The Most Direct Path To Huge Job Offers (3 Foundations For PhDs)

So you want an industry job.

There is no magic trick that will help you.

It takes hard work and dedication.

Even after you get the interview, the job-search process still isn’t complete.

The average candidate can have up to 3 interviews with a company before a hiring decision is made.

CareerSidekick reports that, for some positions, candidates may have 5 or more interviews before getting hired.

Hires represent an investment by the company, and they want to be sure you are the right candidate.

If you have more than one interview, don’t get discouraged – this is completely normal.

According to Talent Works, the average time it takes someone to get a job is 84 days.

84 days may seem like a long time, especially when you are unemployed.

And for PhD-level positions, it can take even longer.

For example, the same source reports that it can take more than 150 days for a mechanical engineer to get hired.

As a PhD, you are qualified for high-level industry positions, and it simply takes longer to get hired into a non-entry-level position.

So, you must be resilient in your job search.

A lifetime in academia can really skew your idea of a proper job search.

Many PhDs are pretty scattered, especially right now, in the midst of the recession.

I'm going to share the fundamental job-search blueprint you should be following when times are uncertain.

1. Pick your professional lifestyle (use this checklist).

At the end of the day, you could take a very low-level job, postdoc, or something similar to get by.  But you deserve better than that, so think about your desired professional lifestyle. 

Your PhD is valuable so you get to decide what you actually want. 

If you're not sure where to start, then start here. Follow this checklist to get an idea of what you're looking for. Do you want an industry position that is:

• Numbers-heavy?
• Writing-intensive?
• At the tip of the innovation spectrum?
• More on the commercial side? 
• Related to intellectual property?
• R&D-oriented?
• Remote? 
• In-house?
• Heavy on travel? 

Evaluate the professional lifestyle you want, and then you can fit job titles to that concept. 

2. This "master list" will make or break your whole job search.

If you don't have a spreadsheet like this, you're wasting your time. Yet so many PhDs STILL skip this part.

You NEED a master list of all your job-search activity. At Cheeky Scientist, we call this the “job search-spreadsheet,” and you should be using one.

Create a spreadsheet with 5 columns, including:

• The companies you want to work for
• Contacts you make within those companies
• Job openings at the companies in which you now have contacts
• The last time you followed up with those contacts
• The next time that you need to follow up with them

Use this spreadsheet as your "home base"—your central map of all the information and strategy that you need during your job hunt. 

Don't just wake up in the morning and look at whatever job opening you feel like looking at. 

Forget about following one job lead at a time and work toward many opportunities at the same time.

This gives you leverage and control in your search, making you more confident.

When you interview with a company, you’ll have many other job opportunities to work toward.

It won’t be as nerve-racking, and you'll perform way better during interviews.

3. Network, network, network (and get referrals).

Networking is how you get a job - period.

Set up as many informational interviews as you can. The Cheeky Scientist Association is extremely valuable for this.

With a built-in network of other PhDs, you will have a very easy time getting informational interviews with those whose careers match your vision. You can get introductions from these Associates to people who may not be in the Association, but who are working in companies. 

To get those informational interviews, you will follow a process called the “straight-line referral strategy.” 

This strategy is built on 3 steps:

First, get a reply from a contact.

Focus on reaching out in a professional, yet human way. Don't be so intensely focused getting a job that you forget the other person's a human being going through a pandemic. 

Second, once they've replied to you, and it turns into a dialogue, you can start the information interview process and ask them questions. 

This second section of the straight-line referral process is all about adding value. 

Congratulate them on that career, on their professional progress, something you find on their LinkedIn profile, or whatever else you can think of. 

Ease into the informational interview with compliments and easy, general questions about their professional life.

Ask them how they got into their job or what they enjoy about it the most. Build rapport.

That third section of the straight-line strategy is to ask more probing questions – this is where you get your most valuable information.

Don't start with a question that's too intimate right away – you'll scare them off.

This is where you can ask them about the most challenging part of their job.

What's the work life balance like? 

What do they wish they had known when they first started the job?

After all this, ask if you can use their name on a cover letter as a referral. Ask if they can pass along your resume to the hiring manager and manager. 

At the very least, ask them if there's anybody else they could introduce you to at the company—someone they think you’d benefit from talking to…

Everyone says yes to this. 

This is how the straight-line referral strategy works.

Are you a PhD?

If so, what are some of the things that throw your job search off track?

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.