Pathfinder Career Narratives is an ongoing series tracking the career choices and experiences of doctoral graduates. You can see all of the posts in the series here. You can find all the Pathfinder resources and opportunities here. Today’s blog is written by Dr Kevin Parker, Director at KKI Associates Ltd. You can find Dr Parker on LinkedIn and more about his company here and on Youtube.
Name: Kevin Parker
Doctorate subject area and year of completion: Chemistry, 1980
Role and employer: Director, KKI Associates Ltd
Approximate salary bracket for this type of role: £40-£100k
I was brought up in Devon where the rest of my extended family still live. Thanks to an influential chemistry teacher (Keith Badman at Exeter School) I was encouraged to become the first person in my family to go to University. My parents put me on a train to Edinburgh in September 1974, and said ‘see you at Christmas’. I enjoyed my undergrad studies there and was then encouraged to do a Ph.D – ‘there’s a project at Cambridge that would really suit you’. Sadly, the Ph.D didn’t go very well as the science was intractable, Cambridge was cold and damp, and social activities were very limited outside the short Undergraduate terms. Also, I started my research career with a bang by blowing up a lab – they still talk about it now!
Thinking that my explosion in Cambridge would be career-limiting, I was pleased to be offered a position as a lab chemist at BP’s R&D centre in Sunbury near London. ‘You blew up a lab? That’s nothing, we are blowing up engines in trucks, trains, and ships and we don’t know why’. In 3 months at Sunbury I had better results than in 3 years in my Ph.D, and we were starting to get a grip of the problems affecting our engine oils. We were eventually able to extend our findings to BP’s complete range of lubricants (over 18,000 line items!) increasing our product profits by around 10% (a lot of money!).
Advice for moving into an industry role
In 2011-2014 I carried out research interviews with major science industry employers identifying the process they use, and the key skills they seek in graduate recruitment (see https://edu.rsc.org/download?ac=12955 ). A follow-up exercise using the same methodology was carried out by the University of Strathclyde in 2022. The main points gleaned from employers include:
- Many employers will interview groups of potential recruits in ‘assessment centres’. The recruits are given multiple group and exercises, designed to observe how they operate in group tasks.
- Tip – don’t try to dominate the group exercise, but try to solicit opinions from everything, and be good at summarising different views.
- Most companies interviewed made comments like ‘your qualifications and technical skills get you the interview, but your interpersonal skills get you the job’ Key interpersonal skills included problem-solving, communication, and team-working, especially across disciplines.
- Tip – look up the Belbin preferred team roles test, and see what your profile looks like. What are your most and least preferred roles? How can you build on the strengths and work on your weaknesses? See https://www.belbin.com/about/belbin-team-roles for an overview and https://www.belbin.com/media/3219/individual-report-for-aliblue-sample-report.pdf for a look at a typical test report. At least one company told us ‘We like Belbin research-investigators and co-ordinators’
BP Sales Manager and Technology Director
After six years at Sunbury, I was moved to a ‘career development’ role in a team trading lubricants to countries where BP had no presence on the ground for various political or economic reasons. We worked out of London, but the job involved travelling all around the world. Subsequently, I was promoted to technical manager of an enlarged sales group, advising our sales team and their customers on product safety and usage. My final position at BP was working on integrating BP’s R&D strategy with the overall Group corporate planning function. We carried out joint technical and economic studies of competing energy technologies such as biofuels and solar panels, and studied the process of managing technology transfer from lab to business.
In all the above jobs, the key challenge was to integrate my technical knowledge with new skills such as negotiating sales, operating large budgets, and resolving arguments/conflicts by listening hard to the other party, working out ‘what makes them take this position?’
Freelance tech transfer consultant
After leaving BP, I set up a training and consultancy company (initially as a ‘side gig’ while looking for a ‘proper job)’ in technology commercialisation and knowledge transfer. After about 3 years of freelancing, I realised I was making over half my old salary, and having much more fun than working for someone else! In 2021 I completed my 500th commercial assignment, and my client list has included 30+ Universities, professional bodies& academies, departments of the UK and Scottish Governments, and various charities. As an approximation, I have helped start around 20 successful tech businesses and trained over 3000 students in transferable/business skills during that time (and I know that some are now millionaires!). I am still doing this type of work as an ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’ at Heriot Watt University.
For me, the key challenge in freelancing, is that the time spent looking for each piece of work is about 3-4 larger than the time to do the work itself. In the early ‘pre-internet’ years this required a lot of networking and conferences and seminars – quite a challenge for a natural introvert. It is a learnable skill, and I have a video on the topic here .
Science Advisor to a Think-tank
I have done many projects with the City of London think-tank Z/Yen Group. My current role is ‘Science and Business advisor’ giving scientific insight and context to (especially green) investment opportunities. Did you know, for example, that it requires around 150 hectares of land to grow enough biofuel for one transatlantic plane flight?
Projects have included internationally important work on ‘Policy Performance Bonds’ or ‘Sovereign Sustainability-Linked Bonds’ (SSLB), and the concept of ‘stranded fossil fuel assets’ or ‘Unburnable’ Carbon.
Advice for Others
I have freelanced, working from home for the last 30 years, managing to stay both sane (despite, with hindsight, having been ‘right-brained’ to the point of being somewhat neurodiverse) and solvent for nearly all of that time, and can share some thoughts/tips:
- A PhD is a great ‘platform technology’ for the rest of your career – it gives you research & analytical skills, and demonstrates your ability to complete difficult tasks
- It’s useful to be able to contextualise your research, showing how it links with other workers and with society as a while – the ‘3-minute thesis’ and UKRI Young Entrepreneur Schemes are both good for this
- As your career develops, work on developing your people skills, which ultimately determine how effective you will be
- When working from home, go out every day to clear your mind. At the end of the day, write down your ‘to-do list’ and park your worries until tomorrow!
- While there are many problems facing the world today, every problem is also an opportunity for someone, and remember that bad news always gets more publicity than positive developments.
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