Guide · 9 min read
How to write an industry resume as a PhD
Your CV proves you can do research. An industry resume proves you can deliver results for a team. Here's how to make the switch.
Most PhDs send industry employers an edited academic CV. It's long, it leads with education, and it lists every poster and paper. A recruiter screening 200 applications for one analytical scientist role will give it about 30 seconds and move on.
The good news: you don't need new experience. You need to present the experience you already have in the format industry reads.
CV vs. resume: what actually changes
| Academic CV | Industry resume | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | As long as your record | Two pages at most |
| Opens with | Education | Summary and target role |
| Main proof | Publications and grants | Results and skills used |
| Reader | Faculty committee | Recruiter, then hiring manager |
| Tailored per job | Rarely | Every application |
The structure that works
- Header. Name with "PhD," city, email, phone and LinkedIn URL. No full street address.
- Summary. Two or three lines naming the role you want and your strongest evidence.
- Core skills. 8–12 techniques and tools, using the words in the job posting.
- Experience. Your PhD and any postdoc listed as jobs, newest first, with 3–6 bullets each.
- Education. Degrees, institutions and years. One line each.
- Selected publications. Three to five that matter for the role, plus a line saying how many you have in total.
Write the summary for one job
A summary that tries to fit every role fits none. Pick the role you're applying for and write directly to it.
Weak
Highly motivated PhD scientist with a passion for research and excellent communication skills, seeking a challenging role.
Strong
Cell biologist with 5 years of assay development (flow cytometry, qPCR, ELISA). Built two screening assays now used across three partner labs. Seeking a scientist role in biologics research and development.
The bullet formula
Every experience bullet should follow the same pattern:
Action verb + what you did + how + the result
The result is what most PhDs leave out. Ask yourself what changed because of your work. Who used it? What did it save, speed up, or make possible?
Before and after
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Responsible for running HPLC samples for the lab. | Ran and maintained HPLC systems supporting 5 projects, cutting sample backlog from 3 weeks to 4 days. |
| Worked on protein purification. | Developed a two-step purification for a recombinant protein, raising yield 4-fold and enabling 3 downstream studies. |
| Mentored undergraduate students. | Trained and supervised 6 undergraduates; 2 co-authored peer-reviewed papers. |
| Collaborated with clinicians on a study. | Coordinated sample analysis with a hospital clinical team across 120 patient samples, delivering results on schedule. |
If you don't have an exact number, an honest estimate is fine ("about 200 samples a month"). Never invent one.
Get past the software screen
Most large pharma companies use applicant tracking software that reads your resume before a person does. To get through it:
- Use one column and standard headings: Summary, Skills, Experience, Education.
- Avoid tables, text boxes, icons and headers or footers for important information.
- Mirror the posting's exact wording. If it says "method validation," don't write only "assay qualification."
- Save as .docx unless the posting asks for PDF.
What to cut
- Your full publication list. Link to Google Scholar instead.
- Every conference poster.
- Teaching duties that don't relate to the role (keep training and mentoring).
- References. Employers ask when they need them.
- Objective statements. The summary replaces them.
Tailor every application
Keep one master resume with everything. For each job, copy it and spend 15 minutes adjusting the summary, reordering skills to match the posting, and swapping in the bullets most relevant to that role. Fifteen targeted applications will get you further than a hundred generic ones.
Check your resume against all 12 points
The free checklist covers everything in this guide, plus a CV-to-resume translation table and keywords for six industry roles.