Learn the basics for a career transition from research into business &
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Episode 0019 Shownotes
Business roles requiring
research skills
So, you've got strong research skills as a PhD, postdoc and/even as a professor. Now, for which jobs in business do you qualify? Listen to Prof. Dr. Eleonore Soei-Winkels as she shares your potential job roles in this episode of the weekly PostdocTransformation show, e. g. data scientist, business development manager, product developer & innovator, strategic consultant, healthcare, medical, pharmaceutical, clinical and medical research consultant, director at a public institution, intellectual property lawyer, business & management consultant.
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Data science and business development
So, what if you love research but you hate academia? [00:01:00] Well, then this episode of the PostdocTransformation Show is for you. This episode is about job roles in business that require strong research skills.
Before we dive into the topic, I want to recommend you another episode on job roles that require strong teaching skills. And you should also listen to the Future of work for PhD holders new in business episode that I did, which is number four, because I think that once you have settled on the roles that you want, because of your research skills or on your teaching skills or whatever, then you should also place that bet on the right industry, and this is why the future of work is imminent for that orientation.
All right, so let's dive right in into number one, data science, so to speak. So, data-driven, decision making, analytics, forecasting, all that stuff. I [00:02:00] can tell you that most of the people that I have worked in business with are not really into statistics, and if you're really good in your empirical statistical research, if you are really good as a quant, then this is a huge opportunity for you because data is everything, right?
So, we constantly produce data. While we are doing something, while we are creating something, while we are consuming things, and the vast of this data needs to be analyzed. And obviously you can use artificial intelligence for that, but you still have to ask the right questions and whether these are the right ones relevant for the context, et cetera. That is something that a human still must do. And I think that, if you're strong on that quant side, then that will be really for your benefit.
All right, number two, which is the first [00:03:00] overlap to the other episode, which is the business development manager. And from this point of view, the research skills are really helpful in that because then you can really make a foundational research about where or which new business models you should create and also, which are more promising. And that means that you need to digest a lot of data before you present to the leadership team which directions that company should go. So, that's business development.
Product development & innovation, strategic planning and consulting
All right. Number three is product development [00:06:00] and innovation. And most companies, like chemical companies, industrial companies, medical, whatever, pharmaceutical call it research and development. And other companies also have another unit that is called user experience. A customer journey where the customer goes from different stages, then this experience needs to be improved so that the customer obviously comes back and says, I want more of that and I want more of this and this and this. That you can already see in the data. And that's why it's so important that you can understand this from an analytical researcher's point of view.
Alright, next one is number four, which is more on the leadership side, which is strategic planning and consulting. That means that you cannot decide without data, right? Even if you are just producing the data you need to interpret that data and discuss that data. And then there are some, there are some instance like the [00:07:00] executive board or the leadership team that decide in which direction the company goes, right or left.
Healthcare, medical, pharmaceutical, clinical & medical research,
internal revisor & auditor or intellectual property law
Then number five, another obvious role is in healthcare, medical, pharmaceutical, clinical and medical research, right? So you have, test phase of stage 1, 2, 3, you have medications, new therapeutical device to be tested, that needs to be approved by the states of whatever, et cetera. So, these are all things that where you need to comply with the regulations and regulatory [00:08:00] affairs. So, this is where I always see a lot of PhDs because otherwise that's probably beyond the interest of people who haven't pursued a PhD before.
And the same goes for health policy. So, obviously when we have legislation policies regarding health whatever societal means, then this is also a playground for PhDs because they have the cognitive capacity to oversee the strategic impact, the downfall, et cetera, from certain decisions, policies, legacy policies and regulations.
And then obviously there's another one: the investigator, the [00:10:00] internal revisor or auditor. So usually companies, who have to do a profits and loss report, so the bigger companies, they also need to comply with certain legislations, and they need to be audited. And the, the auditing process is also done by PhDs, because they have the research acumen to look into the data and to see whether there are some changes, different patterns where there's fraud, all the things that you could see in data.
Intellectual property law
All right, then number nine, which is intellectual property law. So, if you have through your biomed, physics PhD strong niched backgrounds for patents or intellectual properties, then this is something that you can upskill towards law, so that you can say this is a patent worthy innovation or [00:12:00] something like that. So, this is also a great venue for people I know.
All right, I hope that this really short episode has been helpful and I can only recommend to you to listen to the other episode about job roles in business that require a strong teaching background. And also to overlay that with the episode number four, which is on the future of work for new PhD holders in business.
I hope that, that you will find a job that will suit you fine. And if you want to, apply to that job and want a little bit more of a handhold, remember to enroll also in your free email course career transition into business so that you have a little bit more action points, than only on this podcast.
Until the next episode,
Cheers,
Eleonore & Team PostdocTransformation
Enroll in your free email course for your career transition into business! Especially emails no 2 & 3 focus on creating a LinkedIn profile and using LinkedIn to network for your career transition!
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