Introduction
It’s a big, big, big world and you have a ton of skills. Do you know how to best apply them, in a way that is rewarding, fulfilling, and that generates value for others?
In this exercise, we are going to use a chosen LLM to start to conversationally explore what options may be out in the world for us.
To do so, we are going to consider two factors:
What is our current field of expertise?
and
What skills would we like to be using in our future job?
Then we will plug them into a prompt that is meant to help us conversationally explore options for finding roles/companies/keywords that may lead to careers of interest.
Industry Opportunities Exercise:
Choose a category (or more if you want) from this section, Field of Expertise:
Life Sciences
- Molecular Biology
- Neuroscience
- Genetics
- Immunology
- Microbiology
- Biochemistry
- Ecology/Conservation
- Plant Biology
- Bioinformatics
Physical Sciences
- Physics
- Chemistry
- Materials Science
- Astronomy/Astrophysics
- Earth Sciences
- Atmospheric Sciences
- Oceanography
Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Chemical Engineering
- Biomedical Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Computer Engineering
- Environmental Engineering
Computer/Data Sciences
- Computer Science
- Artificial Intelligence
- Data Science
- Machine Learning
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Cybersecurity
- Computational Linguistics
Social Sciences
- Psychology
- Economics
- Sociology
- Anthropology
- Political Science
- Communication
- Education
- Linguistics
Humanities
- History
- Philosophy
- Literature
- Arts
- Religious Studies
- Cultural Studies
- Media Studies
Mathematics
- Pure Mathematics
- Applied Mathematics
- Statistics
- Operations Research
- Game Theory
Interdisciplinary Fields
- Cognitive Science
- Environmental Science
- Public Health
- Science Policy
- Science Education
Then to decide what kind of skills we would like to continue to use in our daily career, choose as many of the Transferrable Skillsets below as you would like, or add your own (but try to stick to 4 or 5 total):
Analytical Skills
- Data analysis
- Statistical modeling
- Experimental design
- Critical thinking
- Problem-solving
- Systematic literature review
- Quantitative reasoning
- Qualitative analysis
Technical Skills
- Programming (Python, R, etc.)
- Lab techniques
- Specialized equipment use
- Technical writing
- Survey design
- Field research methods
- Simulation/modeling
- Algorithm development
Communication Skills
- Scientific writing
- Grant writing
- Public speaking
- Teaching/training
- Science communication
- Visual presentation
- Technical documentation
- Cross-disciplinary translation
Project Skills
- Project management
- Experimental planning
- Budget management
- Team coordination
- Stakeholder engagement
- Timeline development
- Risk assessment
- Resource allocation
- Milestone tracking
People Skills
- Mentoring/supervision
- Collaboration
- Leadership
- Team building
- Conflict resolution
- Networking
- Stakeholder management
- Cross-cultural communication
Business/Professional Skills
- Grant/funding acquisition
- Intellectual property understanding
- Regulatory knowledge
- Entrepreneurial thinking
- Strategic planning
- Consulting approach
- Client relations
- Market analysis
After you’ve made your selection, plug them into the following prompt and start a chat with your favorite LLM. This is meant to be the beginning of an exploration, so feel free to take it wherever you want!
I have a PhD in [Field of Expertise from Part 1]. My research focused on [add some details about your work].
I'm exploring career options where I can use these skills: [Selected Transferrable Skills].
Help me explore non-academic career paths that might be a good fit. For each path, please share:
- What the job actually involves day-to-day
- What additional skills I might need beyond my PhD
- Typical job titles to search for
- Salary ranges I could expect
- Example companies or organizations, both well-known and smaller
- Keywords to search for on databases like LinkedIn
- Current trends in that industry, that I may be able to discuss with people in the space
Give me 2-3 top level options. Let's discuss these options conversationally so I can narrow down what might suit me best or explore new directions.
An example prompt would be:
I have a PhD in Molecular Genetics. My research focused on recombinant protein isolation, genetic design, and enzymatic assays.
I'm exploring career options where I can use these skills: Entrepreneurial thinking, strategic planning, collaboration, networking, and public speaking.
Help me explore non-academic career paths that might be a good fit. For each path, please share:
- What the job actually involves day-to-day
- What additional skills I might need beyond my PhD
- Typical job titles to search for
- Salary ranges I could expect
- Example companies or organizations, both well-known and smaller
- Keywords to search for on databases like LinkedIn
- Current trends in that industry, that I may be able to discuss with people in the space
Give me 2-3 top level options. Let's discuss these options conversationally so I can narrow down what might suit me best or explore new directions.
And here is what I got as output!
