After finishing a PhD and a postdoctoral fellowship in virology, Thomas Magaldi forged a career helping science graduate students and postdocs to plan their paths. He is now the career-services administrator at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Why did you go to graduate school?

I wanted to be a professor at a small liberal-arts college. I learned that I needed a PhD to do that.

How did that work out?

During my PhD programme, I started to question my goals. I helped to develop a career-networking group for science trainees at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and I explored other career options, including a science-policy fellowship. But every fellow I spoke to had done something interesting outside the laboratory; I knew that I wouldn't be competitive.

So what did you do?

While finishing my thesis, I decided that I should also pursue skills that would set me apart. I did an internship for the US Department of State on how the United States could help Mongolia to create a viable science-education programme. I spent my nights doing that during the last few months of my PhD. Then, for my postdoc, I chose a mentor who would keep me excited about science and who was in Washington DC, where I would have access to policy-makers. I volunteered to meet with my local congressman about raising the US science budget, and I taught as an adjunct professor.

How did all of that experience help you?

When my wife and I had a baby, we needed more than my postdoc salary and we wanted to be near family. I realized that I had already built a competitive CV for many positions outside the lab, but still requiring a science PhD and postdoc training. The specific scientific work I had done would not distinguish me, but my other experiences would. For the jobs that I wanted, I was ready.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity; see go.nature.com/5xbdz6 for more.