Business Development (BD): A Non-Traditional Career Path for Ph.D.’s

Business Development (BD): A Non-Traditional Career Path for Ph.D.’s

by Marwa Zafarullah

The increasing number of Ph.D. graduates every year and the limited availability for faculty positions is elevating interest in exploring non-traditional career paths in industry for successful career establishment. Now the questions are, what alternative careers are out there? How is business development a career option? Why are Ph.D.’s perfect candidates for it?

For decades, educational institutions have been the largest employer of Ph.D.’s, but now the traditional career path to becoming a faculty member is not looking very promising; given the small number of faculty positions and the growing number of Ph.D.’s entering the market, it seems risky to assume that we will each have our lab one day. In 1997, according to the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) biennial Survey of Doctorate Recipients, educational institutes eclipsed private sector employment by 11 percentage points and the increasing number of Ph.D. graduates has accelerated this trend over time. According to the most recent Equivalent Data for 2017, private sector employment of Ph.D’s is 42%, nearly on par with educational institutions at 43%, and now in 2020, it exceeds significantly. So, for students moving forward in their graduate school journey, a key concern is not knowing what type of alternative careers are out there for new Ph.D’s. 

The UC Davis Biotechnology Program offers a vast range of resources to graduate students and training in much-needed skillsets for establishing careers in the biotech industry. One of these beneficial programs is Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology (DEB) which brings students and faculty together from a wide array of STEM disciplines to create an educational ecosystem that promotes collaborative team science to tackle complex global challenges across human health, agriculture, and the environment. To provide students with hands-on experience in a real world industrial environment, the DEB team facilitates 3-6-month internships in the biotech industry. Internships introduce DEB students to an industrial working structure and provide a chance to establish a professional network. Besides, these internships are the best way to learn about the various career paths available for Ph.D.’s in the biotech industry, which mainly fall into four main categories: Research and Development (R&D); Commercial Operations; Services; and Operations. Each of these career path categories are further subcategorized as shown in Figure 1. 

Business Development as a Career Option

“Business” is probably not a common termassociated with Ph.D. training, as the business world has been reserved for people who have business degrees, like MBA’s, and not for the people with Ph.D.’s. That’s precisely what I used to think, too, until I had a chance via the DEB to try a short-term internship as a Business Development Associate at Theralink Technologies. In that role, I learned how to gather business intelligence on companies, pursue leads, and qualify prospects in order to bring in new clientele and boost long-term business success. In this role, I experienced increasing client reach and engagement through the LinkedIn Sales Navigator tool and developed customized materials for sales presentations and client meetings to introduce the company’s technology. Interestingly, I realized that scientific knowledge is essential in this role, as it helps explain the features and benefits of the company’s unique technologies to clients in the best way.

 According to the  Forbes article, What, Exactly, is Business Development, “Business development is creating long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships. It is all about figuring out how the interactions of those forces combine to create growth opportunities.” BD staff work in small companies, large companies, government centers, universities, and private institutions. The daily activities are varied, ranging from strategy and market planning to customer contact, new business development, and licensing (Figure 2). Every business needs to acquire new customers to grow, but not every potential customer will be the right fit for the company. So, business development professionals need to stay knowledgeable about the current market and evaluate whether or not a prospect is qualified to buy what your business is selling. They are solely responsible for prospecting and qualifying leads before handing them off to the sales team to nurture the relationship and keep its revenue engine running to create long-term value.

Why are Ph.D.’s Perfect Candidates for Business Development Careers?

 In general, Ph.D.’s are not being trained for  business in graduate school, so it is natural to wonder what would make them well-suited to the role of business development professional? From my personal experience, I found that  the following traits or skills that I have been acquiring during Ph.D. training helped me a lot in understanding and excelling at the new, exciting role of Business Development Associate. 

• Communication Skills: As Ph.D. students, we are being trained to communicate our complex science with both knowledgeable and general audiences in the most understandable way. For many years, we have worked hard to craft clear written communication via grants, manuscripts, dissertations, and scientific blogs. In addition, we have many chances to orally communicate our work via presentations, conferences, lectures, defenses, and seminars. We can use these skills to communicate effectively with potential clients and work with other team members to develop marketing strategies and improve business operations.
•  Critical and Strategic Thinking: One of the main goals of Ph.D. training is to help  students establish critical and strategic thinking skills in order to plan and execute multi-year projects that may lead to scientific discoveries. Similarly, business development professionals have to critically manage timelines, research efforts, and budgets, as well as making strategic decisions on which innovations among those in the pipeline should be given priority, in order to bring value to the company. 
• Research and Data Analysis: Research and technology are a part of everyday life now, and a vast amount of data is being investigated and generated every day globally, especially in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries. So, to excel in this competitive business environment, companies prefer candidates capable of producing and interpreting large volumes of data. Ph.D.’s have been successfully trained to generate and translate new information clearly, and which is key for success in business development positions. 
• Innovation and Creativity: Any successful career or business establishment needs the innovation that comes with creativity. Companies develop novel ideas to improve their market position and to solve real-world problems. We, as Ph.D.’s, are expert innovators, trained to discover, develop and communicate about new technologies, which is critical for companies looking to expand their business opportunities. 
• Collaboration and Negotiation Skills: Collaboration, negotiation, and business go side-by-side, and no company becomes successful without these skills. Collaborations bring significant business value to the companies, and successful negotiations make it possible. It requires strong communication, active listening, and interpersonal skills. The world of science is interconnected, and no fruitful research is possible without successful collaborations. Also, we encounter various situations in everyday working life where we need to negotiate effectively, like during lab, advisor or committee meetings, and journal clubs. So, Ph.D.’s are well-trained in collaboration and negotiation skills that prove super helpful as a business development professional. 

Although these transferable skills help establish a successful career as a business professional, we need to keep reminding ourselves that the market is getting competitive day-by-day. With an increased number of Ph.D.’s, companies can afford to be choosy. By Science Careers Magazine, “Companies are no longer willing to hire Ph.D.’s who don’t bring additional skill sets to the table, they tend to hire candidates who they think will add value [to the company] in addition to research skills.”

Conclusion

Business Development is an exciting non-traditional career option for Ph.D.’s, and they are well-suited to the role based on their excellent communication, research, data analysis, collaboration, and negotiation skills. Besides, being trained as critical thinkers and the innovators makes science and engineering Ph.D.’s perfect candidates to thrive in the real world of business. If you are interested in this career path, don’t wait for tomorrow start exploring and networking. Start today, as the person meeting you at a conference could be interviewing you in five years for your dream job as a business development expert. 

Authors Note

From the platform of the Graduate Student Association (GSA), I recently hosted the business development team from Theralink Technologies including Michael Fanelli, a senior director for biopharma commercial operations, and Kayla Sparks, a business development associate and DEB student, to share their experience with the UC Davis graduate student community. The talk recording is available at (Online link).

Images in this post have been created with PowerPoint.