''If academia doesn’t work out, what is your plan B?' I froze. This hadn’t been part of my interview prep.' This week's ScienceWorkingLife: AcademicTwitter
On the day of my first interview for a postdoctoral position, I was excited to finally discuss the detailed research ideas and questions I had feverishly prepared in the preceding weeks. When the principal investigator instead asked me, “If academia doesn’t work out, what is your plan B?” I froze. This hadn’t been part of my interview prep. I knew few postdocs get tenure-track positions and how important it was to have a backup plan, yet I did not.
It slowly dawned on me that I didn’t just need to identify a plan B job, but an entire plan B career path. It was time to close the tabs and take a more fundamental approach. It was a grueling balance of research and study. But the further I advanced in my statistics degree, the more certain I became that I had found what I wanted to do. I returned to LinkedIn, this time with a steadier hand and clear goals: to meet statisticians and learn about opportunities.