Welcome to Leadership Lab with Wendy Hultmark! 

This is a monthly newsletter where I share light-bite content on a variety of topics related to leadership in today’s world and times.  Whether in the sciences or creative spaces, the word “lab” has come to be associated with a space for experimentation, innovation, and collaboration.  

In this space, I will share tips worth passing on, words I have found worthy of reflection, and the occasional funny story to keep it all in perspective.  

Spring has sprung, in more ways than one!

I attended all the career talks, so you don’t have to.

I’ve applied to 100 jobs and…nothing

Spring has sprung, in more ways than one!

Since my business launched nearly five years ago, it has slowly evolved.  And just like the Spring season we are in, that slow growth now gives my business the appearance of a sudden burst into full bloom.  

I am so excited to unveil my new website and branding and to share with you how it all came about.  (Special thanks to Lynn Davey and Melissa Dorsky for their talent and incredible work on this project!)

The backstory

After twenty-five years in my HR career, I chose leadership and career coaching because I saw firsthand how leaders lacked a proper thought partner—someone to whom they could take the challenges that trouble them the most.  These almost always involve work relationships that have broken down or careers that feel stalled out.  But the further we progress in our careers, the fewer people seem to be available to meet that need: someone with whom leaders could be honest about their challenges without worrying who was watching, judging.  

I started out coaching leaders in all kinds of industries.  Gradually, and without me fully noticing, I began working with more scientists—from principal investigators to those who took their scientific expertise to adjacent fields.  

At the beginning of last year, I realized with some surprise that all my clients were scientists. 

I have the best job.  I really do.

I get to partner with some of the brightest, most resilient people in the world, and to offer them that space for thought partnership—to re-energize, motivate their teams, and forge relationships with even their toughest colleagues.

You may be reading this because we met through your world of science.  Or you may be here because we’ve known each other a long time, and our connection had nothing to do with science.  Whoever you are, and however you found me, I am glad that you’re here.  I’ll continue to talk about leadership and life issues that are highly relatable.  

Oh, and I’d love for you to check out my new website.  

I attended all the career talks, so you don’t have to.

In recent weeks I’ve had the pleasure of attending the American Association of Immunologists conference as well as a WEST (Women in the Enterprise of Science and Technology) panel discussion about transitioning from academia to industry.  There is no substitute for hearing accomplished professionals reflect on their own careers.  

At the AAI conference, Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, a Sterling Professor of Immunology at Yale Medical School and HHMI Investigator, shared a few special gems that are widely applicable:

Build a scientific culture you want to be a part of.

–Dr. Akiko Iwasaki

The culture of academic research can be a little…challenging.  Getting a word in when everyone seems to be the smartest person in the room can be a discouraging endeavor. I’ve heard my share of stories of talented scientists getting shot down in meetings, dismissed.   And not everyone is a great neighbor.  Sharing of space and resources can create a lot of tension over little things.  But you’re not going to throw in the towel and say “that’s just how it is”, are you?  Heck no!  You can be part of a cultural shift.  

Keep on rockin’, Dr. Akiko!

I also heard some helpful advice about making the transition from academia to industry.  Dr. Prathana Khanna, VP and Head of Corporate Business Development & Strategy at Vico Therapeutics offered:

Be open to an intermediate step to get you where you want to go.

–Dr. Prathana Khanna

Prathana knew when she left academia that she wanted to go into business development in industry.  But her background hadn’t quite prepared her for that exact step.  So, she took a Biz Dev job in academia.  I have found that we can be very clear about what we want to do next, and even become quite fixated on it, and yet lack a strategy to get there. If you’re hitting a roadblock, maybe consider whether there is a stepping stone role to take on for a couple of years before landing exactly where you want to be.  

It’s been energizing to attend these great events, meet new people, and hear individual experiences and expertise that work.

I’ve applied to 100 jobs and…nothing.

A common refrain I hear from job seekers relates to the online job application process.  

“I’ve applied to 100 jobs and haven’t heard anything.  One hundred!!!”

In some job markets, people with in-demand skills simply seem to get plucked away like a ripe little berry.  Recruiters call nonstop and finding a new job is easy.  

This is not one of those markets for most people.   

Further, today’s job application process is a hot mess.  I attended a panel discussion last year where the speakers were employers and many in the audience were job seekers. Job seekers complained that jobs were posted on LinkedIn two hours ago and already had 2,000 applicants. Employers expressed overwhelm at the volume coming through their inboxes.  

My takeaway was that in this market, no one is winning in the hiring game.  

In the past, it was either an employer’s market or a job searcher’s.  That’s not the case these days.  

Doubling down and applying to more and more jobs is one strategy in such an environment.  But the solution I see is much lower-tech than that.  

Human relationships, not online job platforms or keywords, are the best path forward to finding that needle in a haystack.  

Believe me, I get it.  Most of us would rather apply to one thousand jobs online than have networking meetings.   It can feel awkward, plus you don’t know which meetings are going to lead somewhere, and that can be frustrating.  But I see time and again that people get jobs through people.  In the age of AI, I believe this becomes more important, not less.

If you know, deep down, that this is what you need to be doing but have been resisting it, I can help with that.  Drop me a line to get more info on that.  I’d love to hear from you.