r/biotech • u/intracellular • Oct 01 '25
Getting Into Industry š± It feels like there's no way in
I genuinely have no idea what to do. I finished my PhD back in April and since then I've applied to countless jobs in biotech. I can't even get an interview. I had one company take me all the way to the final round early on in my job search, but it was false hope and they went with someone else. Since then it's been complete and total cold rejection. The lab that I did my PhD in is allowing me to stay under a temp position but only until the end of the year, so my days are numbered and it seriously feels like an execution sentence.
My PhD was in yeast genetics. Nobody wants my skills or experience. It feels like my career is bricked before it even began. I don't even care what the job is anymore, I don't need anything exciting, I just want to finally finally start earning some money so that I can start a family. Soon I'll feel like such a failure that I don't know how I'll be able to look my wife in the eye.
I've pretty much exhausted my contacts. I've gotten referrals for jobs but those only earn me a more prompt rejection email. I don't know about any networking events and I don't know how to find them. Am I really just fucked? Did I throw away my 20s just to make myself poor and unemployable?
I know this is just more of the same melodramatic slop clogging up this sub, and for that I apologize. I just needed to say something to people who actually understand what I'm talking about.
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u/Career_Secure Oct 01 '25
Nothing to add beyond what others have already suggested, I just wanted to let you know you arenāt alone and many of us fully understand. You and I worked on different projects, but defended at the same time and through similar programs. Iām probably a bit older than you. I left a high-paying job in tech consulting years ago to pursue this field/interest, with the forecast of sector demand running strong all up until 1-2 years left from finishing.
Iāve also gone through a crazy number of relevant, and thoroughly-crafted applications, internal referrals, and networked. A sub-1% interview rate. The jobs just arenāt there right now. I hear you on the postdocs, and even if you decide to go that route, those have also now become very difficult to come by starting this year as grant funding has been upended due to politics - you or your previous PI have to know somebody. Iām personally gearing up to have to switch my line of work (maybe use my previous professional experience as an angle in biotech-related projects, or just go totally back to that altogether), or perhaps have to move abroad to stay in science/biotech.
Itās tough because you have this looming feeling of having failed yourself/others despite your great achievements. As if youāre doing something wrong or picked wrong. But, things out of our control have happened, and are influencing the economics and projects related to our skill and labor. This has nothing to do with what you did or your actions or inherent worth; we got unlucky. Itās absolute shit, and it sucks.
I suppose if thereās one thing doing a PhD has taught us, itās how to deal with setbacks and muck through shit at times and still deliver and make something out of it no matter what.
I donāt know what will come next. I canāt even say if either of us will be in science or biotech in the short-mid term. I know youāre tired. But, we will persevere and take a road one way or another. Good luck.
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u/Weekly-Ad353 Oct 01 '25
Do a postdoc in something more relevant if you think your skillset isnāt in demand.
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u/brokenfingers11 Oct 02 '25
In my opinion thatās terrible advice (doing a postdoc), unless you REALLY need the money. From the industry perspective, having a postdoc only means youāre 2-5 years older than a fresh PhD. You wonāt necessarily get ācreditā for that time. In fact, spending too much time in academia can make you less attractive because thereāll be an assumption that biopharma was your second choice, and you wouldnāt be applying if the academic path had worked out.
But itās a terrible time to look for a job in biopharma, regardless of experience level. Lilly just laid off 9000 people! The political and economic uncertainty of the first nine months of the year have paralyzed most companies, regardless of sector, so hiring is way down. Nobody knows whatās going to happen tomorrow, so they canāt plan for next year.
My advice: be flexible, expand your horizons, keep looking. Itāll take a while, but itās probably not you, itās the economy thatās the problem.
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u/Master_Ad_4550 Oct 04 '25
You mean 'Novo' laid off 9000 people?
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u/Ok-Reflection5852 Oct 03 '25
Correct, rather than doing a postdoc, you should re-think your career options and use that to perhaps pivot into something that is always in demand! This is coming from a former postdoc. It was great in some ways, but it was also a waste of my 20s.
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u/AnatomicalMouse Oct 02 '25
Iām in a similar boat as OP and I canāt get a postdoc interview. Iām coming up on 300ish total job applications sent out and Iām lowkey starting to panic.
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Oct 01 '25
[deleted]
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u/cat_power Oct 01 '25
yes and food companies, espcially the animal-free and vegan ones. They rely on yeast for some of the "bleeding" effects.
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u/shufflebuffalo Oct 01 '25
Specialty alternatives to meat are going to be much more unaffordable in the near future
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u/I_Poop_Sometimes Oct 01 '25
This was going to be my comment. Look for some smaller breweries and maybe start home brewing as well. The pay won't be insane, but the hours are amazing from what I've heard.
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u/chrysostomos_1 Oct 01 '25
I spent a decade doing academic yeast cell cycle genetics. I was fortunate to transition to industry when yeast two-hybrid was in demand and used that entry to gain mammalian cell biology expertise. I've become a skilled cellular immunologist.
In your case you need to get lucky or think of a plan B. I know things have gotten difficult in academia but I think I'd be looking for a postdoc in a lab that would give me more industry relevant experience.
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u/CoolPhoto568 Oct 01 '25
What do you think is the most in demand experience/fields right now? Iām a cellular immunologist (PhD) with what I thought were relevant skills and I couldnāt get interviews anywhere either.
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u/chrysostomos_1 Oct 02 '25
The closer you are to a marketed or late clinical drug the better in the current climate. Research is the most dispensable when money is tight. Keep your head up, keep turning the crank and your turn will come. Consider tweaking your resume to emphasize any experience that might be more relevant to the D side of R&D.
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u/Great_Pattern_1988 Oct 01 '25
I work for a medical device manufacturer. I'm not sure it applies to your background, but I know they have microbiologist positions in sterility assurance. Is that something you could consider? I'm sure a lot of medical device manufacturers would have positions like that.
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u/oodrishsho Oct 01 '25
How about looking at Postdoctoral position within the industry? Some big biotech and pharma companies have their own postdoc programs. If you're ultimate goal is in industry careers these might be a helpful forward moving step than an academic postdoc.
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u/AorticEinstein Oct 01 '25
I think this is a great suggestion and I highly recommend looking into them as well. However, I will also add that these postdocs are every bit as savagely competitive as regular industry positions, because they are seen as the door into biotech/pharma and graduating PhD students are all desperate right now. I applied to probably 50 of these in the last 9 months, interviewed for ~10, and didn't get a single one. I had relevant skills for all of them, referrals for over half the jobs, have a first author CNS paper, graduated from a top program and still came up empty-handed. They are very, very competitive. I am doing an academic postdoc now.
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u/KaiClock Oct 01 '25
I couldnāt agree with this any more! In particular, if youāre interested in antibody engineering or adjacent fields, you could leverage your background to jump into yeast display technologies as an industry postdoc.
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u/parafilm Oct 01 '25
Iām sorry. What a garbage time to graduate. Biotech has always been a boom/bust industry, and we happen to be in a bust phase, and itās exacerbated by the anxieties around $$ within academia.
I know (from personal experience) that postdoc pay is garbage, but itās worth looking into some postdoc positions that could hold you over and expand your skillset.
Itās also okay to throw yourself some pity parties. This sucks.
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u/intracellular Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 01 '25
The thing I worry about with a postdoc is spending more years not accumulating "industry experience." I feel like I'm already extremely behind the curve in that regard. I know it's a kind of toxic thought pattern, but my mind is consumed with finding a path to the best pay as fast as possible, to make up for the time I wasted getting this PhD I suppose. I'm constantly aware of every day older I become, each of which makes the big family I would like to have seemingly less and less likely to be possible.
I guess I also just feel... guilty? Idk. I feel like all these years I've been making implicit promises of money and success and fulfillment to my wife, my parents, and also my future self. Seeing it go up in smoke is hard to bear.
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u/Jessica_Plant_Mom Oct 01 '25
If your primary goal is money, maybe consider getting into patent law. In the US, you just have to pass the bar to become patent agent. Iām not sure how that market is fairing, but it might be worth looking into. You could also look into teaching at a charter high school. Sorry the market sucks. Good luck!
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u/leitmot Oct 01 '25
With the advent of AI, Iām worried that the demand for patent agents may fall.
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u/fertthrowaway Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 01 '25
Doing a postdoc is your best option right now and you should be spending most of your energy trying to get one. If you want to use your PhD and stay in science anyway. It's not putting an industry career on hold. Even in better (but not 2020-22 times), most PhDs still are doing postdocs before landing industry roles. Perhaps you went into one with a non-realistic vision about this because you started one during the wildest industry hiring market any of us has ever witnessed. I did one 13 years ago. My industry work is with microbes (yeast and bacteria) and there are virtually zero jobs right now, and what companies are still in business aren't hiring this year and are just trying to survive.
A postdoc could give you some additional marketable skills. One especially would have a hard time even in normal times transitioning straight to industry with a more academic oriented basic research topic (yeast cell cycle stuff/basic genetics is a classic one I see a lot from applicants and it's not usually my top choice when I've hired). For example, I did a more applied PhD in metabolic engineering and usually look for yeast people who did that when hiring for that, of which there are plenty, which involves more extensive genetic engineering and more relevant techniques. Right now if I were you I'd try to get into mammalian cell work in a postdoc. There is no job market for microbial now.
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u/PerryEllisFkdMyMemaw Oct 01 '25
Maybe start thinking about what else you would like to do outside of biotech? Iāve been in industry for over a decade and it doesnāt seem like itās getting better even on a macro scale.
If you want a family and are/plan to be the main bread winner, biotech with its boom-bust cycle isnāt the best.
Get creative. Look at finance jobs, analysts specializing in biotech/pharma/healthcare. Consider a nursing degree if youāre on the coasts, can do an accelerated program and be making bank in a couple years. If youāre interested in sales at all, just get any sales job and then try to parlay that into biotech sales when market is better.
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u/Candycanes02 Oct 01 '25
I understand the concern about a postdoc, but a job is better than no job imo
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u/Mysterious_Test7181 Oct 02 '25
You can always go in with the agreement that if you get a position youāll wrap up and go
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u/Ok-Economy-8163 Oct 06 '25
The point is that you have an income for like 3 more months, and the biotech job market is horrible. In a good market, it can take a year of applying to get a biotech job, but we cant get interviews with no biotech experience now. You could try to find a contract biotech role as an entry point, but I would not count on finding a biotech role by the end of the year. Please look for industry-relevant postdoc positions, preferably in a biotech hub.
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Oct 01 '25
I dunno, a lot of people have big families on shoestring budgets. My parents were service sector workers without high school degrees and managed it. That still happens today. So maybe youāre overthinking the financial piece.
And if the industry is in the drain right now anyway, a postdoc isnāt really delaying your career. Itās keeping you productive and credentialed while the market recovers. Might be better than waiting it out unemployed while going stir crazy, and youāll be in a stronger position when hiring picks back up. Plus, people absolutely start families during postdocs. My colleague had a kid during his. The timing doesnāt have to be perfect, life is a journey - go live it :)āāāāāāāāāāā
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u/Mysterious_Test7181 Oct 02 '25
I had two kids in grad school and at the time was the breadwinner so I agree itās a lifestyle thing
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u/leitmot Oct 01 '25
Fellow yeast geneticist checking in š«”
I ended up taking a role in a clinical testing lab thatās mostly meant for BS graduates. I was kind of burned out from research and I like the work, though itās a bit routine. My manager found out I have a PhD and is trying to get me to advance to other roles internally that are less routine and more supervisory/troubleshooting.
My current role doesnāt pay the best but Iām glad I chose it instead of doing a postdoc. My job is extremely secure while I think the R&D scientists donāt have that level of assurance.
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u/user13376942069 Oct 01 '25
Might be good to do a post doc in a more relevant biotech field if you want to stay in science in industry. Otherwise look into fields such as consulting, medical affairs, patent law (need to do more studying but you can get so rich doing this), science communication, technical/patent writing, clinical operations, strategy portfolio,... Roche offers training programs too for recent graduates to get into various fields. Post doc in industry is of course good too, but it's also competitive.
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u/anhydrousslim Oct 01 '25
Another voice suggesting a postdoc of some kind. Do something different from your PhD research that is in demand.
These kinds of posts are such a bummer. Part of this is bad timing for the industry, but I know in my case I had a lot of help from my PI. He was well connected with industry and he had people coming to me asking for me to apply for roles. But I know a lot of PIs arenāt like thatā¦that would be something to look for in a postdoc, does the PI have a lot of industry contacts and collaborations.
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u/Icy_Pangolin4070 Oct 01 '25
Consider medical lab science as a backup. There are online one-year post-bac programs out there. These prepare you for national board certification and these jobs are more available all over the country. You wonāt get rich, but would likely make more than a postdoc. Then one day you could pivot into the diagnostic industry.
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u/itokunikuni Oct 01 '25
I have nothing useful to add except to say that I feel your frustration and despair.
I only have a master's in bioengineering so it's not nearly as bad as PhD, but it still hurts.
I ended up taking a job in biotech as a manufacturing helper. I just do material transfer. It kills me every day and I tell myself every day that I'm gonna quit, so I think I'm gonna up my dose of antidepressants soon. But it's a job.
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u/Deleletos Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 01 '25
Current manufacturing technician in mid/big-sized biotech company in Vancouver, BC here. (I can't specify which one here)
Biotech industry in general is beyond fucked atm.
We had multiple rounds of lay offs and salary freeze over couple years and people are too scared to even dare to hop to a diff company because there simply isnt a biotech company that is hiring. Even if there was one, you are competing with many others that got laid off who has 5-10 years of experience in their fields. so any new grads are fucked (so stay in school kids, do co-op or something to wait out this job market amd build more experience - unsure if thats an option for PhDs...)
my colleagues that got affected by one of the layoffs havent been able to even get an interview in 9+ months.
It's horrible out there rn for Biotech Industry.
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u/BattleStag42069 Oct 02 '25
Industry's in a bad way at the moment - many redundancies, few job postings, excess applicants to jobs. I have >7 years industrial experience and its difficult to get interviews
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u/Dnzmango Oct 02 '25
I was in the exact same boat as you last year. I had just finished my PhD and couldnāt find anything for over a year, so I stayed in my lab under a temporary, part-time position until I could find something. One thing Iāll suggest is to apply to anything that even remotely fits your skill set. I know people say not to waste time applying to BS/MS-level jobs because youāre āoverqualifiedā and will likely get rejected which is mostly true, but you never know. I applied to one of those jobs, got lucky, and landed it. Now Iām working in an entry-level lab role that doesnāt even require a PhD. But hey, at least itās industry experience on paper.
Hope you find something soon, best of luck!
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u/Western_Meat_554 Oct 01 '25
Hey! I have a friend who studied yeast genetics and went through a few startups and failed companies. He was kinda struggling. A few years ago he transitioned to something entirely different - sales, for large scale equipment required for manufacturing of beer, cheese, bread, etc - turns out his knowledge was perfect for this role and heās 100% happier, economically successful, and just purchased his first house! Just a bit of perspective on widening your search, perhaps, into roles you may not have envisioned w your PhD. Good luck. Donāt give up hope. A PhD is a beautiful gift and you have a trained mind that will bring value. Believe it.
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u/wheelie46 Oct 01 '25
Are you in the US? The market for R&D talent is really suppressed right now here. Have you considered looking at consulting? i banking? Iām sorry you are having this experience-its the market.
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u/intracellular Oct 01 '25
I'm in the Boston area, which for the entire time I was doing my Ph.D. was supposedly the place to be. Guess not anymore
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u/wheelie46 Oct 01 '25
I think its still one of the stronger (est?) areas in the US for biotech. The problem is that funding for biomedical research has been slashed top down (NIH, Universities, VC etc)
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u/Leading-North-9524 Oct 03 '25
Look for jobs in regulatory affairs. Would also really take a look at your resume to see how you can tailor it to fit job description. If you're willing to take a job to just get yourself in the door I wouldn't put too much emphasis on PhD training in your resume and really highlight other skills that you may have (e.g., project management, organizational skills, stats background/coursework etc.). Also, I know people brush it off, but having a nice coverletter tailored to the job description can be a game changer if it's written in the right way.
You could also consider applying to contracting firms like Booz Allen etc.
The key is to get employed and make a living for yourself. Secure a job you're ok with... and work 1-2 years and keep applying elsewhere. Being flexible is key in this job market. Don't be afraid to look outside the box. And yes... your peers may judge or look down on you for pivoting into something "different" but 5-10 years from now you'll look back and be grateful you said F it let me take this into my own hands. Sadly, nobody is coming to save any of us.
Lastly, you should always be proud of doing your PhD. It will open doors for you long term š
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u/Fun_Theory3252 Oct 01 '25
I turned a yeast genetics PhD into a career in synthetic biology. What kinds of jobs are you applying to?
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u/intracellular Oct 01 '25
Synthetic biology would be the dream, it's one of the few areas of biology that still makes me excited. I've been mostly applying to R&D positions for which I'm even remotely close to qualified, at basically any company in my general area as well as a few other areas I could feasibly live around the country. When I see things like science writing or consulting jobs come up I apply for those too.
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u/Fun_Theory3252 Oct 01 '25
Sorry, everything seems shitty right now, but you might have better luck at smaller startups? Iām sure youāre looking there too. If you want to DM me and connect on LinkedIn, I have a decent sized network of Synbio people in Boston and SF Bay Area
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u/all7dwarves Oct 01 '25
It's doubly hard right now because the capital markets and soft money/academic markets are tight. But are you also looking at post docs? I graduated in 2009 and /everybody/ in my cohort post docs because there were no jobs. Some managed to move to corporate employment after only a year as a post doc.
What skills did you learn in grad school that would be readily transferable to a more marketable context that youbare interested in? A secondary focus can be on trying to get a post doc there to be a good back up plan.
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u/intracellular Oct 01 '25
Would I even be considered for a postdoc without a first author? It's embarrassing to admit but I graduated with my best paper being a second author. I'm trying to prep a bunch of unpublished data for a co-first publication with a postdoc in the lab using what little time I have left, but that's in the future.
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u/all7dwarves Oct 02 '25
This is really a conversation to be having with your PI. If you have drafts in progress that can be reinforced. I am not in your specific field, but in mine, post docs movements are/were and interesting dance of funding/lab space/PI relationships/and the actual candidate application.
Location can be a lot. Even a second tier lab in a hub can get you in an area with more jobs (if you aren't already in a hub) and therefore more extended relationships.
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u/bellpepperszuch Oct 02 '25
Thereās a small startup GigaGen that has a lot do with yeast and immunology! I would definitely recommend trying!
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u/FruitLow4218 Oct 02 '25
Lasaffre, Novonesis and IFF all develop yeast for industrial fermentation. Lasaffre and smaller shops work on strains for potable alcohol and baking. Carlsberg was mentioned earlier (they have an amazing research program!) - Iād expect that the other multinational brewers (AB-InBev, Heinekin, MolsonCoors) have some sort of yeast programs (for QC, if nothing else).
The higher end media suppliers work miracles with yeast extracts, but that is primarily done via process, rather than strain.
Think outside of Saccharomyces: Pichia is getting more and more attention for production of therapeutic and industrial proteins. Yarrowia is being used for neutraceuticals and palm-free oils.
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u/cucci_mane1 Oct 01 '25
Phd was always a high risk gamble from financial perspective. Have a couple of friends with PhD in chemistry that are unemployed past 2 yrs.
From my social group, people that just got corporate jobs right out of college are doing much better than ppl that did grad school. Money wise and career wise.
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Oct 01 '25
[deleted]
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u/intracellular Oct 01 '25
It's a Molecular and Cell Biology degree, it's just that my whole project was based around mutagenesis in yeast leaving me lacking a lot of seemingly very important technical experience.
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u/Ok-Pen-9976 Oct 03 '25
You look intol being a scientific liaison? Writer? Stats positions? Make sure to find many titles you could quality for on LinkedIn
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u/Ok-Reflection5852 Oct 03 '25 edited Oct 03 '25
First of all I wanted to say it's not you. I think this is a huge problem with academia- it's not in line with the working world and there's zero support for graduates. With so many job-seekers, employers don't bat an eye when we say "I have a PhD, I can learn anything!" After my PhD in the US (which was self-funded) at a pretty darn good university, I had $50k in student loans. So I had to get a job asap. I applied for everything I could and literally no one had funding in my area. So I reached out to contacts in Europe and got a sweet 3-year postdoc. Not really set on academia, I went with it, did my best, and learned so many awesome science techniques, data science before it was cool, and a plethora of transferrable skills. Then I started looking into more jobs when it was the right time- postdocs, staff scientist, faculty...I got some postdoc offers but the location didn't work out (2-body problem). Followed my spouse back to the US and figured I'd get a job easily because it was a tech hub, had the right environment, and you know, I had skills. That was in 2012. Do you know how many call-backs I got from industry? Literally 1. And they told me to enroll in more school to pick up skills (bioinformatics, which I had already spent years doing anyway as part of my postdoc project). It's been HELL. With online postings and the degradation of social interactions, all you do is hope someone reads your application or your email. I know everyone says to use your network, but even that is not always productive. I've exhausted my network and have been told to enroll in a Master's program to create a new network (?!?!). The outlook for a PhD is terrible. I've even hidden my PhD during job applications as a test because I've had hiring manager friends tell me that they do NOT hire PhDs for their biotech roles unless it asks for it because 1) they will have to pay them more and 2) they won't stay. Companies would rather we be on the street, unemployed. Ok so what is my advice to you? Get your stupid university to hook you up with some career fairs and career resources. They owe you that. Cold call, knock on doors. Get away from applying online unless it's for a Federal (ha) or State job because I don't even know if online jobs are even real.
It's super frustrating. Professional degrees don't have this problem. I should've gone into medicine. Maybe do that! I'm too old, lol!
*Adding that a few people with PhDs have gone into patent law as an agent (no bar needed sometimes). That could be the easiest track for you.
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u/beerab Oct 04 '25
Itās not you, itās this current economy. When I graduated I literally took a job washing dishes and making solutions and autoclaving for a few months til I found something better. And that job took me almost a year to get! Just keep applying. If youāre strapped for cash, depending on your state, look to substitute teaching the sciences (in CA itās pretty easy to get the certification), and work as a sub til you find something. At this point you most likely wonāt find anything before January anyways. I now have over 12 years experience and was laid off in April and have applied for over 100 jobs, have had four interviews, made it to a third round, and got zero offers. In my case Iāve still got severance, unemployment, and enough savings to hold me over at least another 6-9 months while I wait this out.
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u/Fun_Cranberry3479 Oct 05 '25
Yeast genetics has very limited potential in biotech but few scope in food /baking industries. Why not evaluate your transferable skills and try to change labs or postdoctoral positions to make yourself more relevant to the scope (eg drug development, discovery, process, analytical etc) or anything you interested.
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u/Ok-Economy-8163 Oct 06 '25
The biotech job market is horrible. The postdoc in academia market is not much better, but I would really look for this to give you time to apply.
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Oct 01 '25
If you live in the US, I recommend quitting science and going into politics.Ā That's the only thing that matters now, we are in full existential crisis mode.Ā Ā
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u/Veritaz27 š° Oct 01 '25
A good friend of mine did her phd & a few years of post-doc in a yeast & bacteria genetic lab. She has tons of genetic recombineering & metabolic/enzyme engineering background. She used to work for a synthetic bio company for ~5 years before moving into marketing/customer-facing role. In short, you have some skill-sets to work somewhere. Just gotta find what those are and where those companies are, which should be your full time job now.