Name: Kate Greeson (she/her)
PhD: Environmental Health, University of Georgia, 2022
What was your main area of research?
I researched male reproductive toxicology, specifically the impacts of pre-conception exposures on offspring.
What is your current job?
I am a Consultant at Boston Consulting Group in Atlanta, Georgia.
I solve complex business problems by conducting qualitative and quantitative research and analyses, requiring written and verbal communication of findings.
The best part is the sense of accomplishment from solving tough problems and helping clients have business breakthroughs.
How did you find this position? What were the career steps you took to get to where you are now?
PhD consulting clubs at other schools helped me learn that consulting companies routinely hire PhDs
PhD graduate ➡️ Consultant
Why did you decide to not pursue a career in academia?
I anticipated a poor work life balance in academia with low pay and low likelihood of finding a job where I wanted to live. It was an easy decision to leave academia.
What advice do you have for someone getting their PhD and looking to pursue a career outside of academia?
Network with people who have similar-ish backgrounds in jobs that sound interesting. Leverage your “student card” to reach out to people on LinkedIn and schedule ~20 min coffee chats to ask them about their career and journey. Do this until you find a career that sounds interesting and then learn as much as you can!
Practice for interviews live and ask for and be receptive to lots of feedback. Start with tools like Google’s Interview Warmup and The Big Interview and move to practice interviews with your school’s Career Center and then others who are also preparing for interviews.
For interviews, spend time thinking deeply about 3 things: 1) why you want to leave academia and why the job you’re after is a great fit, 2) how your current skills transfer to the job you want, and 3) what questions do you have to really understand if the job/company/team is a good fit for you. These answers will stand out to interviewers.