Researching industries for your career planning
Previously, I wrote about the importance of understanding yourself when thinking about your career choice. Here, I want to focus on the other side of the coin: researching about careers and industries. Before that, I want to share a short story.
During my Master’s programme, I bounced off the idea of purusing a doctoral with my thesis supervisor. His answer was “You should check with someone who just got his PhD. They can provide a better context on what is required to obtain a PhD these days.” While it may sound like he was brushing me off, the wisdom of his words has since shaped my approach in researching about any topic, and in particular on careers and industries. And while the methods here are geared towards students thinking about their careers, I personally have used them to consider a career switch too.
To get the right answers, identify the right sources first.
Speak to Industry People
If you want to know about an industry or a career, speak directly to the industry’s people. Seniors, peers, or anyone your age group who have entered the industry before you are a few potential examples. Just be mindful that your seniors may also be just starting their careers, so they may not have a full view of how their chosen industry will be like in the near future. However, since they just joined the industry themselves (0–3 years), they can most probably tell you the most updated things about their industry. Some questions that your seniors can help you with include:
- How was your interview / hiring process?
- What did you learn during your university days that you felt was useful in your getting your current job?
- What is the nature of your work / how is the nature of the industry?
- What advice would you give a fresh graduate who wants to join your industry?
If you are a undergraduate, there are ample opportunities to meet industry people through university programs and functions. For example, my alma mater faculty has a mentor program that connects working alumina to current undergraduates. And because these mentors are volunteers, they are usually very willing to share their experience. Here are some of the areas a more senior mentor can help you with:
- What skill sets are required to succeed in your industry?
- How is the nature of your industry? (Their answers may differ from your seniors)
- Do they know of any potential internship opportunities
- Interview process preparation / resume vetting
Before asking people for advice, do your own research first.
Use Technologies to Scan Your Interested Industry!
Another strategy I used is to research on companies and industries through online professional platforms, with the most notable one being Linkedin. And this is a strategy that I still use today to keep myself updated about the industry that I am in. While I don’t recommend taking individual job descriptions at their face value, gathering similar job postings from the same industry can allow you to understand certain patterns. In general, the things that you can understand about the industry through these platforms include:
- What skills are commonly required in this industry?
- What roles in the industry do fresh graduates qualify for? How much experience does one need for certain this position in this industry?
- What other qualifications do I need to get into this industry / company?
- What are the responsibilities and expectations?
On Linkedin, companies can also upload information ranging from culture, core values, mission statements to employee benefits and perks. These can provide some information about what the company does and what the company stands for, but be mindful that companies will always paint themselves in a very good light.
Glassdoor also provides a unique view of companies by allowing ex- and current employees to post anonymous reviews about their companies. However, there are issues with such reviews too, such as disgruntled ex-employees having a higher probability of posting something negative than current, happy employees. These can also be a low number of reviews for smaller companies and review recency biases. That said, anonymous Glassdoor reviews can provide some interesting insights about the company that cannot be gleaned from other areas.
Lastly, you can get Linkedin to send you weekly emails of jobs postings based on specific keywords, such as “data analytics” or “digital marketing”. This not only saves time, but can potentially expose you to jobs and companies that you may not have known of. With enough time, you will slowly learn about certain traits common among the companies in the industry that you are keen in.
Industry, Company and Individual Variability
Even though this is a much longer post than my previous one, I have not covered other ways of researching about companies and industries, such as through books, documentaries, career fairs, career talks and internships. These approaches could be different posts on their own.
And even among the strategies I shared, it is important to remember the concept of variability, and how variability can exist within industries, companies, and individuals. Because the information you collected can only be a sample reflection of the industry you researching on, there will be risk of some sampling biases through your research.
For example, the entire banking industry can have similar type of culture that differs greatly from tech companies, but even among banks themselves, there are more progressive and more traditional banks. Different departments in large companies will have differences because different functions deal with different aspects of the business, and hence, will naturally have different views, attitudes and working styles.
Similarly, when doing 1-on-1 sessions with seniors and mentors, you can go deep into specific topics, but their replies may only be a reflection of their personal experiences and the person’s character, experiences that may not reflect the true nature of the industry. Their experiences may not not reflect your experience you were to join their industry. Ask follow-up questions. Clarify. Ask deep questions. Don’t take things at face value. Consume, process, and learn to make an educated guess of how the industry will be for you if you are join it.
Concluding Thoughts
My current worldview is there is no one source of truth in most things in life. Everyone lives their own lives through their personal experiences, experiences that will be coloured by some biases, regardless they acknowledge them or not. So, don’t let one session with a senior or a single data point from an online platform cloud your judgment of an industry too soon.
Gather as much data as you can about your potential career, and try to build a probabilistic view of how the industry might be for you. The harsh reality is even if you did all your research, you can never be 100 percent certain that you found your perfect career. Nobody said it was easy. Things will change. Your preferences and life circumstances will change, and career switches are more common than ever. There will still be gaps, errors, and just plain misfortunes in making decisions in life. We can only try to make decisions through being as knowledgeable about the subject as we can, and then, hope for the best.
After spending 5+ years honing my self-taught programming skills to communicate to computers, I am coming back to work again on my communication skills with humans. And doing so through a topic that I feel is so rarely talked about in my society; figuring out our lives after a life of studying. Hence, if you find this post useful or interesting, do give me a clap or a like, and share with anyone who you think will benefit from this.
