need help finding a non academic role - have i left it too late ?

[acadexit]

Hi

Looking for advice for how/where to get a new job in a non academic role?

I work as a health/medical researcher, it's 8 years since my PhD and I was in a clinical job before that (so i'm not young).

I'm mid 40s with 3 primary age kids, so i don't have much flexibility to relocate. I don't live in or near London.

I have found my job less and less enjoyable the last 18 months. Have not done anything about it yet due to kids/good AL, but the last 3 months has been especially crap with grant rejections and generally feeling directionless.

I'm in a teaching focused department so there are not much research projects going on to collaborate on, everything is dependent on me initiating projects and networks, so it's quite isolating.

I had thought about looking for a similar job in a more researched focused university, but not sure my heart is in it anymore. I'd have to start again and would be years before getting a promotion.

Started looking online for jobs, but not sure what i'm looking for. Looked at linkedin and a few job sites - being active on linkedin looks like a whole job in itself !

I have a mixture of quant, qual and systematic review experience, but no particular expertise in any method. Some teaching experience too. I really like data, but i'm not at a level where i could be in a data/statistician job. I like writing, so had thought about jobs in journals/publishing.

However my concern is for jobs in medical writer/health tech/clinical trials/medical comms/pharma, they all want industry experience which I don't have, so i'd have to start at the bottom...and prob wouldn't even be competitive. I feel like i've left if too late to leave academia! should have done it after 2-3 years.

Can't really afford to take a paycut. I earn about £50k. Would also need a mainly remote/hybrid role due to where i live.

Someone suggested civil service jobs but are really hard to get into?

Any tips please on what i should be doing or where to look ? any good resources to look at/accounts to follow? my confidence has taken a hit and looking at jobs sites is making me feel even more anxious about finding a new role

A few things you could look for

• your data analysis skills may be better than you think. If you can take a messy dataset and organise it in R or Python to do some regression or GLMs and draw sensible conclusions, you know enough for lots of data science jobs. Look up "meet-up" events in London for tech and data science to get a chance to network and find out about opportunities.

• journal publishing and grant agency work can also be a great option. See if wellcome trust or similar have adverts for anything relevant.

• there are a lot of people on twitter who post about leaving academia and finding other opportunities.

Thanks for your reply.
I can do regression analyses, but need to practise R as don't use it regularly- at least that's something practical i can work on.

Hadn't thought about the grant bodies roles - I have done some grant reviewing, will have a look.

I have seen a couple blogs about people going from academia to industry, but they all seem to be by people in mid 20s, so they have no ties/kids and can relocate wherever and take more risks.

I feel quite stuck !

I did in my late 20s due to family relocation and, again in my 30s to be able to focus on my child who was born with a number of health issues.

I do not have advice for you in terms of getting jobs that pay as much as you are earning (you are an expert in academic research but you might need to gain many industry related skills before you can aim for that salary). In my case, it was pretty much a career suicide, I would be much better off these days if I had stayed in academia for longer, instead I have spent many years of my life doing jobs I hated, for less salary but just to have the flexibility to cope with DS son on my own.

If I could turn back time and was in your shoes, I would take a step back by requesting to become part time at your current job so what you don’t like of your current job becomes less overwhelming and to have the time to gain those industry skills you need to move into industry.

If you can’t afford to take a pay cut then there’s your answer. This is why most people stay in jobs they don’t like, because they can’t earn the same elsewhere. You could definitely get another job or even be self employed, but you will have to take a pay cut and work your way back up.

I don't think CS jobs are really hard to get into for people with PhDs: more of my cohort have gone into CS than have gone into academia - several of them in their 40s. There is a data science profession that extends across the developments https://ddat-capability-framework.service.gov.uk/role/data-scientist
that might be worth looking at. Your skills would make you well suited. Being a generalist is important in the CS.

The issue is the pay, IME CS pays ~20% less than academia to start with, although it is faster to progress. And there will be expectation to go to an office 2-3 days a week, even though JRM is now out of government.

I think the question is whether you can afford to tighten your belt for a couple of years to establish yourself. Unfortunately, that is likely to be the case for most roles, unless you can find something in consultancy, likely in london, likely long hours. Despite everyone on mumsnet earning 6 figures🙄50k is a high starting salary. In the CS you'd likely be leading on an area, and have line management, maybe team leadership responsibility at that level.

Is there any scope to move into impact/engagement/knowledge exchange work? I've seen loads of ads for impact managers recently - you could bed yourself in nicely before the REF (although it might involve a bit of a pay cut).

Also bear in mind that academia offers in most occasions good flexible working schemes, the possibility to work from home as and when you prefer or need. Such flexibility is very seldomly present in the private sector, where flexible working may mean just choosing a what time you start and end and sticking to it.

Yes, this is true too.

I think, OP, if you're interested in CS and need yo earn over £50k, have a look at the CS jobs website and the skills required for those kind of roles. My feeling is they will require more on the setting strategic direction side and less on actually doing the analysis. In which case, brushing up on your R skills might be less important than joining some steering groups. If your university is anything like mine, it will have lots of them...

Thanks - i had considered whether cutting my hours would be useful and whether i'm just fed up due to busy life with kids.
but cutting hours would in a way make things more difficult as it's harder to get work done in 2-3 days compared to 4-5, it's the nature of project work - things would take 6 months rather than 3, and i would feel even less connected

Thanks will look into this scheme.

Maybe I overestimated how much people earn in private sector as you always hear of people making £100k + and that academia is poorly paid.

will look more into internal roles

Believe me, it would be easier than moving into a lower paid full time job in the industry with far less flexibility to work around your kids’ needs.

You know when you can call work and say little Jean has a cold and can’t be in school so you will be working from home/leaving early/putting the hours in later when the kids are in bed ? This flexibility might not be seen as kindly in industry, where you are likely to be seen as unreliable and asked to take the time off as annual leave. Same applies to school holidays, where you are competing with a lot of other parents in the company to have time off in the same weeks when the schools close.

I see my days in academia as a walk in the park compared to the cut throat approach in money making motivated businesses, which brings the other aspect: There is some gratifying side in being able to see you are making a difference by guiding younger generations or progressing knowledge by doing your job, which is more difficult to get in the private sector.

Having said that, you may find a job, that you love, enjoy and makes you more money changing careers so, it may be lottery, you can’t win if you don’t take risks.

There is a Twitter account called publichealthjobsuk which is worth looking at for inspiration. Are a lot of public sector jobs (mainly local authority). There is also a job site charity jobs uk which you can filter by your interest and set up alerts. I think the guardian does similar.

Similar background here and I moved into public health research in local government in my 50s. Better salary and pension than my academic role. The pace and need to “dumb down” when presenting findings have been challenging but I love not needing to battle with the academic publishing system and people actually read my stuff. I’d never go back.

Have you thought about internal audit? You can do a certificate quite quickly which would get you up to the 50k. But on top of that you have a lot of transferable skills; I'd guess the data, interpreting information, interviewing and asking questions to assimilate information!

This profession is moving towards data analytics in its work, and less focus on accountancy skills with the desire to attract people whose softer skills may be of use.

Just a thought - as it can be done fairly remotely and depending on the organisation you work for may offer the flexibility you're after to fit around a family.

thank you to everyone who has replied, with lots of good ideas.
I think public health research in local gov is a good shout

thanks I don't know anything about this, any specific courses/links you would recommend ?

Start at the IIA website. Institute of Internal Auditors. A google of jobs should also bring up vacancies and show required skills. HTH

This is a good time to make that move as NIHR are looking to build a research infrastructure in local authorities that mimics that of the NHS. Look for LA’s near you with Heath Determinants Research Collaboration funding (listed on NIHR website) and keep your eyes on their vacancies, There are also individual funding awards to support work in this space, also on NIHR website