Our latest research reveals deep demand for PhD skills across the digital domain and cyberspace, from engineers to storytellers and editors.  But is it all a game?

This week we look at gaming, including AR/VR applications, and cybersecurity.  Today’s “video gaming world” has over 2.5 billion gamers worldwide and is approaching over $90 billion in annual sales (this and more mobile gaming statistics sourced by Khaled Shaalan); indeed, these impressive user demand numbers will continue to propel demand for new ideas and professionals with expertise for years to come. Moreover, the “gamification” of many industries suggests that we are still at the early stages of video and game design application, with new forays into digital health and wellness, aerospace, politics, technology, human resources and education, to name only a few.  Higher-order skills are needed across data science and engineering as well as in the humanities, such as social and consumer analysis, the writing of fiction and non-fiction, and design thinking, to name only a few areas.

Cybersecurity, which includes gaming, offers its own separate domain of career paths across private sector industries such as banking and industry and more generally within government institutions. If you are mission-driven, this may be a good fit.

We would encourage you to learn more about these digital industries: the space between working at Riot Games and contributing to US national security offers a wide range of choices.

HSS

Researcher, Unpublished R&D Product, Riot Games

Business Development Product Specialist, Google Play

Interactive Media Producer, Cortina

User Experience Researcher, Yext

Cybersecurity Assessment Analyst, Grant Thornton (Consulting)

STEM

Senior Software Engineer, Data Architecture, Pocket Gems

Digital AR/VR, Senior Engineer, Deloitte Studio

Sr Director, Enterprise Architecture Strategy, International Game Technology

Senior Specialist, Info Security, BNY Mellon

Engineer, Multiple Levels, Dept. of Homeland Security (Science and Tech Directorate)

For access to more jobs as well as archived and searchable opportunities, visit our SmartJobs page.  Note: SmartJobs access requires a university affiliation. User-generated jobs are open to all members and can be accessed here.

Working with human factors in decision-making research, user experience, design thinking, financial planning, patient recovery and therapy, and other applications increasingly require skills from a wide range of STEM, social science and humanities disciplines.  Indeed as technological change deepens, many more industries will be seek out the best minds to tackle human and psychological challenges.

To take just one example: demand for psychologists is expected to increase by 19% through 2024 according to Department of Labor figures, but in areas which may not be typical, such as art therapists, aviation psychologists, genetics counselors and traffic psychologists.  In a broader sense, a recent article by McKinsey explains the world of “Corporate Nudging” and its focus on improving customer and employee well-being, a theme which has already migrated to many US and international government agencies.  This trend is in the early stages and will accelerate with machine learning and the ability to harness and interpret larger data sets.

The upshot is that demand for higher-order skills dealing with human behavior–often with a PhD job requirement–exist in almost every industry on the planet.  Below are a few examples, together with a wider array of jobs located on this week’s SmartJobs page.  And for many jobs you don’t need to be a psychologist to apply.

HSS

Research Psychologist, US Department of Labor

Human Services Researcher, Mathematica

Director, UX Research and Innovation, Brilliant Experience

User Experience Researcher, State Farm Insurance

Research Manager, Center for Effective Philanthropy

STEM

Quantitative Research Scientists – Global TIES for Children

Neurorehabilitation Psychologist, Shepherd Center

Psychometrist, UCLA Health

Population Science and Cancer Control, UT Southwestern Medical

Sr Human Factors Engineer, Human Solutions (HSI)

For access to more jobs as well as archived and searchable opportunities, visit our SmartJobs page. Note: SmartJobs access requires a university affiliation. User-generated jobs are open to all members and can be accessed here.

As many readers of this blog know, we have previously highlighted professional research careers and jobs across a range of industries.  But given the flood of research-oriented positions we review on a constant basis, and the close alignment that these jobs have with the typical PhD skill set, we felt compelled to revisit the diverse array of research jobs.

This week highlights education research in Africa to specialists in digital libraries and genomic design, community forestry, computational biology, deep learning and using Big Data for gender studies, with many more positions available on our SmartJobs page.  These jobs often demand a combination stellar writing, analytical, statistical and research design skills, in addition to domain knowledge–and are therefore a perfect fit with our community.

What fits with your background and interests?

HSS

Kleinhans Fellowship for Community Forest Research, Rainforest Alliance

Senior Education Researcher for Africa, USAID

Researcher/Senior Researcher, International Development, Mathematica

Digital Libraries and Metadata Specialist, Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab

Quantitative Researcher, Derivatives and Relative Value, Two Sigma

STEM

Design Research Intern, Foundation Medicine

Officer, Environmental Research and Science, Pew Foundation

Computational Biologist, Amgen

Manager, Gender and Big Data, Data2x

Machine Learning Research Engineer, Osaro

For access to more jobs as well as archived and searchable opportunities, visit our SmartJobs page. Note: SmartJobs access requires a university affiliation. User-generated jobs are open to all members and can be accessed here.

With the summer and fall season of internships arriving, PhDs at all stages can still benefit by considering the options available.  This is important because experiential learning opportunities not only can provide career exploration feedback but also allow individuals to immerse themselves in a work environment, expand their professional networks, gain evidence of skills application, earn income (we are focused on paid internships), preview a profession and turn their short-term experience into a full time career.

Moreover, as hiring the “right person” becomes ever more strategic and nuanced from an employer perspective (this past NYT article for employers is typical of the gamesmanship involved), there is no substitute for job seekers gaining actual experience with the people who may be doing the hiring.

Our latest upload includes an array of private sector, government and NGO positions, ranging from marketing and communications to venture capital to biomedical informatics–internships which begin this summer and may extend into the fall and winter.  There are many more to be found on our SmartJobs page and at employer websites across the globe.

We encourage you to explore!

HSS

Air Pollution and Health Interns (Africa), RTI International

PhD Strategic Internship, J.P. Morgan

Marketing/Communications, International Econ Development Council

I/O Psychology Research Intern, AIR

Venture Investments Intern, Hewlett Packard

STEM

Quantitative Analytics Intern, Freddie Mac

Establish Products Intern, Johnson & Johnson

Scientific Intern, Biomedical Informatics

Machine Learning CCDS Intern, Partners Healthcare

Graduate Statistical Intern, SAS

For access to more jobs as well as archived and searchable opportunities, visit our SmartJobs page. Note: SmartJobs access requires a university affiliation. User-generated jobs are open to all members and can be accessed here.

Can mastering writing skills “future proof” your career?  This was the topic of a recent article but the demand for superior writing skills, when combined with deep domain knowledge in a particular field, opens up even more career opportunities for the PhD and post-graduate community.

Editors are now working in a variety of locations (beyond major media centers).  Over 7 per cent are employed in professional, scientific, technical services (an area with significant PhD-level demand) and over 20 per cent are self-employed or freelance, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

We found that many professional and scientific writing and editing jobs are “PhD preferred,” requiring not only superior editing and writing skills but also the ability to analyze and identify trends in a chosen field, produce scientific and other research grants, advance public policies, and edit and manage content within professional journals.  Careers in the editing field cut across government, professional journals, NGOs and commercial entities.

This week we have gathered a cluster of opportunities that include freelance and full-time positions.  There are many more to discover (or create), and we will focus separately on editing and content creation within the education field (think Wiley, Khan Academy, education technology) in a future post.

HSS

Editor, Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press

Freelance Editors, Vera Institute of Justice

Editor in Chief, Data Science Journal

Senior Editor, Nature Research

Freelance Editors, Crimson Interactive

STEM

Editor, Trends in Biochemical Sciences, Elsevier

Medical Editor, Dermatology

Senior Scientific Grant Writer, NY Genome Center

Senior Medical Writer, Critical Thinking

Senior Technical Editor, SAIC (Defense Threats)

For access to more jobs as well as archived and searchable opportunities, visit our SmartJobs page. Note: SmartJobs access requires a university affiliation. User-generated jobs are open to all members and can be accessed here.

Helping the human condition has always been a growing field. In the US, projected job growth for “social workers” is 16.1% over ten years – more than double the 7.4% national average. Of course, the definition of social work is much broader than the occupational title suggests, and includes a widening range of counseling, data analysis, psychoanalysis, and community impact — all in need of PhD skills.

Our sampling of jobs this week includes working on mental health issues with veterans or trauma recovery in specific communities, measuring the social impact and sustainability of Medicaid, using data analysis to improve social impact initiatives, and a range of psychological, health and wellness counseling on college campuses and in cities across the country.

HSS

Clinical Coordinator, Partnerships for Trauma Recovery

Social Worker, Homelessness, Veterans Administration (Various)

Director of Counseling, Occidental College

Clinical Psychologist, Central Intelligence Agency

Data Analytics Specialist, Family & Children Services of Silicon Valley

STEM

Policy and Research Fellow, Institute for Medicaid Innovation

Behavioral Health Specialist, U of Chicago

Neuropsychologist – Concussion Program, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital

Clinical Psychologist, Autism Center, Child Mind Institute

Senior Research Scientist, New Jewish Home

For access to more jobs as well as archived and searchable opportunities, visit our SmartJobs page. Note: SmartJobs access requires a university affiliation. User-generated jobs are open to all members and can be accessed here.

In 2015, a joint USDA and Purdue University report analyzed a set of robust employment opportunities trends in food, agriculture, renewable resources and the environment between 2015-2020.  They found a broad range of jobs in business, government, education, food and materials production, and food science and engineering, many of which were not being filled.  Today, the so-called FoodTech sector has also expanded dramatically, employing highly skilled PhDs and those with advanced degrees and entrepreneurial skills, including jobs in food security, safety, sustainability and delivery.

From this deep pool of potential jobs and career ideas, we unearthed a veritable feast of opportunities in the food and agriculture sector.  What we found was everything from plant science to using machine learning to enhance food security, sustainability and wellness programs for families in the US and around the world, research into food allergies and microbes, policy positions directing food initiatives at leading foundations, data analysis for restaurants, positions managing coffee farming and Coca-Cola around the world, and re-engineering how and what we eat.

HSS

Director, Food Initiative, Rockefeller Foundation

Zero Hunger on Campus, Campaign Director

CEO, Eat REAL

Development Director, International Rescue Fund

Coffee Program Director, TechnoServe

STEM

Scientist, Product Development, The Coca-Cola Company

Researcher, Machine Learning for Agriculture and Food Security

Safe Food Project, Senior Associate, Pew Charitable Trust

Senior Plant Scientist, Aero Farms

Dietician, US Department of Veterans Affairs

For access to more jobs as well as archived and searchable opportunities, visit our SmartJobs page. Note: SmartJobs access requires a university affiliation. User-generated jobs are open to all members and can be accessed here.