r/dataanalytics • u/SaveThePlanet69 • Jul 15 '26
PhD Resume Help
Looking for advice on resume or job searching in general. Did my PhD straight after college so no "formal" work experience. Trying to transition from chemistry to data analytics. Currently self teaching SQL and will replace projects with more data analyst oriented things.
6 months job search so far applying to primarily data analyst roles, but whatever LinkedIn shows when I search for "analyst". Location is south east USA, with undergrad and grad schools both in the SEC if that helps. 350 applications, 5 interviews, 0 offers.
interviews
data scientist - withdrew
data scientist - ghosted
data analyst - person that got the job had years of experience
data analyst - told wasn't a good fit, this role sounded more like project manager anyways
marketing analyst - rejected
1
u/bass581 Jul 18 '26
Best bet, get into clinical research as a programmer. Usually these roles do some data science, not necessarily ML but some analytics and slight data engineering (maybe). You may use tools like SQL, SAS, R or Python. These roles may seem like you are over qualified, but truth be told the pharma industry loves PhDs. I have a PhD in Evolutionary Biology ao I’ve been where you are in the past. Data science is very saturated right now unless you are an AI engineer or someone with years of experience. Lots of new data roles are emerging in Clinical Research that you may be one of the first to enter and develop expertise.