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Gertrude Nonterah helps researchers to step off the academic hamster wheel and seek opportunities beyond their specialty. Through her personal experiences of losing a postdoctoral position after her lab leader’s funding ran out, followed by a role at a biotechnology company that ended after two months, she knows what it takes to forge a new path.

Nonterah now works in medical communications and career counselling through The Bold PhD, a consultancy she set up in 2021, and a podcast, which she launched last year. Her 2025 book, Navigating the Pivot, promises strategies and insights to power career transitions from academia.

In the third episode of a podcast series focused on books about the scientific workplace, Nonterah, who is based in San Diego, California, tells Holly Newson how to tailor a CV or resume for industry employers.

Instead of focusing on publications, she urges industry job applicants to show evidence of problem-solving, a highly-prized skill in the sector, and an ability to communicate their research to people beyond their specialty. She also offers networking tips, strategies to counter imposter syndrome, and advice on how to talk about career setbacks.

Finally, she talks about how to bounce back from being laid-off, based on her own experience. She tells Newson: “How do I turn this into my comeback? How do I turn this into a time where I rediscover myself, my skills, when I rebrand and reinvent myself.”

Listen to Gertrude Nonterah in conversation with Holly Newson.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00548-2

Transcript

Listen to Gertrude Nonterah in conversation with Holly Newson.

Holly Newson 00:00

Welcome to Working Scientist, a Nature Careers podcast.

I’m Holly Newson, and in this series, you’ll hear from authors who can help you in your career.

In this episode, I’m joined by Gertrude Nonterah, a science communicator with a PhD in microbiology and immunology, who founded and runs The Bold PhD, helping academics transition to other careers.

And she’s the author of Navigating The Pivot. A Handbook for PhDs and Academics Looking to Thrive in Careers Beyond the Ivory Tower.

Gertrude, thank you so much for joining me.

Gertrude Nonterah 00:34

Thank you so much, Holly, for having me.

Holly Newson 00:37

So to start off with, I wanted to know: why is it useful for academics to have some sort of a guide when they’re looking to transition careers?

Gertrude Nonterah 00:46

Right, to answer your question, I want to take a step back to my own experience.

So about eight years ago, I was a postdoc in a lab.

And unfortunately we were laid off because of a funding situation. And when we were, I was thrust into this world, you know, of looking for jobs again.

And I didn’t really, I didn’t anticipate how difficult it was going to be, especially trying to apply for jobs outside of academia.

But until that point, I spent about a decade in academia.

And applications, they were not going so well.

So I began to apply outside of academia. And I was hitting a wall. I was really hitting a wall.

And it took me a lot of trial and error to figure out how to write a proper resume for industry, how to present my work for industry versus academia.

And I was, like, there was some content on the internet about this. But I just felt, based on how difficult it had been for me, and all the things I’d had to learn by trial and error, I said: ‘You know what? Let me just help people who are coming up behind me who may want industry jobs or jobs outside of academia. But because they’ve been embroiled in the academic world, don’t really know how to talk about their work beyond academic circles.’

And so I began to do that.

So that’s how The Bold PhD was born.

And I began to get a great response to that. And so, really, the book was a culmination of all the questions people have asked me over the years.

And just putting all of those answers in a book to help people who are looking for careers outside of academia.

And even people who are in academia could benefit from this, actually.

But mainly my focus was on people looking for careers outside of academia, because I never want them to go through what I went through.

Holly Newson 02:36

Yeah. And when you see people starting that journey trying to maybe transition careers, what do you see that people struggle with the most?

Gertrude Nonterah 02:47

Oh, that’s such a good question.

I think one of the biggest things, it’s getting better, but one of the biggest things people struggled with was articulating how their research, or how the skills that they’ve gained within academia, translates to work outside of academia.

It’s not as simple as that. Because there’s no one-to-one mapping of, ‘oh, this experience is equivalent to this exp

Seeking an industry role? Sell yourself as a problem-solver, not a job-seeker