grmarc/iStock, adapted by C. Aycock/Standing in a long queue for lunch at an international conference, Marta notices the two attendees in front of her are deep in conversation.
“Hmm,” she mumbles while trying to compose her thoughts. As a chemistry professor, she has seen Ph.D. holders happily take a variety of career paths—including into industry—after completing their degrees. “Too slick? No, industry can be a perfectly respectable option, and is a great place for some.” “I mean, which employers are most visible to us? It’s the big companies, right?” she explains, pointing at a large banner of the conference sponsor decorating the wall. “You find them at career fairs. You read about them in the news. And it seems that many Ph.D. students would like to work at these big companies, too.” She pauses for a second and then quickly adds, “But most of my students end up somewhere completely different.
“Smaller organizations are also much quicker to adapt to the market,” Marta adds. “Their decision-making processes don’t have to span so many departments and hierarchy levels.” “OK, guys, let’s slow down a bit. I think it’s more helpful to move away from stamp collection–type knowledge about job types and distill some common themes,” Shan says, moving his lunch tray aside as if to make space for his thoughts. “Marta, when you mentioned that patent law work is mostly solitary, I realized that for me, contact with people is at least as important a consideration as company size.