to commit to a post-graduate study. During this episode, we will discuss the pros and cons of such a decision.
Your PhD is not only about your own research. During her doctoral studies, Laura got engaged with numerous activities which went beyond her specific domain of study, including an initiative to bring the Agile philosophy for project management into academic research projects. We will ask her about how this initiative developed and what added value Agile can have for doctoral and post-doctoral researchers.
Finding two jobs in the year of the pandemics: mission (im)possible? As the end of her PhD was approaching, Laura had to search for her way back into the chemical industry…but a few pitfalls came across, including getting fired after only three weeks because of financial instability of the company that hired her. We will explore with her how to evaluate the options at the end of your PhD, and how to get back on your feet if the professional world punches you in the face.
Dr. Manolo Castellano is a career consultant and talent recruiter. After obtaining his PhD in neurobiology at the Universidad de Sevilla (Spain) in 2006, he moved to the USA, where he focused his research on auditory synaptic physiology at the Rockefeller University and Stanford University. Back in Europe, he worked at the Universidad Miguel Hernández in Elche, applying electrophysiological techniques to the study of pancreatic cell physiology and diabetes.
Outside the lab, he has always been active in outreach activities, science communication and science activism associations, such as Ciencia con Futuro, Científicos Retornados a España-CRE or the Federación de Jóvenes Investigadores-Precarios, where he participated in the coordination of the Research Career Report.
In 2017 he transitioned to science consulting, founding Carreras Científicas Alternativas, a platform devoted to guide scientists and researchers to find new professional paths.
Manolo conducts training seminars and workshops related to professional careers, participates frequently in employability forums and runs a podcast about scientific careers, where he interviews researchers who happily made their professional career transition beyond Academia.
Manolo currently combines his career-guiding activities with recruitment consulting for R&D companies at Talento Cientifico.
Dr. Danielle De La Mare works as a career wellness coach in private practice. She helps faculty who feel stuck in their careers to loosen their grip on perfectionism, people-pleasing, self-pressure, and shame so that they may find the clarity and courage to pave creative and meaningful career paths both within and outside academia. Her own career wellness journey began when she reached burnout as a tenured professor. Since then, she has found powerful tools to heal herself and others in similar situations. Danielle is the creator of the weekly podcast, Self-Compassionate Professor, which features guests who have found creative ways to re-build their careers after struggle.
