When I began my scientific career, I thought I had a plan: follow the academic track, do a postdoc and eventually lead my own lab. But in hindsight, I was not making choices with intention; I was mostly following the default path. Academia was familiar, and it seemed like what I was supposed to want.
That worked, until it didn’t. A few months into my first postdoc, I realized faculty life was not the right fit. I still loved science, but I did not want to build my career around grant cycles or the pressures of publishing. So I pivoted, from a bench microbiologist to a microscopist, expanding my training to work in core facilities or industry. Wanting to deepen that expertise even more, I pursued a second postdoc in computational image analysis, gaining full-stack experience across biology, imaging and analysis. I felt ready. I had the skills. I had a plan.
But life shifted once again. I had met my now-husband, and I knew I was not willing to move for my career anymore. Madison, Wis., was home. The roles I was qualified for were not available locally or did not align with the kind of impact and growth I was seeking. That is when I started to notice a deeper shift: I no longer wanted to do research. I wanted to support the people doing the research. Supporting researchers in their professional growth became my new north star. That pivot, into career and professional development, has been my most fulfilling yet.
And I have learned something important along the way: Pivots are part of professional growth. Ideally, they come from reflection and evolving values. But increasingly, they are also being forced upon us by hiring freezes, funding cuts, reorganizations, layoffs or life circumstances that shift everything. In today’s volatile job market, career agility is essential. The ability to reflect, realign and reimagine your path is how you build a career that grows with you, even when the path ahead keeps changing.
The Landscape Has Changed
Ph.D.s entering the job market in 2025 are navigating a career environment that looks nothing like it did a decade ago. The number of tenure-track academic positions continues to decline. Industry opportunities fluctuate with shifting business models, funding cycles and corporate restructurings. The biotech boom-and-bust cycle has become more volatile. Even stable sectors are transforming rapidly with automation, AI integration and shifting priorities. Many scientists are experiencing emotional whiplash: one year in high demand, the next facing layoffs.
No matter how talented or well-trained you are, there is no longer a default path forward. And that is not inherently a bad thing, but it does mean we all need to be more agile, reflective and open to change. We have to be ready to pivot. Not because we failed, but because we are evolving and so is the world around us.
Yet despite this reality, many early-career and midcareer researchers resist the very idea of pivoting. Why? Because we have internalized a narrative that makes career flexibility feel like career failure.
From the Path to Your Path
One of the most common barriers I encounter in my work with early-career Ph.D.s is the deep-seated belief that leaving academic research means abandoning one’s identity as a scientist. This fear is compounded by what feels like a mountain of sunk costs: years of rigorous training, countless hours at the bench, publications, presentations and the intellectual investment in becoming an expert in your field. Any deviation from the path can feel like all that was for nothing.
But this fear rests on a false premise.
First, let’s address the identity question. When we say “leaving science,” we are usually operating from a painfully narrow definition: Science equals research in academia. But your Ph.D. training did not just teach you how to pipette or run gels or code statistical models. It taught you how to think like a scientist and how to design experiments, troubleshoot complex problems, synthesize vast amounts of information, communicate technical concepts clearly, manage projects, mentor others and persist through failure.
These are not bench-specific skills. They are career-transferable power tools that have value in countless contexts: science policy, medical affairs, regulatory science, data science, science communication, consulting, program management, technology transfer, education and far beyond. You do not stop being a scientist when you pivot: You simply apply your scientific thinking to different problems.
Second, the sunk-cost fallacy is exactly that: a fallacy. Your training is never wasted when it is being reapplied. Every skill you have built, every challenge you have overcome, every bit of domain expertise you have developed: All of it comes with you. A pivot is not starting over; it is a realignment of how you deploy what you already know.
Third, we need to talk about the external expectations that make pivoting feel like failure. There is pressure from advisers who may equate their success with your replication of their career path. There is pressure from peers who are still on the academic track, making you wonder if you are the one giving up. There is pressure from family members who introduce you as “the doctor” with such pride that you feel guilty for considering other options. And perhaps most powerfully, there is the pressure you put on yourself, the internalized voice that says you should want the tenure-track position, that anything else is settling.
But here is what I have learned, both from my own experience and from working with hundreds of Ph.D.s: The only failure is building a career that does not align with the life you want to live. When you make career decisions based on what you think you should want rather than what you actually want, you are setting yourself up for burnout, resentment and chronic dissatisfaction.
The shift from the path to your path starts with giving yourself permission to prioritize alignment over accolades. And that requires self-reflection.
3 Questions for Building Your Flexible Framework
Career pivots do not begin with browsing job boards or updating your LinkedIn profile. They begin with self-knowledge. And self-knowledge begins with asking yourself the right questions—not once, but repeatedly, as you and your circumstances evolve.
I have developed a simple framework built around three core reflection questions. These questions are meant to be revisited regularly, every six to 12 months, or whenever something in your career feels misaligned. Your answers will change over time, and that is not only normal—it is the entire point.
- What are my top priorities right now?
This question prompts you to get honest about what matters most to you at this moment in your life. Not what mattered when you started your Ph.D. Not what you think should matter. What actually matters now.
Your priorities might include: intellectual challenge, work-life balance, financial stability, geographic flexibility, autonomy over your projects, opportunities to mentor, the ability to make tangible impact, job security, prestige, collaborative environments or time for family and personal pursuits.
There is no right answer here. But there is your answer, and it will likely shift as your life circumstances change. The version of you who started graduate school may have prioritized intellectual freedom and prestige above all else. The version of you finishing your postdoc with a partner and aging parents might prioritize geographic stability and reasonable work hours. Both sets of priorities are valid. But only one reflects where you are right now.
- How do I want to spend my time each day, and what energizes versus drains me?
This is about the texture of your daily work, not just the outcomes. It is easy to get caught up in the prestige of a job title or the appeal of a mission without considering whether the actual day-to-day work aligns with how you want to spend your finite time and energy.
Ask yourself: Do I want to be at the bench, or do I want to be synthesizing information and communicating findings? Do I thrive on working independently, or do I come alive in collaborative team settings? Do I want to be the person generating new data, or the person translating data into strategy and decisions? Do I find grant writing intellectually stimulating or soul-crushing? Do I want to manage people and projects, or do I want to be an individual contributor? Do I want variety in my work, or do I want to go deep on a focused problem?
Pay close attention to your energy. What parts of your current work make time fly? What parts make you watch the clock? What activities leave you feeling accomplished versus depleted? Your energy patterns are data. Treat them as such.
- What kind of impact do I want to have, and what would success look like if I am leading with that impact in mind?
This is where we integrate both impact and your personal definition of success because, increasingly, these two things are intertwined.
More and more Ph.D.s are making career decisions based on the impact they want to have rather than the accolades they might earn. This represents a fundamental shift in how we think about success in science careers. Traditionally, success was defined by external markers: first-author publications, grant funding, tenure, speaking invitations, awards. But these markers do not tell you whether your work mattered to anyone beyond your immediate field. They do not tell you whether you made the kind of broader difference you might want to make.
So ask yourself: What kind of impact do I want to have? Do I want to advance fundamental knowledge that might pay off decades from now, or do I want to see tangible results in the near term? Do I want to impact other scientists, or do I want to impact patients, policymakers, students or the broader public? Do I want to contribute to one deep scientific question, or do I want to tackle multiple problems across my career? Do I want to build something, train someone, change a system or translate knowledge into action?
And then: If I am leading with that impact in mind, what would success look like for me three to five years from now? Not what should it look like according to your graduate adviser or your academic pedigree, but what would it actually look like if you were living in alignment with your priorities and having the impact you care about?
For some, success might still be a tenure-track position, and that is completely valid if it aligns with your answers to these questions. For others, success might look like leading a team in industry, shaping science policy, launching a science communication platform, directing a core facility or training the next generation of scientists in a primarily undergraduate institution. The point is not that one path is better than another. The point is that your path should reflect your priorities, energizers and desired impact.
Putting the Framework Into Practice
If you are feeling uncertain about your career direction, or if you are sensing that your current path may not be the right fit, start here: Set aside time to sit with these three questions. You do not need perfect clarity before you begin. You just need to start asking.
Write down your answers. Not what you think you should say, but what is actually true for you right now. Be specific. If you are not sure about something, that’s OK: write “I don’t know yet, but I am curious about X.” The act of articulating what you are uncertain about yields further valuable data.
Once you have some clarity on your answers, you can begin exploring what roles and career paths might align. This might mean informational interviews with people in different fields, attending career panels, reading about alternative careers or job shadowing. It might mean experimenting with side projects, volunteering or taking on new responsibilities in your current role to test out different types of work. Career exploration is iterative, just like research.
Tools to Support Your Reflection
You do not have to navigate this process alone. Here are some resources specifically designed to help Ph.D.s clarify their skills, values and career options:
- ImaginePhD: A free career exploration and planning tool built for graduate students and postdocs in the humanities and social sciences, though valuable across disciplines. Includes self-assessments and career path information.
- myIDP: A free individual development plan tool from Science Careers that helps you assess your skills, interests and values and explore career options aligned with your goals.
- Meaningful Work Kit: A free career assessment tool developed by Stanford Career Education “to help you understand and prioritize what makes you thrive.”
- Skills & Values Inventory Tool: A free, online guided self-assessment I developed that will help you identify your core transferable skills, work preferences and career values.
Again, these are not one-time exercises. They are practices. The more you engage with reflection tools, the more clarity you will gain about where you want to go and why.
Your Career Is a Living Story
If you are feeling uncertain, stuck or wondering whether it is time for a change, this is your sign. Take a deep breath. Start asking yourself the questions. Your Ph.D. has trained you to tackle complex problems with rigor and curiosity. Now it is time to apply those same skills to your own career.
I have pivoted more than once … from microbiologist, to imaging specialist, to staff scientist, to career development professional. Each shift was a response to changing priorities and the evolving life I wanted to build. I do not know exactly where my path leads next, and that’s OK. Staying open, reflective and willing to evolve has allowed me to build a career that aligns with who I am now, not just who I thought I was supposed to be.
That is the real lesson: A pivot is not a one-time move … it is a mindset.
It is also what I tell the Ph.D.s I work with today:
- You are allowed to change your mind.
- A pivot is not a failure—it is a realignment.
- Your training is never wasted when you apply it differently.
- And success? It is not a title or a track; it is alignment with what matters most to you right now.
The job market will continue to shift. Uncertainty is not going away. But you can build the career agility to navigate it—not with fear, but with purpose. Return to the questions. Revisit your values. Trust that the answers will lead you not just to something impressive or secure, but something meaningful.
That is how you build a career that grows with you.