Why Aiming Too Low Is Costing You the Job and the Salary with Dr. Crystal Kitanovski

Are you applying to junior roles because you think you need to prove yourself before you can aim higher?In this episode of PostPhDirections, I sit down with Crystal "CC" Kitanovski, a chemistry PhD who is now Principal Data Scientist at Shield Legal, where she leads data science and builds AI systems from the ground up. Her path was anything but linear, and it took 1,014 applications before it worked. Around application 250, she asked herself a very PhD question: if I spent five years becoming an expert in one thing, surely there are experts in job searching too. That question led her to Alma.me, where she became only the second person through our Job Accelerator Program.CC's story is a reminder that struggling with the transition isn't a sign you're unqualified. It's the normal experience almost nobody says out loud.We talk about:Why she applied to L1 and L2 roles as a PhD, and why hiring managers found that confusing rather than humbleHow calling herself a data scientist felt like lying, and what finally reframed it as accurateWhy she never talked herself out of imposter syndrome, and what actually shifted once she was doing the jobWhy "we don't speak corporate" is a language problem, not an intelligence problemThe most underrated PhD transferable skill, which has nothing to do with programming: total desensitization to failureIf the job search is wearing on you mentally, emotionally, and physically, this conversation will tell you the truth about how hard it is, and remind you there is light at the end of the tunnel and it is not a train.Connect with CC on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/crystalkitanovskiLearn more about Alma.me and our Job Accelerator Program: www.alma.meFollow Elena: LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/elena-hoffer-/) | Instagram (@elenahoffer_phd) | TikTok (@eli_the_scientist)If you found this helpful, share it with a fellow researcher who's convinced the rejections mean something about them, and please leave us a review. 💙