Training R&D Talent: How Companies Cultivate First Rate Researchers

Research and development jobs can be an amazing experience but a successful R&D career can mean working through some roadblocks. Today we’ll be discussing the problem of R&D training, how to find your first job roles, and why we believe that an R&D mentor could help.

The Challenge of Getting into R&D

Unlike many other careers, getting into R&D is heavily dependent on your pre-existing qualifications, experience, knowledge, and skills. Think of R&D as one half of a twin-disipline. It only works if joined to another.

For example, you may wish to go into pharmaceutical R&D. If so, you’ll need a strong background in the sciences. Alternatively, you might want to go into engineering R&D. In that case you’ll need just the same qualifications you would to become an engineer.

That said, if you have a pre-existing discipline, or are willing to develop one, then R&D can be a great direction to take your career. After all, it’s a field that allows for a lot of creativity and innovation as you push forward the potential of your company and your industry.

Entry-Level R&D

Assuming you already have a discipline, finding those entry-level research and development jobs can still be difficult. This is because many companies would like to hire someone with some practical experience in the same role while also treating the role as entry level from a seniority and pay perspective. Although this is absolutely not universal, it is certainly a pitfall to watch out for when applying for roles.

How you handle this is, of course, up to you. A couple of years spent working in-industry certainly won’t hurt your CV but you should also remember to treat those years as a bargaining chip. Furthermore, you shouldn’t be afraid to start applying for R&D roles straight out of university, although you should be aware that finding the right role may take more time.

The Road to R&D Success

So you’ve found your entry-level R&D role. Things are going well, right?

Well here we come to the real challenge most R&D professionals have to face in their career at some point or another. Pushing past an entry-level role is really difficult and often relies on having a proven track record of deliverables. Put simply, you can’t just say “I worked here” but “I did this and here’s why it was a success.”

This is a particular challenge in R&D because it is, by its nature, experimental. Good researchers are those who are willing to take risks on potential dead ends. Good researchers know how to balance the odds, accepting that not all of their research will pay off while ensuring that enough of it does for the company to see them as worthwhile.

If that sounds like a job that relies, in no small part, on being lucky, then you might be right – at least up to a point. If you get lucky and happen to stumble across a brilliant development early in your career, then that can skyrocket you to success, but building some solid research principles will help give a far stronger foundation for future successes.

In practice, that means learning how to manage time, money, and resources effectively. It means making good assessments early on and striking the right balance between risk and guaranteed reward. That might sound easy, but it’s often no small feat and is even harder without good R&D training – something many companies aren’t as willing to provide as they once were.

That being said, there is a great way to ensure that you get the R&D training you need without having to rely on an employer: R&D mentoring.

Getting Ahead of the Competition

It’s a sad fact that, as with many other career paths, a lot of companies just aren’t willing to cultivate their own R&D talent instead relying on other companies to do that for them. If you want to bypass this then R&D mentoring could be perfect for you.

With a mentor, you could get first hand advice to help you choose the right projects and take them in the right direction. You’ll have someone who can not only help you navigate the career side of things but can also help you to ensure that you’re working on portfolio-worthy projects.

At the end of the day, advancing in the field means being able to prove that your work is generating real-world revenue. The sooner you can make that happen, the further you can go. Who better to help you than someone who’s done it before?

Join Career Navig8r today to find your R&D mentor!