Career planning

Planning a scientific career in industry. Strategies for graduates and academics

Sanat Mohanty and Ranjana Ghosh

Hoboken, US: John Wiley 2010 | 231pp | ?26.95 (SB)

ISBN 9780470460047

Reviewed by John Uttin

It is a laudable aim to provide a book to help today’s graduates settle into and progress within industry, but I doubt if careers can be planned in as precise a way as these authors suggest. 

The book starts from the point of having just got a new job - this can in many cases be a huge initial stumbling block. 

The authors pose many useful questions to the aspiring scientist in industry. What is the culture, strategy, organisational structure and market position of your company? What are your skills, strengths and weaknesses and overall work-life balance? 

The authors recommend starting by establishing your technical credentials, improving on your skills, building networks through good communication and collaboration, and gaining a reputation within the company as a problem solver. 

There is a lot of other good advice which should be useful to new starters in industry, though many would feel that upward progress in today’s multinational companies depends more on luck than planning. Achieving the approximately 10 promotions in 20-30 years needed to get to an executive level in a large company by the age of about 50 is a rare occurrence.