The Power of a PhD: How Anyone Can Use Their PhD to Get Hired in Industry

by Isaiah Hankel

What if all your years of hard work in academia finally paid off? Imagine never having to work in another dead-end academic position, or being able to tell the world you are in a leadership position within a thriving company. PhDs are in demand in industry, but often, these PhDs are invisible to potential employers. Dr. Isaiah Hankel, leverages his expertise as the CEO of the world's largest career training platform for PhDs, Cheeky Scientist, to help PhDs overcome their biggest obscurity.  The Power of a PhD is the stepwise blueprint that 18 million PhDs worldwide are seeking. Dr. Isaiah Hankel’s eight core steps within The Power of a PhD   This eight-step approach provides a consistent and proven methodology that allows PhDs to transition into industry without suffering the painful process of trial and error. You could be the next PhD hired at Amazon, Google, Apple, Intel, Dow Chemical, BASF, ERM, Merck, Genentech, Nestle, Hilton, Tesla, Syngenta, Siemens, the CDC, UN or Ford Foundation!

Genres: Nonfiction

276 pages, Paperback

Published September 13, 2022

About the author

Isaiah Hankel is the Founder and CEO of Overqualified™, a career consultancy helping experienced professionals reclaim their value in today’s job market. For more than 15 years, Isaiah has worked with over 20,000 highly accomplished professionals with advanced degrees and decades of experience to help them land meaningful roles across industries. Through Overqualified™, Isaiah pioneered a system that transforms the outdated “overqualified” label into a strategic advantage - teaching seasoned professionals how to communicate their worth, eliminate bias in hiring, and leverage deep experience as a competitive edge. His insights help mid- to late-career professionals transition careers with clarity, confidence, and purpose.

Isaiah is the author of the forthcoming book Too Good to Get Hired (April 2026), a bold investigation into why highly qualified candidates are often overlooked and how they can break through outdated hiring systems. The book blends research, case studies, and practical frameworks for experienced professionals to stop underselling themselves and start securing the roles they deserve.

A three-time bestselling author and sought-after career expert, Isaiah’s writing has appeared in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Success Magazine, Recruiter Magazine and more.

Reviews

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great advice on all stages of shifting out of academe and into a professional role that uses a PhD's many skills. While it is focused on profit-making industry jobs, as a history PhD this book is still useful for applying for public sector, nonprofit, editorial, and other career paths.

[Ang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to hype ones-self up after the certain depression that falls upon one during and after their phd. Book also has a lot of good tips about job search post phd....

[Julia Napoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great 'how to' book on getting into corporate America after coming out of a PhD program. Dr. Hankel neatly organizes this book into appropriate career-planning sections: choosing an industry career path, networking, applying, interviewing, and negotiating a salary. While a bit culty at times towards buying into Hankel's company 'Cheeky Scientist', this book does a great job at decrypting the PhD-to-industry pipeline for those of us that are academia-centric. I will be re-reading again while approaching entering the job market post-grad school.

[Lucy Gould · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though I don’t have a PhD (and have no intention of working towards one) this book was incredibly helpful in tips on building connections/networking and how to successfully search for jobs.