Ask a Career Consultant
Hi there! Every week, the Career Development Team for Researchers at the Office of Career and Professional Development answers an anonymized career development question from the UCSF community. You can also visit the archive of all of our past columns. To submit your own question, email it to [email protected] with the subject line 'ASKOCPD.'
A postdoc asks—
I'm looking for an industry job and realize that my skills fall in between a lot of the job descriptions. How do I decide when to apply to the higher-level position, when I fit most of the higher-level requirements, but not all of them, but I feel overqualified for the lower-level role?
This can be a pretty tricky decision, but the good news is that, most of the time, you don't have to guess! This can be a really good question to bring up in an informational interview with someone at the company, as they can give you the best insight into what the roles really require. Additionally, in most cases, it won't hurt to just apply to both, and to let the company's own hiring process sort you into the appropriate direction.
-David Blancha, Assistant Director, Career Development Team for Researchers