Translating Skills to Industry: Alumni Q&A

In April 2026, Rackham Student Government (RSG) hosted Careers Beyond Academia, a hybrid panel discussion organized and moderated by RSG’s executive director of professional development, Catreen Marji. The event brought together Rackham alums to discuss how they transferred skills honed during their graduate school experience to their non-academic careers. 

Recently, we caught up with some of the panelists—Mohamed E. Abbadi (Ph.D. ’22), a solution delivery lead at Boston Consulting Group; Amanda Hare (MA ’12), a contracts manager for Chenega Security; and Everett Peachey (Ph.D. ’17), director at Aga Khan Development Network—to learn more about their experiences.

Abbadi: The academic training at U-M provided a deep technical foundation that I rely on daily to solve business problems. Additionally, my involvement in the Consulting Club was instrumental in my career path, through the networking opportunities and interview preparation.

Hare: Foreign language skills gave me an edge over other applicants, as did the U-M alumni network.

Peachey: My current role involves supporting the monitoring, evaluation, and research (MER) of international development projects, including technical support to MER teams in country offices. Thus, my ability to think and operate as a social science researcher, teacher, and advisor—skills I honed at Michigan—has been instrumental in my work.

Abbadi: I found that the ability to distill dense information into actionable insights is the key transferable skill from academia to industry. Whether through rigorous research or giving presentations and talks, graduate school builds the critical thinking and communication skills necessary in any professional setting.

Hare: Interviewing is a skill. Be able to articulate, quickly and in plain English, the benefit you and your academic background bring to the company you’re interested in. 

Peachey: To me, the first step would be to explore the kinds of jobs or roles you might like and which would be a good fit for you. If this seems daunting, you could start by taking personality or career tests, such as the Myers-Briggs. From there, you want to learn more about what these kinds of jobs or roles are like. Look at job descriptions online to see what kinds of tasks are involved in the work, as well as the kinds of skills that employers are looking for. It may be that you already possess these skills, but that you need to “translate” them into industry jargon or lingo. Look at the LinkedIn profiles of people in these roles to understand their backgrounds and how they compare to yours.

Abbadi: U-M has one of the largest alumni networks in the world. Reach out to them via LinkedIn, and ask for a quick connection or introduction to people in their network who might be closer to your professional aspirations. 

Hare: Send that LinkedIn request, make that cold outreach! The worst that can happen is no response. Ask for an introduction to someone else in your connection’s network, or ask a connection to practice interviewing with you. 

Peachey: Networking and conducting informational interviews are very important if you’re looking to transition outside of academia because you have the space to ask all kinds of questions that you can’t get a feel for by reading someone’s bio. I believe many people are open to having a short coffee or conversation with junior professionals who are interested in their line of work, and so it doesn’t hurt to take the chance and reach out to people on LinkedIn and ask for a few minutes of their time. The worst that can happen is that they say no. Talking to people and building networks takes time and effort, and it’s not something you can cram for at the last minute. I also always reference sociologist Mark Granovetter’s 1973 paper, “The Strength of Weak Ties,” in which he found that weak ties (i.e., casual connections and loose acquaintances) were more helpful than strong ties in securing employment. In other words, having larger networks can help lead you to more opportunities—or additional connections at companies or organizations where you might want to work—than you might have found otherwise.