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Duration
132s
VPF 7.9144
Caption
Someone was trying to argue with me the other day that this was a good practice so that you don’t look overqualified to employers. I understand why someone might think this but here's the thing: 1 - For some roles in the life sciences (biotech, pharma, med device), having a doctoral degree is often a requirement or preference on the job description. Hiding my PhD in this instance is hurting, not helping me. 2 - Assuming you did not do "traditional work" during your PhD, how do you explain a 5-6 year gap on your resume? Yes, I understand that resumes are not meant to capture everything about your experience. But if you leave it off, and people find you were hiding it...I feel it comes off as dishonest, which can leave the wrong impression. (I stand to be corrected.) 3 - I worked hard for that degree. There is NO WAY I am letting people who don't value that to put me down for something society told us to do: work/study hard. Now, when I decided to work outside academia years ago, I stopped putting my degrees at the top of my resume and moved them to the end of my resume. Instead, I highlighted my skills and experiences that were a fit for the roles I wanted. A lot changed when I tweaked my resume this way. #phdjourney #phdstudent #careeradvice #phdlife #womeninstem
Transcript
You should remove your PhD from your resume if you want a job outside of academia. I'm gonna need the internet, lawyers who want to argue with me to watch this video to the end. Before you start arguing, someone was having this conversation with me the other day on why you should take your P H D. Off of your resume if you want to apply for jobs outside of academia. Because having a P H D. On there makes you look overqualified. And to that, right, I always have a story. So I myself work outside of academia. I've always kept my PhD on my resume, but I've done it a little differently. I'll tell you what I've done differently. But let me share this. I was once tempted to do this very thing. Take my P H D. Off, because I was struggling on the job market. But in my discipline, right, and in my industry, the industry I work in that right now, which is biotech, there are specific rules that require Phds. And so taking my PhD off would hurt me, actually, if I wanted those rules. Number two, I did not do any kind of traditional work during my PhD. I went into my PhD program full time and was a full time PhD student. This was about six years of my life. So you are telling me to eliminate six years of my life, and then if somebody asks me, what did you Do during these six years, what do I tell them? And if they find out that I lied, doesn't that raise questions about my integrity? Number three, I worked very, very hard for that degree. Pigs are gonna have to fly for me to take it off my resume. Now, what I do do differently is that when I started applying for jobs outside of academia, I would put my PhD and my qualifications at the end of my resume. So instead of leading with it. Right. I would lead with my experiences that were relevant and which explain why I was the best candidate to fill that position. And then towards the end of the resume, I had the fact that I had a PhD in microbiology and immunology. Yes, I understand why somebody may say, take that PhD off, because then it will make you more competitive, but I actually think it hurts more than it helps.
Hook analysis
brand_fit: with_changes“You should remove your PhD from your resume if you want a job outside of academia.”
Pattern
contrarian_inversion
Format
—
Topic
resume-not-working
Sub-topic
hiding a doctorate on a resume
Content angle
don't delete your credential, reorder it
CTA
watch to the end before arguing in the comments
Narrative structure
provocative claim stated as advice -> three numbered rebuttals -> reveal of what she actually does (credential moved to bottom)
AU transplant
with_changes
Transplant note
The structure transplants cleanly: the 'overqualified, so hide it' belief is the same objection an internationally-trained professional in Australia hears about an overseas master's or senior overseas title. What must change is the vertical — biotech/pharma/med-device roles that legally prefer a PhD is a North American framing; the AU rebuild would use an overseas degree or 5 years of overseas management experience being 'too senior for an entry role'. The six-year gap argument carries over directly as the overseas-experience gap. Avoid drifting into regulated-profession registration (medicine, nursing), which is out of scope.
Brand fit note
Lines up exactly with Never-ships #1's reframe: she explicitly refuses to erase six years and asks 'if they find out that I lied, doesn't that raise questions about my integrity?' — that is 'tell the truth in the most commercially compelling order' said out loud, and the mechanism (lead with relevant experience, credential at the bottom) is real, not encouragement. Needs work on mechanics: it rambles ('Pigs are gonna have to fly'), has almost no cost accounting beyond 'six years', and the opening is a bold claim rather than a named belief plus break. Rebuild to 8-14 word declaratives with Australian numbers (how many lines of a resume a recruiter reads, salary band the reader is being screened out of) and point the contempt at the advice industry that told them to delete the degree, not at the person who did it.