Careers for PhDs

The ultimate list of resources for PhD students and graduates looking for a job.

Your No. 1 resource: LinkedIn

If you’re a PhD student/grad trying to get a job & you’re not using LinkedIn, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Here’s how to get the most out of LinkedIn.

People to follow on LinkedIn

Warning: This is a long list. Don’t overthink it. Just follow everyone to start with. You can always unfollow someone if their content doesn’t resonate with you.

  • Alaina G. Levine is the author of “Networking for Nerds”. 
  • Austin Belcak is the founder of Cultivated Culture, which teaches people how to land jobs without traditional “experience” and without applying online. 
  • Caitlin Faas is a certified life coach for academics.
  • Christopher L. Caterine is a published author and career coach for PhDs seeking work in industry.
  • Chris Cornthwaite is the creator of Roostervane, which helps students & new grads make the transition from degree to career easier.
  • Chris Humphrey is the founder of the careers website Jobs on Toast, which helps university researchers to find professional work outside of academia.
  • David Mendes da Silva is the host of Papa PhD, a podcast about the career paths after graduate school.
  • Derek Attig is the Assistant Dean for Career and Professional Development at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  • Eric James Stephens is the founder of #HireHigherEd, an event to help teachers and researchers migrate from academia to industry. 
  • Gertrude Nonterah is a science writer and host of The Create and Prosper Podcast who posts about alternative career paths for academics.
  • Isaiah Hankel is the founder & CEO of Cheeky Scientist. He help scientific professionals leverage their PhD to transition into a meaningful, high-paying career. 
  • Jennifer Polk is an academic and career coach for graduate students and PhDs, and a career advice writer. 
  • L. Maren Wood is the Founder and CEO of Beyond the Professoriate, a mission-driven organization dedicated to helping graduate students and PhDs thrive in today’s fast-changing economy. 
  • Madeline Mann is the creator of Self Made Millennial, a content channel that has a TON of actionable job-hunting advice.
  • Natalia Bielczyk is the author of What Is out There For Me? The Landscape of Post-PhD Career Tracks and owner of Welcome Solutions. 
  • Nick Edwards is the creator, producer & host of Once a Scientist, a podcast about career discussions for scientists and PhD grads.
  • Nicola Porter is a carrer coach who help academics and other professionals take stock of their career and figure out their next step.
  • Parag Mahanti is the creater of The Grad Grid, a Career Networking Group on LinkedIn. 
  • Sammie Walker Herrera is a certified career coach who helps grad students reframe chaos to choice in their job search.
  • Roshni Rao is the Director of the Career & Professional Development Office at Johns Hopkins University. 
  • Vania Cao is the Founder of Free the PhD, a career support platform with job hunt courses, coaching and an interactive, supportive community for scientists & other academically-trained researchers 
  • Vicky Sherwood runs Biomed Baddass, which provides impartial advice for STEM researchers, on how to navigate the world of work and build a successful career.

Pages to follow on LinkedIn

  • Beyond the Professoriate: Empowering PhDs to build impactful careers & engaged lives, wherever smart people are needed.
  • Cheeky Scientist: We turn PhDs into confident and successful industry professionals..
  • German Scholars Organization e.V. (GSO): We advise, connect, promote and fund - to ensure that researchers can operate effectively within society.
  • PhD Career Link: A community for helping PhDs and Post Docs to transfer from academia to the industrial and the corporate world.
  • Welcome Solutions: An R&D company that helps highly-educated professionals with navigating towards their dream jobs.

Groups to join on LinkedIn

  • The Grad Grid: PhD/MD/Any Masters or Doctorate/Grad Students Career Networking Group.

Accounts to follow on Twitter

Academia

Job boards

Networking

YouTube Channels

  • Alaina G. Levine: Alaina is the author of “Networking for Nerds” and provides career and professional development strategies, tactics, and tools for scientists, engineers and non-nerds too.
  • Career Trajectories: Where can physics take you?
  • Cultivated Culture: Austin helps people leverage unconventional career strategies to land jobs they love along with salaries they deserve.
  • Johns Hopkins University PHutures Channel: Your one stop shop to pick up critical skills in professional and career deveopment! Learn how to craft impactful academic, non-academic CVs and LinkedIn profiles. 
  • Self Made Millennial: Madeline’s channel is known for diving in deep on job interview questions and answers.
  • Welcome Solutions: Conversations with PhDs and other professionals who built interesting careers and made some bold career moves in the process.

Clubhouse

  • All Things Academia: A space to connect with fellow scholars, researchers, faculty members, postdocs, grad students accross all academic disciplines. 

Podcasts

Websites/blogs/columns

Books

Note: if you’re on a budget, check your local or university library first!

Special thanks

I’m grateful to the following people for their suggestions and contributions:

Suggestions?

Great! You can leave a comment on this LinkedIn post or on this Tweet and I will add it here.

Updates

Last updated: 11 Mar, 2021.