7 PhD Powers That Make Other Job Candidates Look Bad

Back when I was looking for a job, I wasted so much time.

I spent this wasted time emphasizing my technical skills.

I was trying to transition out of academia into industry, and I thought my skills in advanced lab work would make me hireable. If I advertised my technical mastery, I’d get hired quickly, right?

But employers don't care about technical expertise in things like western blotting and cell culture.

When employers see you have a PhD, they already know you can learn any technical skill. 

What they don't know is the other advantages that you bring to the table: your transferable skills. You are probably not communicating these important transferable skills to your potential employers. 

PhDs have a TON of transferable skills that most other people simply lack. 

If you’re a PhD, but you don’t know what you can offer to employers in terms of transferable skills, I’m going to tell you. Here are 7 transferable skills that set PhDs apart from the competition – whether you realize it or not.

Remember these super powers and find ways to demonstrate them during your job search.

1: Your high-speed learning is second to none.

As a PhD, you are a doctor of learning. You're a doctor of philosophy. Philosophy means knowledge and the ability to ascertain knowledge.

It's very important that you understand that you have this skill because most people cannot learn things as quickly as you.

The trend we see in industry is that previous industry experience is becoming less important, while your ability to learn quickly, your speed of learning, is becoming more important.

This is the first thing you should be communicating on your resume, your LinkedIn profile, and during your phone screens, during your site visits, etc.

2: You are like a logic machine.

This refers to your ability to go from A to B to C. To draw conclusions. To solve problems.

When you're communicating this, you want to use the phrase, 'problem solving'. However, your logic and deduction is the means by which you're able to solve problems quickly.

Most people can't do this.

And your advanced logic and deduction, your reasoning power, is closely related to your intelligence. However, you don't want to put 'intelligence' as a key transferable skill on your resume or your LinkedIn profile. 

Yes, you do have high intelligence, and when people see a PhD behind your name, they know that you're intelligent.

But, you have to break it down so that it's clear how your intelligence is going to help your potential employer specifically.

Your ability to deduce, to reason, to conclude, to logically follow through on a problem, and to reach the solution that makes the most sense...

And then, finally, to carry out that solution.

3: You quickly adapt to new technical information.

Comprehending things quickly is tied to your accelerated learning ability, but this specifically refers to the way that you can comprehend technical things very fast.

When most people see a technical chart or manual, their brain shuts off...

But as a PhD, this is when your brain lights up.

You understand technical procedures. You understand protocols and methodologies.

Your ability to comprehend things that are technical quickly, to learn new technical skills, is a very, very important skill. And we're seeing this phrase really pop out at employers right now, 'technical comprehension'.

4: You have PhD “x-ray vision.” 

PhDs can analyze data. 

Throughout your studies, you’ve collected data, analyzed it, and drawn conclusions. That analysis step is very important, and you need to showcase this to employers.

You can go through large amounts of data and find trends. 

Not only that, but you can find outliers, problems, and solutions.

Most people can't do this, nor do they have the patience for it. They don’t have the vision required to see THROUGH data – to look at what’s beneath.

As a PhD, you possess this crucial x-ray vision into raw data. 

In fact, as a PhD, you’re probably bored if you’re not allowed to do this. Most people don't have this trait. In social situations, have you found that other people look at you funny when you share your expertise on some advanced topic?

Unlike you, those other people probably won’t be making close to $100K at their next job.

But you could be.

I see positions open up at the largest companies around the world—even companies that formerly refused to hire PhDs. 

Positions like “user experience analyst” or “data analyst.”

Almost any company from Hilton to Home Depot has these positions, and I’m seeing PhDs get hired into them.

5: Vocabulary doesn’t intimidate you (PhDs adopt new vocab instead).

A lot of people talk about written communication skills, oral communication skills, but what does that come down to? As a PhD, you are able to learn new vocabularies, a new set of nomenclature very quickly.

And this is not just speed of learning - this is a specific type of learning where you're building up your vocabulary.

You're building up the roots of words so that you can learn new words faster. This is why you can go into any field and this is very valuable in industry.

You can go into any field because you can learn the nomenclature quickly.

This means you can write about it and communicate about it much more quickly than somebody else.

6: You are a master of organized work.

As a PhD, you've at some point written a thesis. You understand the importance of keeping accurate records. Most people just do things and they don't record any of it.

In industry, it's very valuable to record something because then you can pass it onto someone else.

So if you get promoted in a position in industry, then the next person who's hired knows what to do right away because you kept accurate records.

That's why that's valuable and why you should be communicating the fact that you have this skill.

7: PhD motivation is superior 

You might think a lot of people are internally motivated, but studies show that most people are externally motivated. They want external recognition, a trophy of some kind.

PhDs, on the other hand, are internally driven to have a positive impact on society.

You might think that that sounds too up in the clouds or that it's not tangible enough, but it is. You're internally driven and this matters to employers.

As a PhD, you have so much more to offer employers than just your technical skills.

You need to be communicating these transferable skills clearly and confidently. They are the skills that will set you apart from other job candidates.

They are the skills that will get you hired.

Are you a PhD?

If so, what are some of the skills that help you stand out from non-PhD job candidates?

Tell me in a comment below.

To learn more about transitioning into industry, including how to gain instant access to industry career training videos, case studies, industry insider documents, a complete industry transition plan, and a private online job referral network for PhDs only, get on the waitlist for the Cheeky Scientist Association.

?