Dentistry Postdoc society

Attended this great careers day organised by this really pro-active society. They persuaded 7 scientists to come and talk about their work in industry- no easy task. It made you realise that no career is a straightforward plan, no grand scheme. Everyone presented a story in chapters in which an interplay of personal priorities collided in more or less fruitful ways with opportunities. One man was currently a house husband after a successful stint with a pharma company. One went to Kent because his girlfriend had a job there and after a year in a biotech which he did not like he landed a job in Pfizer; he made some great asides about his initial reluctance to work in industry – I thought ~i might be working on a project which would be stopped by an accountant. Research in toothpaste and toothbrush companies (Unilever) was also covered – by a woman who had trained as a dentist and done her Phd here at King’s.

One man took a sabbatical to study theology before returning to science. One moved to a biotech because her Pharma company was relocating its neuro-degeneration research elsewhere in the world.

One man got a call from a recrutiemt agency where he had deposited his CV 4 years previously!