hen applying for any job, you want to show on your application that you have skills the employer is looking for. But what are you supposed to do if you’re looking for a job outside of academia but you’ve only been working in a lab for years? How are you supposed to have gotten skills for one job while doing a different one?

There are at least two things you can do. One is to learn to market the skills you do have, including “soft skills,” in a way that shows how they apply to your new dream job. It’s worth looking seriously at all the things you’ve learned through lab work that can apply to other jobs.

A second thing you can do is to just find ways to get the specific skills you need for the new job. To do this, you might need to look outside your lab (or even school). This can include getting a side job, internship or volunteer experience or participating in a workshop, class, certificate program or info session.

This can be tricky, especially during your Ph.D. or postdoc, when it feels like everyone wants you to spend every waking minute in the lab, but it can certainly be done. And if you are thinking of a career outside of academia, what you do away from the bench can be critical.

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