Getting a PhD is not necessarily a gate pass to the highly demanding corporate world, if that is your dream career. There does exist an industry PhD gap. By this gap I mean a gap between highly specialised PhD training and the expectations that the corporate world has from its industry friendly set of employees. The gap can be really quite wide, if you have not honed those skills in you that would make you competent in the industry where you intend to practice your expertise of doctoral research.
Almost everyone around the world may feel that the PhD market is saturated but there is a deficit of the probable solutions to the problem. The fact of the matter is that the first job that you get is the most crucial one, right after your graduate experience. It is indeed the most difficult job to get as well so you need to know the possible options that could help you to make it not challenging beyond your capacity.
The most important thing to know here is that many of the PhD doctors don’t know the means and skills to provide the real and practical solutions to the problems that they may be expected to solve in their job profile. Hard work is the most important thing needed in your attitude to get you going where you want to be and the sooner you know it the better it is as the formative years are what set the foundation of where you are going to be in your future. You need to leave your past behind you and know how to move on.
With all this more, the bottom line is that you ought to have the right personality, drive, leadership and a strong practice of interpersonal skills that helps you to give the right productivity when you have to perform in a team. Other than your academic skills, that you would invariably develop and polish during the course of your PhD, the right personality would be very valuable and help you to carry your career much ahead than you could ever imagine. You may find a lot of competition here as there are a lot of competent job seekers available in the market, but that should not be a deterrent and a means to discourage your enthusiasm to seek success.
Without going any deeper into the problem and its possible solutions, know and remind yourself the most important thing that there is no set career path that is for everyone. Each one has a unique career journey and you got to make and create it by yourself.
