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Key takeaways from UCL’s Researchers Professional Careers Beyond Academia Conference

By s.duran, on 28 June 2021

This year’s Researchers Professional Careers Beyond Academia Conference took place over three days earlier this month, with a specific focus on Life and Health Sciences. We heard from a variety of great speakers, both PhD holders and employers, who shared their experiences, knowledge, and tips on moving into industry from academia. So, what did we learn from each session?

Careers in Life & Health Sciences across Industry

Covering clinical trials, medical communications, strategic consultancy and industry research, our keynote panel gave us a small flavour of the types of roles available to researchers in industry, and reflections on making the jump. Long before her role as a Senior Global Trial Manager at IQVIA, Fatima Farzana started planning her future career. Her advice to researchers? “Look at your values to help you map out potential career paths – then apply across the board”. Identifying the values that are important to you can help you narrow down your industry search, and target the types of roles you would excel in.

All four speakers discussed how they found that crucial first role of academia and their recommendations for making the leap. This included:

  • Accessing careers service advice – UCL Careers offers one-to-one appointments with Careers Consultants, CV reviews, interview prep, and a range of events and workshops dedicated to researchers.
  • Job advertisements – Sometimes the obvious answer is the correct one. You won’t find your next role if you aren’t looking for it.
  • Networking – Meeting and engaging with the right people can often lead to new opportunities.

Networking was consistently raised as a critical factor in landing an industry job – but how can you avoid common mistakes in your networking efforts? Matt Harms, Associate Principal Scientist at AstraZeneca, has experienced networking requests first-hand. His advice?  “Never say ‘I just want a foot in the door’ – always be genuinely interested in the role you’re applying for”.

What is the Future of Research?

This second session brough together individuals from a variety of backgrounds to discuss their thoughts on the future of research and researcher careers. David Bogle, Pro-Vice-Provost of the Doctoral School oversees Early Career Researchers at UCL. He sees the future of research as innovation, saying “we are training researchers to innovate within and beyond academia”. In response to a question asking if leaving academia is only for those who can’t ‘hack it’, David, who has worked both in industry and academia, said, “this attitude shows a lack of imagination in those who can’t perceive any other path.” – with agreement from panellists.

Across the panel, there was acknowledgement of the failures and identity issues researchers encounter. Jennifer McGowan, a recently appointed lecturer at UCL, shared a list of about 20 positions she was unsuccessful in securing, and commented that the full list is much longer. Sheona Scales, Paediatric Lead for Research and Innovation at Cancer Research UK, recalled questioning herself during her early days as a researcher and in industry. Nirmesh Patel, who was named as one of Forbes 30 Under 30 through his work with Cambridge Cancer Genomics concluded with, “Everyone is winging it, why not you?”.

What does a post post-doctoral career look like?

To spotlight the additional challenge that comes with moving from a post-doctoral career to industry, a dedicated Q&A session was added to this year’s programme to hear from people who have done just that. Below are a few key questions and answered shared by our panellists.

Question: Is there an optional time to switch?

Hannah Boycott, who is a Programme Manager for the Medical Research Council, was happy with her decision to switch from a post-doc to industry after 10 years. She built up skills, was able to travel, and work in a wide variety of places around the world. Diane Sutherland, Group Development Director at Fishawack Health commented that they hire people across the spectrum – both just out of their PhD and those with 10+ years of post-doc experience. Sarah Farrow, Recruitment Consultant at CK Science shared her perspective regarding one of the biggest challenges in moving from post-doc positions to industry. She cautioned researchers may need to have flexible salary requirements, especially when making the first move to industry.

Question: What skills did you need in industry that you didn’t gain from your PhD?

Beth Rycroft, an Associate Director for Global Medical Affairs, shared that she had to quickly upskill herself in simplifying the science, interpreting data that you didn’t produce yourself, changing presentation style to suit the audience, and working in a team. Hannah mentioned the importance of learning business language, such as ‘stakeholder’ and ‘funding landscape’, and getting over inferiority complex when in the room with big names. Diane commented that getting feedback on things can be quite daunting at first, as lots of colleagues will comment on your work, and you will be working with experts as it’s not your research. She also mentioned working to deadlines, as you’re charging out your time and getting past perfectionism – a trait common in many researchers.

Managing your Journey Beyond Academia

In the final session, UCL alumni alongside a UCL Careers Consultant spoke to current students and staff about what they can be doing now to prepare for their career journey.

Rebecca McKelvey, Founder and CEO of in2scienceUK, highlighted the valuable support she received from UCL Innovation and Enterprise when founding her charity, , and discussed that employability skills are exactly what researchers possess – problem solving, independence, resilience, communication skills and adaptability.

Tim Geach, Senior Publishing Manager at Springer Nature, states that his employer requires new hires to hold a PhD. They greatly value PhD experience, and even more so, post-doctoral experience­. He stated that he enjoys his ability to work across different subjects, and the various routes that were available to him within publishing.

Crystal Ruff is a Senior Executive in Life Sciences & Transaction Advisory Services at EY-Parthenon. She worked clinically for ten years before moving into consulting and obtained her MBA to support her industry career. However, she stated that an MBA is not a requirement to enter strategic consulting. The skills are needed, but how you got them isn’t important.

A Deputy Head at UCL Careers, Calum Leckie obtained his PhD in plant-based biology and spent eight years as a post-doc. He came into this role after reflecting on his values, and found he enjoyed mentoring and supporting people. He saw the confusion in career paths of others and found a role to help researchers with their own career journeys.

So what can researchers be doing now to developing skills outside of their research? 

Matt states you should be learning about the industries you want to go into. Don’t list what skills and attributes you have for a role without referencing what the role is and what you can offer and relate your skills to what’s needed. For example, if you want to write, then show evidence of writing. Rebecca recommended that you should look at what you want to go into and then find ways to develop those skills. For example, you could organise an event, support public engagement or outreach, or gain teaching experience. Calum recommended you do things within your research environment. Network to access the hidden jobs market – roles that aren’t advertised, or that may be coming up. Get work experience, and update your LinkedIn profile.

Top Tips from our Interviews Q&A with Capco and AstraZeneca

By s.duran, on 21 May 2021

This week, UCL Careers was joined by two interview experts from industry. Alison Darke is the Postdoc Talent Partner at AstraZeneca, and Nadir Basma completed his PhD at UCL and is now a Senior Consultant at Capco. They shared their experiences interviewing researchers along with top tips for submitting a strong application, preparing for an interview, and asking the right questions along the way.

Key takeaways

  • Research the company’s core values – Check that your personal values align with them. Behavioural differences aligned with a company’s core values could be what sets you apart from other applicants.
  • Don’t tell interviewers you have a skill, show them – Think about what your interviewers are looking for. If they are looking for a team player, don’t say, “I’m a team player”. Rather, show them you understand what makes a good team player and how you demonstrate those skills, such as active listening, reliability, strong communication, planning, flexibility, and good problem-solving skills.

Top Tips for Applications

According to Alison, job postings typically receive 200 applications, and only four to eight are moved to interview. How can you be sure to stand out amongst the crowd?

  • Make your application clear, concise, and easy to read – Companies do not have the time to search through pages of text to find what they are looking for.
  • Keep it relevant – Show how you meet the requirements in the job advert and person specification.
  • Look outside your work experience – It’s never too early to fill the gaps in your CV – join clubs, work with a charity, or get involved in a team activity.
  • Don’t be discouraged if you don’t meet all the criteria – It is easy to train the right person who is motivated and willing to learn.

Top Tips for Preparation

You have put in an excellent application and are invited to interview – congratulations! Alison and Nadir shared excellent tips on how you can prepare for the next stage.

  • Prepare a little bit every day – This will help build the pathways in your brain to understand the company, their services, core values, and the context of the work.
  • Recreate the environment – Whether the interview is virtual or in-person, familiarise yourself with the real interview setting when practicing.
  • Practice, practice, practice – Based on the job description and person specification, practice answering the questions you think you’ll be asked.
  • Treat all stages equally – Don’t neglect or underprepare for a telephone interview. A telephone interview is just as important as any other stage of the process.

Top Tips for the Interview

Your preparation is done, and you are about to head into your interview. What can you do now?

  • Manage your nerves – Preparation and practicing in the interview setting will help ease your nerves, along with breathing techniques and meditation. Nadir shared some wisdom he received from UCL Careers – it is not the situation that causes anxiety, it is the perception of it. Identify any negative thoughts about the interview and practice letting them go.
  • Be authentic – Be sure you know and are ready to tell your story in a concise way. Make the messages you want to give stand out in what you are saying.
  • Answer questions as yourself, not your team – Avoid saying “we” or “my team” when discussing projects or achievements in an interview. Interviewers are interested in hiring you, so make your individual actions and results clear.
  • Ask the right questions – Avoid asking about salary, holidays, or perks in an interview (save that for once you receive an offer!). Instead, show you are intellectually curious about the company. You can ask about the biggest challenge of a role – and be ready to respond with how you will overcome that challenge.

UCL Careers offers mock interviews for researchers where you can practice with one of our team and talk through the feedback they will provide. Find out more here and view our full summer term of researcher careers events here.

Welcome to Careers in Data Science & Data Analysis

By uczjipo, on 2 December 2019

Data Science & Data Analysis Month

Interested in data? Have a passion for exploring information or creating solutions? Ever thought of using your skills in data management, coding or analysis as a career? Join us for Data Science & Data Analysis month to find out more about this fast-growing and lucrative industry. Come along to our employer taster session and test ut your data mining skills or attend our employer and alumni forum to hear more about the industry, its scope and the specialisms you could go into.

Thinking about attending but not sure if it’s for you?

Come along if you want to learn more about how to use data in a career or just hear from speakers with research and PhD backgrounds who have transitioned out of academia. Improving business practice, creating important analysis or implementing processes your thing? A career in data could allow you to expand the reach of your research and support an organisation to grow in so many different industries.

If you want to transition out of academia but still support research, come along to our sessions and hear how this is possible with a career in data. 

Heres what’s coming up…
Check out the events coming up this month and learn more about this expanding and research-focused industry. Understanding the meaning behind data is becoming central to all business practice. This is why careers in data span across retail, finance, government, education and more.  Check out what’s coming up and explore a career in something new! 


Careers in Data Science & Data Analysis Forum
Thurs 5 Dec, 5.30-7.30pm

Skills in research, analysis and data presentation are vital to the data science industry and are why increasingly organisations are looking to hire researchers.

This forum will give you the opportunity to get an insight into the data science and data analysis sector from PhD level speakers who have paved a career for themselves in this industry. Find out more about what a career in data encompasses, the wide range of industries and specialisms this covers and gain tips on how to find a researcher role. This is a key opportunity to gain an insight into a career you may not have previously considered.

Speakers include:

Dr Lucie Béraud-Sudreau
“Dr Lucie Béraud-Sudreau is Research Fellow for Defence Economics and Procurement. She studied international affairs at Sciences Po Bordeaux (France) and holds a PhD in political science from the University Paris-2 Panthéon-Assas (France). Her PhD thesis compared French and Swedish arms export policies since the end of the Cold War. Lucie’s current role involves, inter alia, data collection and analysis, catering and updating datasets on military expenditure.”

Dr Liam Duguid
“Liam has been worked in data science for the last 4 years and just moved organisations from Capita to HCL. His role has focused on data preparation, algorithm design and machine learning development along with implementation. The new role will be using these skills and others such as natural language processing to solve problems in Data Science Consultancy. He previously completed a master in Theoretical Physics at UCL followed by a PhD at Royal Holloway in High Energy Particle Physics working on dielectron decays in the ATLAS experiment at the LHC.”

Sign up on MyUCLCareers Today


Employer Taster Session in Data Analysis – Led by Celonis
Mon 9 Dec, 12.30-2pm

Please bring your laptops!

Process Mining – Understanding The Story Behind the Data
Validating meaning behind data patterns can sometimes be tricky. Very often we can identify trends but struggle to understand the root causes and the story behind them. Process Mining is a useful method to reconstruct the as-is process behind the data and use sequential analysis of activities over time to visualise bottlenecks and deviations based on data stored in IT systems.

With its academic DNA Process Mining has not only turned into a budding research field but also transformed the way companies operate. The talk will cover an introduction to Process Mining both from an academic and applied perspective, its application in data-driven management today as well as a hands-on case study in the software. The session will also include insights into the unicorn story of Celonis.

Sign up on MyUCLCareers Today


What else can you do to get career ready?

Alongside this, we have a team of careers consultants with research backgrounds who work closely with UCL’s researcher community and can provide support regardless of whether you’re looking to continue in academia or explore other options. Our “Researcher appointments” can be booked at any time through your myUCLCareers account and can be used to cover a range of queries from exploring options to getting support with applications/interview preparation. The careers consultants also run separate workshops covering a range of topics on academic and non-academic career routes for researchers.

Details of the full events programme can be found here

How a PhD can lead to patent law

By uczjsdd, on 15 July 2016

­­­ProfileDr James Egleton has a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Oxford University, and is now a trainee patent attorney at J A Kemp in London. James attended our Life Sciences Researchers Careers Fair on behalf of J A Kemp, and kindly gave up a few moments over lunch to chat to us about his career.

 

How did you move from academia to patent law?

I was always interested in law, and as an undergraduate I undertook placements at city solicitors’ firms in their intellectual property (IP) departments. Although I liked the office environment, I didn’t feel the job of a solicitor in IP was strongly connected enough to basic science for me. After doing a bit of googling I found out about the patent attorney profession, which combines law with a much more technical understanding of the inventions underlying patents, which sounded perfect for me. I applied for patent attorney roles alongside PhDs and was actually offered both, but I chose the PhD. By the end of my PhD I felt my time in research had come to an end; although I enjoyed the project I worked on, lab work wasn’t what I wanted to do long-term. I wanted to be more office-based, and also to get involved with a wider breadth of projects than academic research allows. When looking for roles outside of academia, my mind immediately went back to patent law, although I also considered consultancy.

As a patent attorney, you can either work in private practice, or within industry as an “in-house” attorney. The majority of trainees work in private practice, in specialist patent attorney firms. I applied to firms during the Autumn recruitment season, and had interviews around January/February. I was then offered a place as a trainee with J A Kemp, who take on roughly 4-6 graduates across their three sectors (chemistry & pharmaceuticals, biotechnology & life sciences, and engineering & IT) per year.

Some firms have structured graduate recruitment schemes, whilst other firms hire new graduates on a more ad-hoc basis. Look out for any upcoming deadlines advertised for recruitment schemes, but bear in mind that many firms also welcome prospective applications through their HR departments. If in doubt, it is always worth sending a speculative CV and cover letter to a firm!

 

What does your normal working day look like?

One of the beauties of the job is that there is no such thing as a completely normal day. But I’ll try to describe some of the things that might comprise a typical day: I’ll come into the office, check through my emails, and see what requests have come in from clients overnight. That’s particularly likely given that we work with clients all over the world in different time zones. Subsequently I’ll prioritise my jobs for the day. These might involve preparing a draft response to an examination report from a patent office. That’s where we’ve filed a patent application and the patent office has raised some objections, for example they might have found ‘prior art’ that they think destroys the novelty of our client’s invention. We’re likely to have spoken to our client about how best to respond, and so I may spend a morning drafting our reply. Over lunch I could attend an internal training session with the other trainees in my cohort, on a particular topic relating to patent law. In the afternoon I may have a meeting with my mentor to discuss a piece of work I’d drafted earlier in the week; my mentor will make comments and suggestions. I might then finish my day by going along to a client meeting with a partner, or I may be drafting an email giving advice to one of our international clients. Every so often we also get to attend evening networking events to get a broader perspective on business and foster new business relationships. More senior attorneys attend such events quite regularly.

 

What are the best bits?

One of the things I love is the blend of technical science, which has fundamentally always interested me, with legal work, which is quite specific and in essence, argumentative. You’re framing arguments about science. I also enjoy the element of language use – translating the science from the clients into legal language for the patent office, and then the legal language back into terms the client can understand. The variety of the work is also very interesting; I work with clients from biotech and pharma right the way through to petrochemicals, polymers, and medical devices. I prefer this array of work to the focus on a very specific subject that comes with academia. I also enjoy the variety of the types of clients we work with: they may come from all over the world, and can be really quite different, from small start-ups to large corporations. Tailoring your approach depending on the client is a challenge that I find quite fun!

Some of the partners, especially if they’re involved in business development, will get to visit our clients all over the world, and many qualified attorneys will attend international conferences too. I don’t travel much as a trainee, but there are still occasions where, if a third party has opposed your client’s patent, you might get to accompany a qualified attorney to a hearing at the European Patent Office which will take place either in Munich or The Hague; I’ve been once so far and it was a great experience to see the more contentious side of things. The fact that I was able to assist at a hearing so early in my training also exemplifies another ‘best bit’ – the profession is small enough that even in a larger firm like J A Kemp, you’re able to work and communicate with really senior people on interesting projects from very early on. Having a support network of four other trainees going through the same things at the same time as me is also really beneficial.

 

And what are the challenges?

The biggest thing that might put someone off the profession are the exams. You’re coming in as a scientist with no legal training or background, so you have to get qualified. Any UK firm will train you to be both a British and a European patent attorney, and most of the work we do is European-level work. There are two main stages of qualification: after about a year into the job you have to take foundation level exams, either by taking CIPA (the professional institute) exams or through a university course – at J A Kemp, trainees go on a four month training course at Queen Mary University, where we’re working only part-time in the office, and at the end of that we sit the foundation set of exams. Two years later you have to sit two sets of exams, both the European and the British final set; you have to study for those exams in your own time alongside working full-time. There’s a lot of support in the firm, with an internal tutorial system. But for a lot of trainees this will be the least enjoyable bit, as it’s very hard work.

Coming from academia, there is some adjustment needed in terms of pace. There are lots of deadlines that need to be met. Although that might be challenging at first, at J A Kemp partners will only give you the amount of work you can handle, so you never feel overwhelmed. Although the pace is faster, on the flipside the hours are much better compared with academia – I work fewer hours than I was working in academia, but I’m much more efficient in that time, and so I have a better work-life balance.

 

How does the PhD help you in the role?

A PhD is not essential but I personally have found it very helpful in three ways. Firstly, having conducted scientific research, I really understand the R&D process, so I can understand where our clients are coming from. Secondly, I gained experience in presenting scientific findings, whether that was presenting at conferences, writing papers, or writing my thesis. The skill of taking data and presenting the key parts is important when putting together an argument in letters to the patent office and drafting new patent specifications. Thirdly, and this is perhaps not true of all PhDs, but I got a lot of experience teaching undergraduates and mentoring students in the lab over the course of my PhD, which was beneficial to my communication skills, being able to put a point across to an audience with a different level of understanding to me. An extra bonus is that the ‘Dr’ title can give you a certain amount of credibility with clients, even as a trainee.

 

What’s the progression like?

Career progression is very good in the patent attorney profession, and can be quite rapid. There’s no pyramid system as in some other graduate schemes, where there’s an expectation that a large proportion of trainees will leave after the scheme finishes. By employing a select number of people, J A Kemp makes a large investment of time and money in individuals, and so it’s quite common for people to stay at the firm for a long time. If you work hard and are keen, and get involved with other parts of the firm like business development, then the opportunities are there for you to progress right up to being a partner.

 

What are your top tips for someone wanting to become a patent attorney?

The best thing you can do is try to find out as much about the profession as you can. Look on firm websites (many of which have sections dedicated to graduate recruitment), and read the excellent Inside Careers guide to patent attorneys. Go to careers fairs and talk to people who do the job. Some firms also offer open days, so check around the websites of the largest firms and sign up to one if you see one on offer – they are very informative days. There are very limited opportunities for internships and work experience, but if you can get one, that would be a great experience. But beyond that, just give it a go and apply. Put your CVs and cover letters before employers, and get experience of the interviews. The interviews are actually quite fun, and I think you really know whether or not you want to be a patent attorney after them – they’re very technical, rather than corporate; a typical task might be to describe the key features of a simple object, such as a kitchen implement or a bicycle, or to briefly sum up your PhD project in terms someone with an A-Level or basic undergraduate knowledge of your subject could understand.

Leaving academia? 5 CV don’ts

By uczjsdd, on 2 November 2015

Warning sign

Image adapted from Nicolas Raymond

Academics live in their own special world when it comes to CVs. So it’s no surprise that many researchers are baffled when they try to leave the ivory tower. Here are five mistakes to avoid in your non-academic CV.

Don’t…

 

…be too subject-focused

When you’re going for a post-doc or fellowship your subject of study may be all important. But when you move out of academia people will start to care more about the skills you’ve used and concrete things you’ve achieved. If you’re moving into an industry research role where your research subject is relevant, great, but for everything else a very simple PhD title should suffice.

…use too much technical jargon

If you’re moving into a job that has very little to do with your research area then using lots of technical terms risks 1) confusing recruiters and 2) painting you as someone who only cares about this very specific subject – i.e. the wrong person for the job.

…assume employers understand the value of your PhD years

Some employers actively target PhD graduates and are willing to pay a premium for them. This could be because they’re looking for particular subject expertise, but often it’s because of the skills developed during a PhD.

But a lot of employers may not immediately see the value of the extra qualification. Try to think of your PhD years as a job, and tell recruiters about the relevant tasks you took on and what you achieved. Maybe it’s about the multiple projects you managed through to completion, the research budgets you handled, the international collaborations you were involved with, or the writing skills you displayed.

…use the same CV for every application

A great CV is tailored to a specific role, so it should change slightly with each application. Think about which experiences, skills and achievements are most relevant to each role; These should be the ones you emphasise the most.

…waffle on

Academic CVs can often run very long. But outside of academia we don’t usually want to see anything longer than two pages, and some industries will expect a one page CV.

What do non-academic recruiters really think of PhDs?

By uczjvwa, on 24 September 2015

When it comes to applying to non-academic organisations, the more you know about your target market the better placed you’ll be to tailor your approach to meet their needs. This includes understanding the concerns some recruiters have about candidates who’ve chosen to spend the last few years in academic research. Remember that many people simply don’t know what PhDs actually get up to, and that vacuum of understanding can quickly be filled with a variety of stereotypes.

If this is the situation, your job is to help them get a better understanding of what PhDs do – and more importantly, how your experience can specifically benefit their organisation.

Let’s have a look at three of these stereotypes and ways to counter them.

  1. PhDs are extremely smart, but unworldly, impractical and too narrowly focussed.

The stereotype of the dusty academic surrounded by nothing but test tubes persists. You’re likely to be thought of as highly intelligent – which is a great start! – but removed from the hustle and bustle of the ‘real world’. The recruiter will be wondering if you understand the practicalities of working for a modern commercial organisation. Do you have a realistic view of what you’re getting into? Will you be happy to “roll up your sleeves” and get on with jobs that might not always be terribly interesting?

The concern here is about cultural fit and adaptability. You can address it by proving that you understand the organisation’s culture and have already adapted accordingly. This means managing your image and language at interview – in other words, dress and talk in a way that fits in with the organisation you’re going for rather than the one you’re coming from. It also means being able to talk in depth about your reasons for leaving academia and applying for this job, and perhaps giving examples of other times when you’ve had to adapt to new situations.

  1. PhDs don’t understand business and have no commercial awareness.

This is a huge issue for recruiters and one that you’ll have to address head-on. Commercial awareness is basically understanding how a business works and how you can help it to be more successful. PhDs are often seen as way too far removed from the realities of the ‘bottom line’.

It’s extremely important that show you’ve got this skill, so it’s worth thinking about your non-academic work experience or even situations during your PhD when you’ve had to think commercially – finding funding, for example, or making decisions about a budget. Performing a SWOT analysis on the organisation you’re interviewing with will help you prepare for any strategic questions.

  1. PhDs spend a great deal of time alone and don’t know how to communicate or work in teams.

This goes back to the stereotype of the solitary “ivory tower” researcher. The recruiter will be wondering if you’ll be able to get along with those who aren’t as educated as you, build cross-functional relationships and put aside personal concerns for the good of the business.   The best way to counter this is by providing plenty of evidence of teamwork experience. If possible, draw on both academic and non-academic experiences (hobbies are great fodder for demonstrating softer skills), showing that you’re comfortable working with a variety of different people – and that, at the end of the day, PhDs are pretty much just like anyone else!

– Hilary Moor, Careers Consultant, Careers Group University of London