Non-academic science career information aggregator

Below is a list of websites that may be helpful.of interest to scientists looking outside of academia. This is by no means a complete list, so if you know of other useful sites, let me know, and I will add them in!

Now UPDATED with new links (June 2016)

Blog posts about non-academic careers:

CV vs resume:

Advice on applying for non-academic jobs

Possibly interesting career guidance:

Interesting non-academic science online discussion:

5 comments:

jaylen watkins said...

I have come to know about difference between CV and resume visiting here in this blog.

Career information

Grumpy said...

Gosh, those posts by cheeky scientist and next scientist on transition to industry don't match my experience in industry at all. Did you post those because you agree with them or because there really isn't better advice for a scientist interested in industry on the web?

prodigal academic said...

I've never worked in industry myself, but the specific posts on transitioning cheeky scientist and next scientist seem innocuous enough. Advice that networking and interpersonal skills are very important, and that entitlement will get you nowhere is good for all job-seekers. The reason I like to post links for as many different advice pages is because everyone's experience is different, so it is good to hear from lots of different people. Unfortunately, many students and postdocs don't know anyone who has had industry experience in real life. How were your experiences different?

Grumpy said...

I worked in industry R&D for 5 years in several different positions/firms. The most important criteria for a graduating student to get a position was to publish well and garner a strong scientific reputation (as evidenced by letters, quality 'networking', etc.).

Then the most important attributes once on the job were doing excellent scientific/engineering work and figuring out how to play well on the team.

prodigal academic said...

Thanks for the comment, Grumpy. I think publish well/do good science, network, and be a team player are pretty much the best advice for anyone in science looking for any kind of job. That said, I think that not everyone knows how to network/be a team player. Social skills are not intuitive or obvious to everyone, and may mean different things in different cultures, and so it is helpful to look at how different people went ahead and did it.