How To Get A Job In Industry Without Industry Experience

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Ask Cheeky. I'm Isaiah Hankel, with Cheeky Scientist, and this week's question is from Merve Clark.

The question is, "I'm doing a second postdoc, the experience of which turned into hell for me." All right, so not good. "I'm interested in transitioning in my career into the healthcare industry with clinical research." They want to get into clinical research and positions related to MSL positions, so a Medical Science Liaison position. "Since I have no experience in either I've been having a hard time finding the right position." This might sound familiar to a lot of you, we've had a lot of questions on this, right? No industry experience, how do get an industry job?

The question goes on, "Because I don't have the experience, I have been applying to entry-level positions or trainee positions. This time my PhD gets in the way because it over-qualifies me for entry-level positions. How do I break away from this vicious cycle?"

The problem here is that Merve is applying to positions at one level, that require industry experience and not getting into these positions because she doesn't have any industry experience. Then she's also applying to another level of positions in which she thinks she's over-qualified for. These entry-level positions that might just ask for an MS degree.

First we have to break down some misconceptions here. Every position you apply to, it's going to ask for industry experience. Job postings are just hiring manager wishlists, they're templates so you're going to see at the very least, two to five years of industry experience required. Of course, PhDs are getting jobs out of academia into industry. How are they doing this without industry experience? It's because industry experience is not required, it's always just going to be asked for so you should still apply to these positions because you could still get into them. Especially for MSL positions. MSL positions are very hot right now. Medical Science Liaison positions, PhDs are being hired into this.

This year alone, in our association we've had three, four, five hired into MSL positions. I think we have two or three that are at Bristol-Myers Squibb alone. Big companies are hiring into this position. It's something that if you know how to apply, if you network and actually get referrals you can actually get into this right out of academia.

The second part of that question is, okay, what if I'm over-qualified? We've also had a lot of associates, we've done polls, we work with hiring managers, recruiters and we see over and over again that PhDs, when they apply to these positions that they might be over-qualified for or that just ask for an MS degree. They come in and if they do a great job on the interview and the company really wants them, right? Because no company is going to turn down a great job candidate. They will make positions for them and that's what happens.

We see PhDs going into these positions where they might be a little bit over-qualified for them. So what does the company do? They create a new position. It might be from XYZ Manager to Senior XYZ Manager. It might be an R & D or a bench position, they might go from a Research Scientist position to a Research Scientist 2 or a Research Scientist 3, or Senior Research Scientist. Just as an example. If it's a technical sales specialist they might be called a Senior Technical Sales Specialist because of that PhD. Very often they'll get paid higher as well so you should still apply to positions that ask for industry experience, where you might think you're not quite there yet, they're too high. Apply to those positions that might seem below you as well, that you think that you're over-qualified for.

Apply to them, go on the interviews. Go through the whole process. Make them want you bad enough and they could create a position for you or you might just get into that dream job that you want. Whether it's a Medical Science Liaison or anything else. Until next time, remember your value as a PhD and continue thinking and acting like a successful industry professional.