A decade ago I had the opportunity to follow up a talk by an industry CEO who was there to describe science careers from a “where the jobs are” perspective; my responsibility was to come up with an analysis of how various career ladders work. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, I looked for earlier studies that I could refer to. Unfortunately, the bio/pharma industry has never had a formal survey describing how careers develop. In my talk, I related stories of how people I know have transitioned from one career stage to another, and it turned out to be a very successful presentation.

More than a decade later, I would still define career success as the smooth transition through these career stages. Each is marked by a number of opportunities for career growth, as well as the potential for a work-life crisis. In my column this issue, you won’t find a checklist of the “do’s” and “don’ts” to steer you through the process. Instead, my comments are intended to help you understand where you are in your career development and what the challenges might be ahead of you on your path.

The Six Career Stages
For my talk, I began by studying a number of people who had come up by different career tracks; I looked closely at those of different age brackets, and was able to list a fairly cohesive group of stages that seemed to hold true for most of the people I had interviewed. I spoke at the time with a number of acquaintances about where their careers had really taken off, or where they had hit a plateau, and I’ve continued this while interviewing people in the years since then.

In this way, the six stages of the life sciences career emerged.

Threshold Stage
The threshold of a career happens when people emerge from the shelter of the academic environment and move into their first serious employment. At this time in a science or engineering career, people are young, ambitious and full of excitement about their work. It is a time when the reasons for pursuing the degree are obvious. Young scientists seek challenges, and one of their biggest turns out to be finding that first job — it’s not always easy. And the shift into industry is like moving from one world to another.

Employment in general looks complicated to the person at the Threshold Stage. Résumé or CV? Industry or academia?
Informational interviewing, networking, and more — these are not just new words to learn.

Discovery Stage
There is a time of inner discovery, usually the first several years of a person’s work life, in which the scientist or engineer moves past the uncomfortable transition from academics to industry. With less than five years of work experience, this is the time that the new employee begins to understand the concepts that lie behind teamwork and how that leads to success in the workplace. It’s also a time when you learn a great deal about yourself — what you like, what you dislike — about work and the people you deal with on a daily basis.

Many of us have made big direction changes in this period. If you look at thousands of CV’s and résumés a year as I do, you’d see that people often make a job change or two in that period. Perhaps a career in basic science has transitioned to quality control work. Or one’s original intent to study quantitative genetics turns into a career in the development of diagnostic tools. Crises can occur as a result of the struggle we go through to define ourselves via our work life. It’s a time of rapid progress, with lots of change and transition.

Mastery Stage
There is a time when many people break through the Discovery Stage and find their “niche” — when they truly become masters of their area of expertise. To the technical professional, this is usually from 5-10 years of work experience, a time when he or she has mastered some area of responsibility and is valued by an organization for that skill. The phone starts to ring from recruiters looking for those with this expertise. In short, it’s comforting to know that you’ve developed an area that is “yours,” and you sense that this has value.

In the latter years of this stage, there may be a decision required to stay on the technical track or move in the direction of management. In some cases, this introduction of supervision turns out to be something more than just another skill to be mastered, which can lead to a career crisis. For most professionals, however, it is a time of fine-tuning their core areas of interest — a time of improvement for one’s most marketable skills.

Power Stage
The power stage is that period of work life where many people believe they do their best work. All of the effort and preparation from the earlier stages of their career come together to get them “in their stride.” The Power Stage reaches across a broad section of our career, generally from 10-20 years or so of work experience.

One client of mine described it in this manner: “A person in this experience range has a very exciting job. They are at the level where they exert influence in both directions. He or she will be close enough to the people that actually do the science, but their opinions also reach up into the highest levels of management. It’s a wonderful time in a career.” With power comes competition, however, which is often a source of career concern for people in the Power Stage.

“Just Rewards” Stage
The person with significantly more than 20 years of work experience has sown seeds over the course of his career that have now either born fruit or landed on rocks. You’ve earned your “just rewards,” so to speak, and in this period you will be reaping the benefits. Perhaps you will find yourself directing a program that you were influential in developing, or managing a laboratory or project team in your area of interest, something that you’d be proud to call “yours.” Some people will be in senior management, others will be at the Principal Scientist level on the technical ladder.

For many people at this stage, they realize that if they aren’t happy in their job, they’ll need to consider a change in the near future. It’s still a good time to bankroll one’s past experience and areas of expertise in a job market that will find them attractive.

Wrap-up Stage
People act in different ways in this period of their work life. The “Wrap-Up Stage” is the period of time, generally five to eight years before retirement, when the individual begins to think about life after work. Some people retire on the job and spend these years at their desk. Instead of building anything new or embarking on a challenging new mission, other life issues such as family take priority and they begin to “wait out their time.”

On the other hand, many people seem to get a second wind at this time of their life. They back out of their usual environment and take on something tremendously challenging — perhaps a new assignment with a young startup company, or with a non-profit where they can use their expertise for the betterment of society.

Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones?
These stages aren’t going to apply to everyone. There are some who will skip right into the Power Stage just five or seven years into their career, and there will always be people who retire at their desks a decade or more before it becomes official.

But one thing is for certain. You will encounter points in your career where the transition from one stage to another seems to be impeded by a constant barrage of career crises. If there were a formula that I could offer you for success, it’s not so much to try and avoid them, because you won’t. Changing stumbling blocks to stepping stones has worked for a lot of successful people. I’ll address these topics in future columns.