Transferable skills for Ph.D.s

If you are looking for a job outside of bench research, you’ll have to showcase a set of skills distinct from your lab techniques and knowledge of your thesis topic. Luckily, during your Ph.D. you also gained other skills and knowledge. 

When stepping away from the bench, it’s helpful to take stock of what those skills are. 

You might have gained concrete skills for a career off the bench by working a side job outside the lab, which I addressed in this column. But today, I’m focusing on skills you likely gained in the lab itself.

Here are some skills most Ph.D. students have learned through their thesis work that can be super helpful in other careers. 

Project management and time management

If you completed a Ph.D., then you managed an unruly project from beginning to end, and often progress on the project was 100% up to you. That’s no small feat. A thesis project usually contains multiple subprojects, papers, and a thesis. Moving all the pieces over the finish line takes serious project management skills. 

In addition to the bigger project management, you typically are able to schedule your days however you like, coming and going according to the needs of your project. If you finished a Ph.D. under these conditions, you’ve learned some high-level time-management skills (even if sometimes the motivation might’ve been an upcoming lab meeting or presentation).

Examples of time management to share with a prospective employer: Did you work on multiple projects at the same time? Plan complicated experiments? Decide when to abandon projects that weren’t going anywhere? 

Collaboration 

Sometimes your project requires you to work with other scientists, either across the bench or across the country or even on the other side of the world. Your ability to work productively with others to complete a project as a real skill. This can be demonstrated by co-authors on your paper or posters.

How to learn quickly

When you started your Ph.D., you were probably not an expert in your field. And when you started a new technique, you were not an expert in that technique. Every time you changed the focus or approach of your project, you had to learn the new area fast, and well enough to work in it. 

Written and verbal communication 

To defend your Ph.D., you had to write a giant thesis, and you also probably had to write some papers along the way. A lot of scientists are insecure about their scientific writing skills, but in reality we do it all the time.

Similarly, you’ve had to give frequent presentations as well. Most Ph.D. students must give  presentations at least once a year for their department, as well as committee meetings and even weekly or monthly lab meetings. That’s a lot of oral presentations.

Many Ph.D. students teach as well, which is another level of communication skills. 

Taking feedback

Less glamorous than giving a great speech is learning to deal with being told you’re wrong or being told any number of other negative things: You’re not doing enough, not doing well enough, not going fast enough, didn’t do the right controls, didn’t analyze your data the right way, don’t know enough, not doing the work right … etc., etc. As a Ph.D. student you’ve almost certainly had a meeting with an advisor, committee or administrator (probably many times) when you were given negative feedback. 

Being able to learn from that is a skill. Being able to show how you took feedback from those around you, and changed your method or tactic after, can be a real strength. 

Similarly, the resilience gained from knowing how to shake off overly personal or unhelpful feedback is a skill too. 

Problem solving

This maybe should've been number one, since sometimes a Ph.D. seems to be only problem solving, because things go wrong all the dang time. But the reward we get for that (besides a Ph.D. in the end) is honed problem-solving skills. Something isn’t working? Well, no worries, we can figure out why.  

Problem solving and bouncing back from failed experiments can teach you a lot about the science and also a lot about yourself and how you work and learn. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

Critical thinking

Back in the 1960s, “The Lord of the Rings” author, JRR Tolkien, lamented the lack of critical thinking skills in new Ph.D.s, but I’d argue it’s hard to get through a Ph.D. without critical thinking. Every piece of data seems to open up more questions, rather than answers, and you deal with that all the time, finding meaning in a mess of data. 

Leadership and mentorship

Maybe you worked alone the whole time you were in graduate school, but you probably worked at some point with younger students or technicians, which required you to teach and mentor one on one. You might have even had to manage their project in addition to yours and help them plan their schedules. This kind of mentorship isn’t easy, and demonstrating you’ve done it productively can be a big plus. 

Where do you describe these skills? 

Maybe you know that a Ph.D. gives you these skills, or you know what a publication with overseas collaborators or two projects in different areas indicates, but potential employers might not. So how do you get this info out to others? 

LinkedIn: You can describe yourself freely there. Explain your skills and talents in the “about” section. Recruiters do read this section.

On your resume: when you are describing your previous work experience, also describe these skills. Most recruiters appreciate hard facts, so if you’re saying you have a certain skill, give an example or proof. For example, maybe your Ph.D. gave you the chance to become a thoughtful leader after working on a project with a few undergraduate students; take a minute to describe the team you led and how well they did (did you publish a paper together? Go to a conference? Are they all doing well in their careers now?). 

In interviews: When asked about strengths and weaknesses, don’t forget these strengths!