“Hello” from the other side ;)

Hi,

As promised in my last blog post, I am summarizing my suggestions on how to prepare industry job applications:

• Resumes & cover letters – I found it very helpful to use literature (e.g., a book by Karen Kelsky) for advice on how to write and structure resumes and cover letters (for academic as well as industry jobs). I recently also found a webpage called “cheeky scientist”, which seems to offer lots of great articles and advice. However, I also think that attending a workshop on how to prepare industry applications would be very useful (lots of universities and institutes offer such courses!).
• Resumes & cover letters – I wrote my resume using novoresume.com. This is an online platform, which helps you build your professional resume and cover letters. Registration and its use is super easy and it offers a variety of templates and tools. I can highly recommend it.
• “Knowing somebody who knows somebody” – Talk with your colleagues and friends to see if there is somebody in their environment who went through a similar job transition. Get in touch with these contacts and ask if they would share their experiences with you. Often, they also know about job vacancies (in their company or others) and they can point you in the right direction!
• Application process – I received the most feedback (e.g., in terms of job interview invites) on my applications when I established contact to the company of interest prior to sending the application. Through this approach, your contact may even offer to act as an internal endorser.
• Salaries – When changing job markets, it can be difficult to figure out what the average salary for your new job looks like. I got the impression that most people don’t really like talking about what they make, so I also used the internet to gather information of this kind (e.g., www.glassdoor.com). However, job ads in certain countries do provide a figure of the minimum yearly gross salary which they’d pay.
• LinkedIn – Having an up-to-date LinkedIn profile and showing recruiters that you are available DOES help.
• Be patient – I know this is a tough one, but good things take their time. But they will come!

I really hope that this summary will be helpful for some of you. I have to say that the last point of the summary completely applies to my past job searching process. I mean, of course I got frustrated along the way because after 4 months of looking for a job, I still did not receive an offer. But it was totally worth the wait to find my new job about 6 months after finishing my PhD. So let me tell you a bit more about my new job… 😉

I actually got my new job through a recruiter who contacted me via LinkedIn. I almost did not follow-up with his message (check out blog post #3), but I am so glad I did in the end. After an initial call with the recruiter, I went through different application steps with the company – a phone interview, then a skype interview incl. a presentation, followed by a final interview on-site. In October 2018 I then received an official offer from…… *drum roll* Andor Technology to join them as their Astronomy Application Specialist, YAY! I am with Andor now for 4 months and I truly love this job, because it challenges me every day. As an Astronomy Application Specialist for Andor, I find myself wearing many different hats – I work with the Product Management-, the Sales-, as well as Marketing-Teams. This job truly involves a steep learning curve!! And the best thing – I am still connected to Astronomy (AND I get to do lots of networking 😉 – 2 things I absolutely enjoy)!!

In addition, I learn a lot about our camera related technology, and I also get to learn lots about various Astronomy applications, their methods, and detector requirements. Honestly, this job brought back my joy for Astronomy and I feel like I found my “place”.

Because of this new position and the journey which brought me here, I would like to start sharing stories of people from “both sides” (academia and industry) and feature them on this blog. I think it is interesting and useful to share different experiences with the hope to support students with their future path after University.

I would like to hear from people who went through a similar transition from academia to industry, AND I would like to share the stories of people in academia who work on Astronomy related projects : ).

I already have some people in mind to kick-off these blog posts, but you can also contact me if you feel like you want to share your story on this website. Simply send me an email using the contact form below and let’s get in touch!

Best,

Ines

I took the picture below during one of my visits at Andor’s HQ in Belfast this year ;-). It shows some of my colleagues from the different teams (Marketing, Product Management and Sales) and my boss ;-). Big thanks to everybody, it’s a pleasure to work with you!