Name: Tuuli Hietamies (she/her)
PhD: Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, 2020
What is your current job?
I am a consultant at Clearview Healthcare Partner in San Francisco, California.
This is a client facing role where we answer strategic questions for our clients within the life science, medtech, and digital health space. I conduct primary and secondary research (think talking to doctors or researching papers) in order to answer these questions and compile them into deliverables (often PowerPoint). The strategic questions encompass a wide space but can be things like should we develop a drug in X space, should we acquire X company, how should we price our X drug.
There are a few things I would consider my favorite. The work environment I’m in is more social than academia, and this works much better for extroverts like myself. I can see the immediate impact of my work which is quite different from my previous laboratory work. Finally, there is a clearer path for forging a career, and I really appreciate that.
How did you find this position? What were the career steps you took to get to where you are now?
I talked to A LOT of people who came via a similar academic route as myself. I cold messaged a lot of LinkedIn profiles. I am very thankful for so many people taking the time to talk with me. This way I could map out potential paths for myself and consulting ended up being one of them. I also joined the consulting club at the university I was a postdoc at in order to better understand if this role was for me.
PhD graduate ➡️ postdoc ➡️ consultant
Why did you decide to not pursue a career in academia? Was this a difficult decision or one you felt came easily?
I felt like I was not quite passionate enough to perform in academia at the level I wanted to achieve. That being said, I loved working with people passionate about academic research. Thus, finding a job which brings together other PhDs lets me continue to work in this way. Once I had decided it was quite easy to execute, but it took me a PhD and a postdoc to arrive at this conclusion.
What are three pieces of advice you have for someone getting their PhD and looking to pursue a career outside of academia?
Talk to everyone you possibly can, because I feel like recruitment events don’t always give you the most holistic view of the job. Cold messaging works really well.
Most of the time you just need to get a first job outside of academia. It doesn’t have to be the perfect one, but moving between roles is easier once you’ve entered the post-academic workforce.
Take advantage of courses and clubs while you are still at a school. These are a great opportunity to build a support network of like-minded people.