Career beyond academia
Although many PhDs aspire for an academic career, the reality is that the majority - maybe around 80-90% - will have successful careers beyond academia. Researchers go on to work in many employment sectors, including running their own businesses.
Deciding to look for career options beyond academia may feel a bit daunting and overwhelming, and perhaps you do not really know where to begin. The first and most critical step in your nonacademic job search is knowing what the actual structure of a successful job search looks like. If you have not already read the section which explains the structure for exploring a future career, please do so before you continue to read.
Read about the career exploration steps.
Where to find job opportunities beyond academia
Once you have worked through the career exploration steps and narrowed down your options to a few sectors or job titles, there are a variety of resources available to help you find them. Here are a few places to start:
Lund University CareerHub
Register with Lund University´s career portal CareerHub, where more than 1 000 companies and organisations worldwide advertise their jobs, internships and postdoctoral positions.
Sign up for a free membership at CareerHub.
Job search websites
Websites like Indeed, Glassdoor, and Monster have a wide range of job listings.
Professional networking sites
LinkedIn and other professional networking sites can be a great resource for finding jobs. You can search for jobs directly on the site or connect with people who work in your desired field.
Industry-specific job boards
Many industries have job boards or websites dedicated to listing open positions.
Recruitment and consulting agencies
Many recruitment and consulting agencies specialize in specific industries, such as healthcare, life science or technology. They have access to job openings that may not be advertised elsewhere, so make sure to follow them and, if possible, upload your CV in their database.
Personal connections
Don't underestimate the power of personal connections. Let your friends, family, and acquaintances know that you're looking for non-academic work. They may be able to connect you with job openings or refer you to someone in their network.
Setting up your own business and/or take your ideas to the market
Do you have questions about innovation, patents or considering starting a company? LU Innovation can help you along the way and move your project forward through idea and innovation development, financial support and expert knowledge about agreements and how to protect your idea.
Read more about innovation and research utilization on the LU Innovation website.
Explore life science industry in Sweden and Denmark
The Faculty of Medicine offers a mentorship programme with life science industry focus. Application to the programme usually opens in February and closes in April. The programme runs from September until June. Information about the application process is published on the MentLife website when the application is open.
To explore life science companies in the Öresund region (Denmark - Southern Sweden) the Medicon Valley database is a good resource. The database allows users to search for companies by location, industry, and other factors.
The Swedish Life Science Database is an information platform comprising data of Life Sciences companies and institutes in Sweden. The goal of this database is to provide an extensive overview on the Swedish Life Sciences, Biotechnology, Medtech and Pharma area.