Welcome to understanding how industry hiring really works! Coming from academia, you might expect hiring to follow formal, committee-based processes like university positions.
But industry hiring operates on completely different principles - faster, more informal, and heavily relationship-driven.
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How do you think industry hiring speed compares to the academic job market timeline?
Here's what actually happens first: A hiring manager (not a search committee) realizes they need help. Maybe someone left for another company, a project expanded, or they secured new funding.
Unlike academic positions that require extensive approvals, industry managers can move quickly - but they still need internal sign-offs that can take days or weeks, not months.
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What's one key difference between how a hiring manager and an academic search committee approach filling a position?
Before posting externally, companies prioritize three internal options: promote someone, transfer an existing employee from another team, or ask current employees for referrals.
Many positions get filled at this stage. Studies show 70-80% of industry jobs never appear on public job boards - very different from academia where most positions are publicly posted!
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Why might this internal-first approach surprise academics transitioning to industry?
This is the "hidden job market" - real industry positions that exist but aren't advertised publicly, unlike the transparent academic job market you're familiar with.
Professional networking becomes crucial because these opportunities only reach people connected to current employees or the hiring manager directly - not through formal job boards.
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How might industry networking differ from the academic networking you're used to?
When internal options don't work, companies choose between posting publicly or engaging external recruiters first.
