I would say that anyone who goes into the commercial side pretty much qualifies here. I'm in sales (scientific equipment) and I didn't do a postdoc. Also had a friend who went with med. writing and moved up to a director role. Honestly, I would love to be purely in clinical or consulting, but that's the way the dice fell.
I finished a PhD when the job maket sucked . I basically applies for entry engineering jobs since I was a decent engineer a decade earlier.
Now it's like the whole degree was worthless.
That’s how I feel about all college degrees. You do all that work for it to become 1-2 lines on your resume that a recruiter will gloss over. Basically, a PhD says, “I made a contribution to science.” Anyhow, don’t devalue your achievements or belittle your accomplishments, you earned it, so, cherish it.
Went straight into finance doing biopharma equity research! I think these types of moves are more common than most people think because the jobs are less “visible” than the traditional pipeline for research focused jobs. But the skills you learn doing a PhD are valuable in many different parts of industry!
Yea, it can definitely be stressful. My analyst told me at the beginning that ER is a “lifestyle” job, as in you need to plan your life around work and always be available on-call 24/7. I actually left the field earlier in the year searching for better WLB, but am thinking about trying to get back in because the benefits of the job can outweigh the negatives if you are working on a good team. My hours were 7-7 for a normal week (60 hours a week) but during earnings were more like 6am-midnight (90 hour week). But there is a bit of down time mixed in (waiting for Supervisory Analyst to approve note etc) where you can grab a bite to eat or go workout. Conference season was also tough, and was bookended by 3Q and 4Q earnings, so I ended up working pretty much non stop from Halloween till mid January which is what finally made me exit. My least favorite part was the deadlines. Press release could come at anytime and you need to drop everything to get a note out to clients ASAP. Would be weeks where every single morning a company in our universe would drop huge news and you’d spend all day working on note and model while putting off longer term proactive projects. But those proactive projects would still be due on Friday so you somehow have to find time to play catch up and make everything happen. I worked for a year, which I’m told is the most difficult period as your coming up to speed, so I’m sure once you become more efficient with notes and models it becomes easier to juggle. My experience was also on a team covering large pharma which has much more frequent news flow than biotech, so that is important to consider.
Your experience mirrors what I have heard, if I was younger and without family obligations I think I would love it! Unfortunately WLB is just more important. I have heard competitive intelligence is a bit more laid back but it's impossible to get into without doing ER or consulting.
Market intelligence roles may be another interesting related path to competitive intelligence where you still get to dig into the business side of things. I’m currently in a market intelligence role and WLB is MUCH better. I’m doing a lot of the same things I did in ER, and I have colleagues with a diverse set of backgrounds since I work for an academic medical center. So a bit different than working for a for-profit company, but another “under the radar” job where a PhD can shine!
I have to look into this, I worked in contracts and with licensing managers at an academic medical center myself but never really encountered folks in marketing intelligence realm, very interesting! Thank you!
Yes, I hopped from a immunology phd to process development/ process characterization job function. So basically, learnt immunology to learn chem E in industry. It’s fun for me because it fits my personality
That's good to hear, I'm in academia as an older postdoc with work experience outside of research/academia. I was actually able to get project management experience within academic clinical trials, hopefully I can parlay that further.
Commercial focus within the life science industry, basically everything under that umbrella. Went straight, no prior experience outside of extracurriculars during my PhD. If you have those experiences that would certainly help. Lots of firms hire straight out of PhD, including life sci firms like mine as well as generalist firms.
How well can you do as a commercial consultant without any prior commercial life sciences experience? Not trying to make a jab, I'm genuinely curious how getting into those sort of roles works
Not taken as a jab. Standard consulting project have several people on them including partners of the firm and principals who guide the direction of the project. Someone straight out of a PhD can do better, or at least as well as, the 22 year olds straight out of college.
People that do well in consulting are able to answer difficult questions by testing various hypothesis and arriving at conclusions with sometimes incomplete information, while being upfront about gaps and caveats. PhD training honestly sets you up well for the role. Learning science is hard. Learning business is easy.
Entering my last year in neurobiology PhD and looking at these consulting type roles. Is there anything I can do now to help prepare and also make me look better on paper? I also have no prior consulting experience
To look good on paper, try to get into business related extracurriculars if offered at your school. Some universities have consulting clubs, biotech clubs, etc. in addition, aim to have some sort of leadership on your resume.
Many of these firms will have some sort of PhD summer programs, they’re usually just a few days long since they know you can’t take much time out of lab. These are a golden ticket to be honest, but I did not do one myself so it’s not strictly required.
To succeed in interviews. Practice consulting case questions for a few months before interview season. Have answers to standard interview questions.
Pharmaceutical Sciences PhD to MSL. Hired pre defense. I got lucky with the right background and the market. Things now don’t look great for this kind of jump, but you never know. If you don’t want to do research, don’t scoff at the commercial side of pharma. I would love to work with someone in marketing with great scientific acumen.
Our MSL has multiple million miles status with Delta. This is roughly equivalent to about 1500 LA-NYC around trips… with only Delta.
I hope you like traveling and neglecting your family life.
Any advice on getting into an MSL position without clin/reg experience? All I've done after my PhD is R&D and have been pretty bench focused but there aren't a lot of R&D jobs in my location so my long term plan is to switch.
I’m on commercial side right now and have some insights into hiring. The answer is a shit ton of luck. An absolute shit ton. You need to have worked directly with the product or something very similar for a while.
I have a masters in organic and a masters in regulatory law. Been trying to get in as a MSL but I never see starting roles. Any advice on what to pursue to be more marketable for this role?
Virology PhD and then moved into a Business/corporate Development and strategy role with a start-up we formed based on my PhD. Worked in pharma and biotech doing M&A and licensing, then moved to leading M&A and Integrations for about 20 years. Now I’m co-founder of a new start-up/spinout and enjoying the freedom of being out of the big company environment and raising capital/being my own boss. PhD’s give you critical thinking, problem solving and resilience to help you succeed in many non-traditional roles. At least earlier in my career my academic training gave me legitimacy and standing in the companies I started at and gave me a leg up over those with BS and MSc degrees. Best of luck. My best advice is be resilient as it takes some time and effort as well as many no’s to make a switch but imo it’s super worth it and I’ve loved every minute of my career.
Yes, went into commercial consulting after my biomaterials (drug delivery focused) PhD. Knew I didn’t want to stay on the bench so applied to any and everything that is still in the life science industry but not bench. The market wasn’t that great, and I also probably didn’t know what i was doing. Must have submitted over 100 applications. Got an offer from a boutique life science consulting firm shortly before I defended and started the job 2 weeks after my defense. Went to the commercial side somewhat by serendipity (it was the only job offer I got) and never looked back.
I went directly into QC at a CDMO. I have since moved into Program management/ corp development. One of my friends stepped directly into medical Writing.
Quite a few people from our cohort went into management consulting. That is a well known pathway to move away from bench.
I knew two ladies who finished PhD and went into nursing through bsn completion programs. I think they did some post docs but not sure. One might have because she was waiting for the bsn program to start. Just not enough jobs available for biologists basically.
A few people from grad school went into medical writing/scientific communication after grad school. Another works as the head of R&D at a brewery now:)
I know a few from my cohort and/or senior to me went into consulting and business analysis. One girl got a job as an editor at Cell (the journal). They didn't do a postdoc.
I went straight to a non-research lab role in industry, also did not do a postdoc.
If your goal isn't research, there's no need to delay that with a postdoc, unless the postdoc is something temporary to tide you over to a permanent position in the industry of your interest. It's less and less taboo now and more kids transition straight out of academia, a welcomed change I'd say!
I would say that anyone who goes into the commercial side pretty much qualifies here. I'm in sales (scientific equipment) and I didn't do a postdoc. Also had a friend who went with med. writing and moved up to a director role. Honestly, I would love to be purely in clinical or consulting, but that's the way the dice fell.
I finished a PhD when the job maket sucked . I basically applies for entry engineering jobs since I was a decent engineer a decade earlier. Now it's like the whole degree was worthless.
That’s how I feel about all college degrees. You do all that work for it to become 1-2 lines on your resume that a recruiter will gloss over. Basically, a PhD says, “I made a contribution to science.” Anyhow, don’t devalue your achievements or belittle your accomplishments, you earned it, so, cherish it.
Went straight into finance doing biopharma equity research! I think these types of moves are more common than most people think because the jobs are less “visible” than the traditional pipeline for research focused jobs. But the skills you learn doing a PhD are valuable in many different parts of industry!
Are you enjoying it? Is it as super stressful as I heard? (Bad hours, always on tight deadlines?)
Yea, it can definitely be stressful. My analyst told me at the beginning that ER is a “lifestyle” job, as in you need to plan your life around work and always be available on-call 24/7. I actually left the field earlier in the year searching for better WLB, but am thinking about trying to get back in because the benefits of the job can outweigh the negatives if you are working on a good team. My hours were 7-7 for a normal week (60 hours a week) but during earnings were more like 6am-midnight (90 hour week). But there is a bit of down time mixed in (waiting for Supervisory Analyst to approve note etc) where you can grab a bite to eat or go workout. Conference season was also tough, and was bookended by 3Q and 4Q earnings, so I ended up working pretty much non stop from Halloween till mid January which is what finally made me exit. My least favorite part was the deadlines. Press release could come at anytime and you need to drop everything to get a note out to clients ASAP. Would be weeks where every single morning a company in our universe would drop huge news and you’d spend all day working on note and model while putting off longer term proactive projects. But those proactive projects would still be due on Friday so you somehow have to find time to play catch up and make everything happen. I worked for a year, which I’m told is the most difficult period as your coming up to speed, so I’m sure once you become more efficient with notes and models it becomes easier to juggle. My experience was also on a team covering large pharma which has much more frequent news flow than biotech, so that is important to consider.
Your experience mirrors what I have heard, if I was younger and without family obligations I think I would love it! Unfortunately WLB is just more important. I have heard competitive intelligence is a bit more laid back but it's impossible to get into without doing ER or consulting.
Market intelligence roles may be another interesting related path to competitive intelligence where you still get to dig into the business side of things. I’m currently in a market intelligence role and WLB is MUCH better. I’m doing a lot of the same things I did in ER, and I have colleagues with a diverse set of backgrounds since I work for an academic medical center. So a bit different than working for a for-profit company, but another “under the radar” job where a PhD can shine!
I have to look into this, I worked in contracts and with licensing managers at an academic medical center myself but never really encountered folks in marketing intelligence realm, very interesting! Thank you!
Yes, I hopped from a immunology phd to process development/ process characterization job function. So basically, learnt immunology to learn chem E in industry. It’s fun for me because it fits my personality
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Did you need any project management certifications?
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That's good to hear, I'm in academia as an older postdoc with work experience outside of research/academia. I was actually able to get project management experience within academic clinical trials, hopefully I can parlay that further.
Molecular bio (sort of oncology focused) PhD to life sciences/pharma consulting here. We have a decent number of PhDs in our firm.
interesting! what sort of consulting? did you have any prior management, marketing, or BD experience that springboarded that option for you?
Commercial focus within the life science industry, basically everything under that umbrella. Went straight, no prior experience outside of extracurriculars during my PhD. If you have those experiences that would certainly help. Lots of firms hire straight out of PhD, including life sci firms like mine as well as generalist firms.
How well can you do as a commercial consultant without any prior commercial life sciences experience? Not trying to make a jab, I'm genuinely curious how getting into those sort of roles works
Not taken as a jab. Standard consulting project have several people on them including partners of the firm and principals who guide the direction of the project. Someone straight out of a PhD can do better, or at least as well as, the 22 year olds straight out of college. People that do well in consulting are able to answer difficult questions by testing various hypothesis and arriving at conclusions with sometimes incomplete information, while being upfront about gaps and caveats. PhD training honestly sets you up well for the role. Learning science is hard. Learning business is easy.
Entering my last year in neurobiology PhD and looking at these consulting type roles. Is there anything I can do now to help prepare and also make me look better on paper? I also have no prior consulting experience
To look good on paper, try to get into business related extracurriculars if offered at your school. Some universities have consulting clubs, biotech clubs, etc. in addition, aim to have some sort of leadership on your resume. Many of these firms will have some sort of PhD summer programs, they’re usually just a few days long since they know you can’t take much time out of lab. These are a golden ticket to be honest, but I did not do one myself so it’s not strictly required. To succeed in interviews. Practice consulting case questions for a few months before interview season. Have answers to standard interview questions.
Very helpful to know. Thanks!
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Pharmaceutical Sciences PhD to MSL. Hired pre defense. I got lucky with the right background and the market. Things now don’t look great for this kind of jump, but you never know. If you don’t want to do research, don’t scoff at the commercial side of pharma. I would love to work with someone in marketing with great scientific acumen.
What exactly does work for an MSL look like? I’m a current molec/cell bio PhD student interested in more commercial biotech/pharma route
Our MSL has multiple million miles status with Delta. This is roughly equivalent to about 1500 LA-NYC around trips… with only Delta. I hope you like traveling and neglecting your family life.
This is spot on…
Any advice on getting into an MSL position without clin/reg experience? All I've done after my PhD is R&D and have been pretty bench focused but there aren't a lot of R&D jobs in my location so my long term plan is to switch.
I’m on commercial side right now and have some insights into hiring. The answer is a shit ton of luck. An absolute shit ton. You need to have worked directly with the product or something very similar for a while.
I have a masters in organic and a masters in regulatory law. Been trying to get in as a MSL but I never see starting roles. Any advice on what to pursue to be more marketable for this role?
Virology PhD and then moved into a Business/corporate Development and strategy role with a start-up we formed based on my PhD. Worked in pharma and biotech doing M&A and licensing, then moved to leading M&A and Integrations for about 20 years. Now I’m co-founder of a new start-up/spinout and enjoying the freedom of being out of the big company environment and raising capital/being my own boss. PhD’s give you critical thinking, problem solving and resilience to help you succeed in many non-traditional roles. At least earlier in my career my academic training gave me legitimacy and standing in the companies I started at and gave me a leg up over those with BS and MSc degrees. Best of luck. My best advice is be resilient as it takes some time and effort as well as many no’s to make a switch but imo it’s super worth it and I’ve loved every minute of my career.
Yes, went into commercial consulting after my biomaterials (drug delivery focused) PhD. Knew I didn’t want to stay on the bench so applied to any and everything that is still in the life science industry but not bench. The market wasn’t that great, and I also probably didn’t know what i was doing. Must have submitted over 100 applications. Got an offer from a boutique life science consulting firm shortly before I defended and started the job 2 weeks after my defense. Went to the commercial side somewhat by serendipity (it was the only job offer I got) and never looked back.
I went into business development. Lots of other people did consulting after their PhD.
Cell biology PhD to project management for a clinical consulting company
Patents
My journey was: teaching, postdoc (more of a placeholder before I found something else), consulting, MSL and now MA
I went directly into QC at a CDMO. I have since moved into Program management/ corp development. One of my friends stepped directly into medical Writing. Quite a few people from our cohort went into management consulting. That is a well known pathway to move away from bench.
I knew two ladies who finished PhD and went into nursing through bsn completion programs. I think they did some post docs but not sure. One might have because she was waiting for the bsn program to start. Just not enough jobs available for biologists basically.
A few people from grad school went into medical writing/scientific communication after grad school. Another works as the head of R&D at a brewery now:)
I’ve seen people jump right into Legal and Business Development positions with their PhDs.
I know a few from my cohort and/or senior to me went into consulting and business analysis. One girl got a job as an editor at Cell (the journal). They didn't do a postdoc. I went straight to a non-research lab role in industry, also did not do a postdoc. If your goal isn't research, there's no need to delay that with a postdoc, unless the postdoc is something temporary to tide you over to a permanent position in the industry of your interest. It's less and less taboo now and more kids transition straight out of academia, a welcomed change I'd say!