In this “Career Fable,” a fictional story meant to provide guidance to scientists on their real-life career journey, a postdoctoral researcher seeking a medical science liaison position worries that her four years of Ph.D. and two years of postdoctoral research make for an unimpressive resume. The story describes her thought-process as she studies the job description to identify key skills the company is looking for and creates a “mind map” of experiences she wouldn’t have thought were relevant, like teaching and science outreach.

The author summarizes:

The moral of the story is:

You are probably stronger than you think.

It is very common for Ph.D. students and postdocs to feel insecure about their achievements and their employability outside of academia. But in many cases, it’s just understatement or a lack of looking at things the way industry does that makes early-career researchers feel like they’re just one of many and have nothing to show for the years they put in—at least nothing that others don’t have.

But you are likely to have many skills that have significant value. To find these skills, dig deeper.

Read more here.