Leveraging Problem-Solving Skills
Unlocking the Potential of PhDs: Management Consulting as Alternative Career Path
For many years, management consulting has continued to be one of the main alternative careers for professionals holding a PhDs, or even with more advanced knowledge and experience such as the one acquired after a postdoc.
As PhDs, we have spent many years learning to problem solve effectively, think on our feet, and thrive when challenged with diverse and complex issues. The skills we acquire over the many years are highly sought-after by consulting or recruiting firms all over the world. Although intimidating, transitioning from an academic background into a business career is not impossible if you know how to promote your the extensive list of soft skills achieved during your scientific career.
In one of our events, we at Beyond Academia interviewed Mamen Leiva, a former postdoc at the University of Gothenburg. After more than 8 years of research experience in Cancer biology and nanotechnology, she embarked herself on a self-reflecting journey to acknowledge her skills in and out of the laboratory environment, leading her to her the staffing firm Randstad, where she has been at since February 2022.
In this article, we highlight the main things to consider when exploring the transition to management, along with some key points to make your search into management and application process more smooth.
What to consider before and during the transition
Whether you are a freshly graduated PhD or have some postdoc experience, the reality is that no matter how advance your degree is if is not within business. Therefore, it is important to set aside some time to decide if the management lifestyle is for you. At the end, it is a big career shift where you will need to put extra effort to succeed the interviewing process.
A great advice would be reaching out to other managers and recruiters in different firms, even better if you find a manager (or ex-manager) that transitioned from the lab bench to the management field. Remember you are not the first (not the last one) considering and doing this career move. Talking to managers can provide you with highly valuable tips to make up your mind and get started in your transition.
1. Reflect on your goals. Figure out your “why”
As you start considering and planning the transition, it’s crucial to go through the reasons why you want to make the move into management. Think about the reasons for you to leave the field where you are the most comfortable at, what or where do you see yourself in 5 years time, what are you good at, what environments and situations you thrive the most.
2. Find your passion
When thinking on your next career step, very often we think of fields that are very far from our current job. However, there are things that you do today at your current position that you enjoy. Identify them and focus on opportunities to further develop within those activities. You are considering a career move, you might as well make it as close to your passion as possible!
3. Make your research: get inspiration from others
For you to make the right decision is it incredibly important to make your “research” and learn what this field truly means, what responsibilities are associated to this positions. There are lots of great tools and programs available for you to inform yourself, such as career talks, networking events, coaching sessions, or just requesting informal interviews to professionals in the field.
4. Explore the market
Now you are decided! Management is your path to go, but where to start from? It is important you consider which firms are recruiting PhDs and which are more interesting for you. For example, as a PhD in Cancer Biology you could find Life Sciences firms more natural and less intimidating that the generalist firms.
What possibilities are out there? - find out about other jobs that suit your profile/skills, that are in line with your career goals. Read job adds, attend and participate in seminars and networking events, talk to different professionals about their jobs (informal interviews) and how they got there.
Are there any requirements? - Find out anything you need/want to study. Maybe you are interested in a specific position but it requires you to study a new master, an MBA… Do you really want to invest extra time in that? Decide if you are full in or not.
Find out the work conditions - evening/night schedules, weekends/holidays, travel, remote working, salary… Don’t focus only on the salary, there are many other things important on any specific job position. Get that information from formal and informal interviews.
Dare to try!
“There is a lot of information you would never get to know until you are exposed to it. Search for internships, shadowing opportunities, study visits… Any excuse is good for you to get the right information”.
Apply to many different positions within the field, this would increase your visibility and, eventually, get you into an interview. Any interview has 2 main goals, the most obvious is getting the position. The second one is to get as much information as possible about the role and the work culture of the company. You might love management but not every company offers the same conditions. Apply to the job, increase your visibility, show your interest in the field and, the most important, decide later.
What’s like working as a consultant or talent manager?
When working as a consultant or talent manager you mainly work with people. Therefore, focusing on “soft skills” such as conflict management and resolution or project management are key for perform in this role. Your main activities would be attracting and recruiting specialists, coordinating with clients and their needs, and most importantly support your consultants on their assignments and their professional development.
What skills could you reuse from your experience in academia? Which ones did you need to work on for this position?
Although the management position is very different to researching there are few things that are common.
Background in Life sciences and research: helps to understand the assignments and the needs/requirements of your consultants, but also in better drafting job adds and finding the right candidate to a specific assignment.
Problem solving skills: highly developed during PhD and postdoc trainings. As a manager, there are countless issues that pop-up and need to be solved ASAP.
Communication skills: developed during presentations, meetings with partners and/or collaborators. Highly valuable to make your message concise and clear to all audiences.
Candidate experience: as a consultant manager you manage candidates. It is important to be able to understand how the candidates and the people in your team feel in order to offer them the best support and guidance during the whole process.
When transitioning to management you need to be open to new ways of working, things that you will need to catch up on:
Very fast paced job: there is a lot happening every day and it is easy to miss out.
Learning by doing: forget about protocols! Forget about designing your work and driving it once you are fully equipped. Go on and learn by doing
Social skills: as a consultant manager you need to master people management skills in order to successfully handle colleagues, consultants, clients, partners…
Teamwork: your work is not independent anymore, compared to making science at your own pace. You work as part of a team, and therefore you need to schedule your days way in advance and considerate others when finding time for different meetings.
Leadership skills: to be a good manager you need to be a good leader too. As a consultant manager, your consultants rely on your support in career development and working conditions at a given assignment.
Administration: as a consultant manager you need to make sure your consultants have everything they need to perform their assignments. This includes approving reports, writing contracts, applying for work permits…
Sales skills: now you represent your consulting firm and as such, you will be asked to persuade and convince a candidates to apply to a specific job with you and not another firm.
Conclusion
Although intimidating, management can be a great move for PhDs that want to develop in a more business focused environment. Finding ways to sell the many skills you have developed during your education and giving yourself enough preparation time can be a massive help in being successful in the application process.
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Good luck in your search and see you in the next article!
/Beyond Academia