Beyond the traditional tenure track, there are few clear pathways for transition from bench training to the kinds of stable jobs that put scientists’ knowledge, skills, and intellectual energy to good use. Highlighting approaches to careers outside academia and clarifying how a scientist’s skills are applicable beyond the bench may help young scientists remain confident that time spent at the bench does not close the door to future careers away from the laboratory.
Surveys show that what employers want from potential PhD applicants is what graduate education means to provide: deep knowledge, hands-on experience, ability to ask meaningful questions and find answers to them, experience managing projects, capacity to work independently, initiative, entrepreneurialism, and an advanced ability to communicate in writing and in speaking. At the same time, students, postdocs, and mid-life career-changers describe frustrations with understanding how to articulate their skills and transition into careers away from the bench.
Approaches that help trainees better acknowledge and acquire the skills expected of knowledge workers and efforts that help them understand career pathways will help them succeed in the workplace, whether as principal investigators, in long-term non-tenure track positions, in industrial careers, or away from the bench.