At the end of my PhD, I was so over labwork. I felt guilty because it felt like that's all I knew - until I realized *most of my former colleagues don't do labwork* either.

Here are 11 cool non-labwork, non-ac jobs that need to be on your radar, and links to learn about them. 🧵 1. Medical/Science Writing and/or Editing 📃

Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Medical Writer (U.S.): info.amwa.org/ultimate-guide…

Science and Medical Writing overview: versatilephd.com/phd-stem-caree…

And obviously, my blog.

Unsure of how to actually start your non-ac job search? Or maybe you just want to see what's out there.

Here are 5 easy, low-stakes things you can do now, with no preparation, to take that important first step. 🧵 1. Make a LinkedIn: It doesn't have to look perfect right away. Totally normal to refine your profile over time. Widely send connection requests to colleagues, friends, classmates, etc.

Pro tip: Get profile inspo from folks in industries/jobs of interest.

Have you ever wanted to just be told what the most important "transferable skills" are?

Recently, I asked folks to share what transferable skills from academia were most useful in *their* non-ac jobs.

Here are the 6 most-mentioned skills! 🧵 1/10 #AltAcChats #AcademicTwitter By the way, here's a breakdown of how relevant the respondents' Ph.D./postdoc research topics were in their non-ac jobs/careers (n=25):

▫️Relevant: 2 (8%)
▫️Somewhat relevant: 7 (28%)
▫️Irrelevant: 16 (64%)

2/10

I found an old resume of mine from early 2022 as I was organizing my files and I CRINGED. It reminded me of how lost I was at the start of my non-ac job search and the mistakes I made.

Here are 3 of them & how I fixed each one to improve my interview invitation rate. 🧵 1/8 Mistake #1: Not tailoring my resume for EACH job listing.

I thought I could “get lucky” & be lazy, so I used a generic resume that listed *everything* I did & was good at.

I still had that academic CV mentality of “it has everything about me on it, so it must be great”. 2/8

Are you a grad student who's not actively applying for industry jobs, but you want to prepare for it? Maybe you're applying soon, and want quick pointers.

Here are 5 easy, low-stakes things you can do NOW to help your future self have a smooth job search! #AltAcChats 🧵 1/7 1. Identify the actual role(s) you want.
◽️Consider tasks you like & dislike.
◽️Mine were “Medical Writer” & “Support Scientist”
◽️I detail 12 jobs, have a list of 44 jobs & resources here: bit.ly/industryresour…
◽️My thread on cool non-labwork jobs! bit.ly/non-labjobs 2/7

Looking for an industry job, but don't want to do benchwork anymore?

If so, I feel you because I was SO over being in the lab when I was done with my Ph.D.!

Here are 7 cool non-labwork jobs that fresh Ph.D.s with 0 years of industry experience can get. #AltAcChats (1/9) 🧵 Technical Support Scientist 📞
▫️"Applications Scientist"
▫️Biological research supply companies
▫️Think of reagents/kits you have experience with! 🧫🧬
▫️Help customers troubleshoot via phone, email, chat
▫️This & medical writer were my goal jobs! (2/9)

glassdoor.com/Salaries/techn…

Have you ever felt kind of aimless during your industry job search & just wanted someone to tell you about all the cool life science companies out there?

Well, here are 9 geographical biotech hubs in the U.S., companies in each, average salary data & more (as of 2022)! 1/11 🧵 Biotech Bay (Northern California)

Companies: Amgen, Abbvie, Gilead, Nektar, BridgeBio, Bolt Biotherapeutics, etc.

Average salary: $148,285
Average bonus: $31,617
Number of life science professionals: 96,574
More info: biospace.com/biotech-bay/
2/11

In industry, once you leave a job, you don't keep doing work for them, unpaid. Your old coworkers & managers don't keep contacting you about work.

So why do academics think it's normal to keep working on papers, unpaid, after leaving their Ph.D./postdoc labs? 1/3 🧵 Especially if they move on to non-academic paths, where having that extra 1-2 publications isn't going to make a significant difference in their career trajectory?

Is their work REALLY that important to them? Is that extra paper (or two) going to REALLY make a difference? 2/3