5 tips for applying academic experience to the corporate sector

Jaqueline Ribas, from the consultancy Pesquisa de Impacto, advises researchers on how to adapt their academic experience for selection processes in the private sector

Editorial staff

Two women sitting face-to-face at a table in a corporate environment. In the background, large windows with a view of urban buildings. The Black woman on the right, with afro hair and glasses, is smiling. The white woman on the left, with long straight hair, watches her attentively.

A career in science develops technical and interpersonal skills that are valued in the private sector. But having them is not enough: you also need to know how to communicate them during a selection process.

In an interview with Science Arena, Jaqueline Ribas, a specialist in hiring researchers and founder of the consultancy Pesquisa de Impacto (“impactful research”), offers practical strategies for this, especially in a context where automated résumé screening systems are becoming increasingly common.

Watch the full interview with Jaqueline Ribas on Science Arena:

Next, five tips from the specialist for researchers who want to position themselves in the private sector.

1. From Lattes to LinkedIn

For those migrating from research to the private sector, LinkedIn is an indispensable tool and has a different purpose and language than Lattes. “Lattes communicates with an academic audience, while LinkedIn communicates with companies,” Jaqueline explained.

According to Ribas, LinkedIn is the space for researchers to describe their role in each project, their responsibilities, and the results achieved.

2. Networking opens doors

Staying in touch with other professionals allows you to gain insights into areas of interest and opens up opportunities. For Ribas, a good conversation about your own career path is already an effective way of creating meaningful connections.

However, she notes that networking does not replace the selection process: professionals still need to go through all the stages and convince the interviewer of their value.

3. Speak the language of the market

In corporate selection processes, vocabulary matters. When describing your experiences, it is worth replacing “academic research” with “scientific research” and “advising students” with “leading and supervising professionals.”

“It’s a new way of communicating. You’re not just going to talk about the research. Be careful not to start explaining it in detail and forget about yourself, about your role,” says Jaqueline.

4. Efficient job hunting

The first step for efficient job hunting is to use broader terms than the scientific ones. Instead of “germ cell genetics,” for example, simply search for “genetics.” “LinkedIn has a jobs section that is an extremely rich source of information. I suggest starting with keywords and searching for them in quotation marks,” Jaqueline recommended. Additionally, you can:

Submit up to five applications per week
Organize your skills on your résumé according to the requirements of each position

5. Interviews

Preparing in advance is what distinguishes a well-conducted interview from an improvised one. According to Ribas, practice should begin immediately after submitting your application. “Don’t wait until the day you receive the invitation to start preparing,” she emphasizes.

When presenting yourself, you should be brief and convincing. To structure your answers, Ribas recommends using the STAR method:

Situation
Task
Action
Result

To read the full content on how a researcher can prepare for a selection process in the labor market, see the interview in this material from Science Arena.

* This article may be republished online under the CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons license.
The text must not be edited and the author(s) and source (Science Arena) must be credited.