Most of us work in science, which involves laboratories or hours in front of a computer screen crunching data. However, much of what we do in pharma involves large teams in a matrixed or cross-functional work. Skills such as organizational skills, presentation and oral communication skills, writing, and influencing are absolutely critical for success in the industry environment. These are often called "transferable skills" or "marketable skills."
Hiring managers typically expect that your degree(s) qualify you for the technical or scientific skills for the job. But have you demonstrated the other marketable skills that will set you apart from the rest of the candidate pool?
You may wonder how you can develop these marketable skills while pipetting all day long. Here are 18 ways to gain these skill sets outside of your lab:
- Join or start a healthcare or life sciences consulting group (check out these example groups at Penn and Stanford).
- Volunteer for your student government or postdoc governing board (think local at your institution or national).
- Get an internship in pharma.
- Take classes outside of your department (business, computer programming, health administration, etc.).
- Scientific editing as a side gig.
- Start a science blog or contribute articles to existing blogs.
- Teach a class at the community college.
- Volunteer at a nonprofit.
- Lobby your congressman for science funding.
- Be active or play a leadership role in scientific and professional organizations.
- Network broadly.
- Mentor others in your laboratory, including undergraduate students, junior graduate students, research assistants, high school students.
- Teach someone how to do something. A lot can be learned from teaching, even outside of the laboratory. Teach others how to knit, play soccer, make pasta. Pull people together to share your passions.
- Practice talking in front of a group. Join an organization such as Toastmasters.
- Organize a journal club.
- Are you a mom? Join the PTA. Even better, run the PTA.
- Participate in an IRB (Institutional Review Board).
- Volunteer for a patient advocacy group.
What have you done outside the lab to gain marketable skills? Please share!