Catch up on all the sessions and read about the highlights of our Life Science Careers Week 2024
In January 2024, Cambridge Careers Service held 8 virtual sessions exploring both research and non-research roles in industry as part of Life Science Careers Week 2024. We were delighted to welcome 20 speakers from 11 different organisations ranging from Biotech to the NHS. We’re grateful to the many Cambridge students and postdocs who attended to ask brilliant questions of our speakers!
You can review the sessions on our Catch Up On Past Talks page (Raven Log In required). In this blog, Vicki Tipton, Careers Consultant, reflects on the week with a quick summary of things we’ve learned in Life Science Careers Week:
Research roles in industry
Scientist jobs in industry want those transferable skills you’re developing alongside your studies/research.
- There are many different science roles in industry; don’t close yourself off from these roles, if your technical/science skills don’t exactly match what you see in the job description, be open minded and enquire.
- Scientist jobs in industry want to know how you’ve used a technical skill. For example, don’t just list ‘Flow cytometry’ under technical skills. Instead, give the context (why and how did you use it and in which project).
- Scientist jobs in industry want those transferable skills you’re developing alongside your studies/research. Onboarding a new technician will support future line management tasks and those lab presentations will really help show you can share your work with others.
- Research/project timelines in academia are typically a lot longer than in industry; the ability to prioritise is a key skill to bring with you, and you will also learn it on the job.
- Industry and academia don’t work in strict silos; think about who is in your lab network from industry already. Use this as an opportunity to connect with people and learn more. It’s never too late to network.
Non-research roles in industry
Network. Network. Network. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people in those areas you might be interested in.
- Non-research roles in industry value your scientific knowledge too. In Life Science Careers Week 2024 we interviewed people working in Patent Law, Science Communications, Regulatory Affairs (Raven log in required) and Venture Capital for Life Sciences.
- Commercial awareness: you do need some of this elusive-sounding knowledge for research and non-research roles and it’s not as scary as it sounds; understand the company, who their customers are, what they make, what their science is (or their service to science), their vision, their values. All of this is available on company websites – showing you understand it during the recruitment process really does help.
- Making a pivot from academia to industry is possible; think about the value of all your experiences during your degree or your postdoc experience – from working in a society to managing a budget; these oft forgotten tasks show evidence of your wide-ranging skills and attributes.
- Network. Network. Network. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people in those areas you might be interested in. LinkedIn is a brilliant way to get networking.