Getting ready to graduate and looking further afield for your job prospects? Curious what your industry options are outside of Philadelphia? In this edition of the CAMB Student Newsletter, we sat down with former CAMB-GTVer Dr. Jesse Weber to discuss life after PhD, the job search process, and how to move on to your next great success! Dr. Weber completed his PhD in the lab of Dr. Beverly Davidson, and after his thesis defense this past March, he moved into a new role as a scientist at Scribe Therapeutics. There, he works as the platform lead for cargo engineering and delivery for several partnership programs the company has running.
What is your day-to-day like at your job?
Honestly, it’s not entirely too different from my PhD! There’s a good deal of freedom – not to the same degree as grad school, but it’s certainly not as “red tape” as PIs often make industry sound. I have a lot more meetings than I did in grad school, but in turn, I also do a good bit less of lab work. They hire for your brain rather than your hands.
What are the key benefits/perks of your current role?
Beyond making a living wage compared to grad school? I’d say the ability to still make contributions to the scientific world without the headache that I felt academia was becoming for me. Scribe is unique, though, I will say. We still publish papers and present at conferences, so there’s a push to still keep the positive aspects of academia, which I do love.
What’s the best thing about your job?
Hands down the people. The company seemingly attracts like-minded individuals who enjoy creative thinking as well as a work-life balance, but are driven as all hell. Most of the company is from Jennifer Doudna’s lab (she’s a co-founder) and they’re all absolute geniuses. I’ve been learning way more than expected, but not in an exhaustive manner. I feel energized and excited, since the education is coupled with an understanding and patience that did not really exist in grad school.
What have been the biggest differences between your time as a grad student and your current role?
Like I mentioned before, I think the shift toward meetings over lab work. Scribe in particular wants to hire scientists for their brain rather than hands – mostly. There’s definitely some experiments that I’ve been able to help with, since I was the only one who had previously performed it!
How has your degree helped you in your current work?
Having my degree in gene therapy and gene editing was the most important thing for this role. Scribe is flying through with new projects, data, brainstorming sessions, and so on. If I hadn’t had the niche experience I did, I don’t think I’d be as successful in my role.
When did you start looking for jobs?
About a month after getting permission to defend! I’d recommend everyone to do this – the market is rough right now, and it cannot hurt to even just send one or two emails or apps out a week.
What was the job search process like for you? What was your experience job searching while preparing to defend?
It was shockingly easy on my end, but I do think this is a bit of an anomaly from what I’ve heard from peers. Scribe was the first job I applied to, and honestly, I only applied to another one because I had thought my interview went horribly. That turned out to not be the case – I just overthink things, especially when it’s over Zoom. It actually coupled very well with defense prep. Writing my thesis prepared me for all the background information, while getting my slides together helped me whip up a presentation for my interview at Scribe.
What other career trajectories, if any, did you consider when job hunting?
None! I knew that I still wanted to be connected to science and be in the room when we plan experiments, just certainly not in the context of academia.
What were your considerations when looking at different possible job opportunities?
I wanted to make sure that the company had longevity. I spent a good bit of time looking at the science behind each company and evaluating their science itself as well as their funding. If you are applying to startups, make sure to take a look at their Series A/B funding and what their runway looks like. Also, make sure to see where the project(s) you’d be working under are funded, and if it’s through a partnership versus internal. While I’d love to say I was searching for the best job that really felt right in my heart, I didn’t really have that luxury in this current market. I’d rather my first job out of grad school be one that won’t lead to me getting laid off in a year.
How did your previous connections or networking opportunities help your job search?
While I did reach out to my network, I didn’t actually know anyone at Scribe. My network was supportive and reviewed my resume/CV, but other than that didn’t really help with the search as much!
How did you find out about your current position?
I had made a list of gene editing/gene therapy companies that were not in Boston (that city isn’t for me) and kept an eye on their websites. Eventually, I saw an opening for Scribe, with a description that fit my PhD very well. One thing I wanted to make sure of was that I would be successful at my role – so I avoided companies that were tangentially related to my experience or completely different. Maybe I just lack blind overconfidence, but part of me feared not being good at where I went next, so I really wanted to make sure it was a good fit that I could hop right into. By the way – this was a hit to say during my interview! Take notes!
Can you tell us about the interview process and how you prepared for it?
There were 4 components to the interview:
(1) Phone interview with a recruiter for Scribe.(2) Zoom interview with the hiring manager – typically the person you’d be working for/with.(3) Long day of one-on-ones with people you’d be working with as well as an hour-long thesis-level presentation of your work. (4) A Whiteboard Session where you receive a prompt and have to give a talk/presentation (with minimal slides) on the topic. The whiteboard was by far the most stressful. I, admittedly, did not prepare much for these. HOWEVER, I do wish that I had asked my lab to listen to me give my talk first.
What are the key skills that companies look for during the hiring process?
Communication, confidence, and critical thinking. I’ve sat in on a lot of interviews and whiteboard sessions now, and one of the worst things is when someone can’t get their point across and we’re just lost for the rest of the presentation. Remember to walk people through your story in more simple terms rather than convoluted ones.
Do you have any tips for unwinding during the job search process?
Yes! Don’t take a no personally, like at all. One position I helped run interviews for at Scribe came down to two people who were both incredible. There was only one spot though – and it solely landed on preferences. The other person was still amazing, and that may just be you in the future, unfortunately. Always easier said than done, but try your best to just shake off a rejection and keep powering through.
What advice do you have for current graduate students?
Learn every technique you can from your lab or nearby labs. Those techniques are checklists for a lot of companies. Yes, they want you more for your brain – but they also want to know which techniques you can talk about and perhaps train a research assistant that will work underneath you. The more techniques you know, the more powerful your application becomes.
Though the job search can be daunting, fellow students past and present have your back! If you’d like to get in touch with Dr. Weber, you can contact him on LinkedIn or email him at jaw5964@gmail.com. Dr. Weber encourages anyone to reach out, especially if they’re in the Bay Area and want to grab coffee!
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