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Mrim, B. (2020, July 7). PhD skills for industry jobs part 3: Project management skills. LinkedIn. Retrieved November 26, 2024, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/phd-skills-industry-jobs-part-3-project-management-mrim/?published=t
In this series, I am breaking down the top skills that industry employers seek when considering PhDs for US-based and global opportunities. In my 16 years of coaching experience, I have come to realize that most PhDs use the wrong terminology for industry jobs, or are so focused on the knowledge they are accumulating that they are not even aware of the transferable skills they are building as they make contributions to their field!
Of course, your subject matter expertise can be a tremendous springboard towards specific career paths (e.g. a PhD in Musicology is a shoe in for any data science roles related to tech firms trying to increase and retain listeners through their music streaming app, while a macro-economist might have to further articulate how their analytical skills will be of help to build and retain customers for a tech firm). However, beyond the topic of your research and dissertation, you are developing tremendously valuable skills. In earlier posts, I have provided an approach for how to define, translate and use industry terminology to list PhD-level research and analytical skills as well as communications and relationship managements skills in industry resumes. Today, I will focus on project management management skills. In a future post, I will tackle self-leadership skills and entrepreneurial mindset that all PhDs sharpen as they make progress towards earning their doctoral degree.
Before I dive in, it is important to note that the same skills will be named differently in different organizations, sectors, industries and geographic location. As you are looking to move beyond academic jobs, here are four core skill sets we all develop by virtue of completing a PhD, whether it is in the humanities, social sciences or in Science, Technology, Engineering and math (STEM). For each of these skills, I will include a short definition of the skill set, along with examples of what to do and not to do when listing those transferable skills on your industry resume.
I hope the insights below will help you get clearer about your transferable skills so you can emerge as a credible and qualified candidate for non-academic jobs.
Skill #3 - Project Management Skills.
Definition: Ability to clarify priorities, set up work plans as well as reporting structures that keep all stakeholders updated, motivated, and accountable for progress towards common goals.
One of the most common myths about PhDs is that we might be believed to have poor project management and communication skills. Indeed, for some reason many believe that PhDs live lost our own timeless world of theoretical thoughts and complicated concepts. Few people outside of academia realize that it takes sharp project management and communication skills to build a successful career as an academic. Think of an academic as an entrepreneur who had four jobs. Their first job is to writing grants to secure funding for research projects. This includes researching "white space," which includes clearly outlining what research direction they want to take and why this direction will be advancing human knowledge in a significant and useful manner while complying with all funding and research regulations dictated by their funding sources and the universities where they operate. The second job of an academic is to oversee all research projects, manage multiple timelines and work streams in order to ensure that all team members (e.g. graduate students and postdocs) are trained and on track with their research projects, as well as manage multiple timelines to submit progress reports and abstracts on time and within budget, as well as produce research insights and results that are deemed of the quality required for publications in high profile peer-reviewed journals. The third job of most academic professors is to teach, which include building and delivering lesson plans that support adult learners as they absorb, synthesize and integrate new knowledge and skills with the level of critical thinking and writing rigor required to be deemed competent in their discipline. The fourth facet of the job as an academic is to serve on committees, setting up deadlines and collaborating with colleagues across departments and universities to achieve common goals, whether these goals are to hire a new faculty member, to evaluate grants, or to vote on which candidates should receive funding to join the department as a graduate student. In sum, juggling an academic career requires stellar project and time management skills.
As PhD candidates, we are faculty members in training, and we learn a number of valuable project management skills, including managing multiple projects under tight deadlines as well as keep track of when to write abstracts to secure funding and/or secure a spot to present our research results at conferences. Another example would be to outline time frames and schedules to convince co-authors to review their manuscripts in the timely manner. Another example is the organizational skills needed to manage faculty and staff members in and beyond their departments to form their qualifying exam or dissertation committee while remaining compliant with all applicable university regulations. In addition, if you serve as a TA or supervise undergraduate researchers, you need to get and stay organized to make sure that there is no duplication of efforts and that everything and everyone is clear and all projects are coordinated to meet all deadlines each semester.
Some keywords related to PhD-level project management skills as they relate to industry jobs include clarifying project goals and scope (e.g. what is due, by when?), prioritizing projects (e.g. what is a must have vs a nice to have?), setting up project plans and outline milestones, engaging with stakeholders (e.g. keep stakeholders informed and accountable to make timely contributions and progress towards shared goals, managing time and resources to make progress towards goals, measuring and optimizing progress towards multiple competing deadlines, ensuring compliance with university and all other regulations, formulating creative solutions to issues faced in the project, report on progress, and closing projects upon completion. In addition, for STEM PhDs, you might also have gained additional project managements skills if you were contributing to optimal scheduling and maintenance of shared lab or research facilities while ensuring compliance with university and all other regulations.
How to demonstrate your PhD project management skills in your non-academic resume.
Recruiters in non-academic jobs are less interested in the knowledge PhDs bring than in the transferable skills they have leverage to achieve measurable results. I am a big fan of the XYZ method of building resume bullet points around WHAT you did, HOW you did it, and WHY that impacted your work, the team and organization in meaningful ways. Here are some ideas and examples of how to package your research and analytical skills in your non-academic bullet points:
Humanities PhDs:
Basic: Worked on four groundbreaking excavations in three years.
Better: Contributed to a team of 6 researchers and 7 contractors to design and coordinate logistics for the execution of four excavations across three countries in 27 months, leading to new insights that challenged long held views about the role of mortuary rituals in the Bronze Age.
PhDs in the Social Sciences:
Basic: Provided administrative support and helped with community events and webinars.
Better: Oversaw all logistics, including catering, room reservation, and registration for up to 6 events per semester, including addresses by the former President of Brazil, and the current Foreign Affairs Minister of Peru that were attended by up 400 faculty, local government officials, and community leaders.
STEM PhDs:
Basic: Conducted research projects across four universities.
Better: Coordinated scheduling as well as collected data from 65 research participants in two weeks, ensuring full compliance with Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) of each of our three university partners.
For more information on other PhD transferable skills and how to list them in industry resumes, see my previous posts:
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