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Let's say that, after a STEM PhD, someone gets a postdoctoral position in academia. But after a few months of -productive- work, they realize that non-academic jobs would suit them better.

Will non-academic employers consider this as a red flag in a resume?

[Disclaimer 1: It might seem a duplicate of many other questions such as this Is it bad to switch jobs many times in a short period? But, in this case, it's not a matter of switching multiple jobs, but about having a short postdoctoral training period.]

[Disclaimer 2: inherited from https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/93608/whats-the-shortest-acceptable-postdoc-length]

Elabore
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  • In many companies, all that matters is your experience and probably your age. – The Quantum Physicist Jul 25 '17 at 04:50
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    I think the only risk is that an employer might think that a brief stint at anything means you aren't good at sticking at things (having a PhD seems a good counter) or getting along with others. Neither has much to do with being postdoc, and generally a single short stint wouldn't be seen as too negative - only if there were multiple, so it started looking like a pattern. – Robert de Graaf Jul 25 '17 at 05:17

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Will non-academic employers consider this as a red flag in a resume?

I do not think so. Worst case is that company will not consider your post-doc experience as a 'real experience' and may not weigh that in during selection process.

However, lot of companies with good research focus (Where I assume you would want to go) may actually value post-doc experience. I knew lot of folks in my team who joined our industry research group after post-doc and did very well for themselves in career progression.

PagMax
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