DD14: Myth-Busting: “If I Don’t Have Policy Experience, I’m Not Qualified”

Dear Debbie,

I’ve spent the past six years in a biotech lab leading R&D projects. I keep seeing science policy and program roles that excite me — but they all say “policy experience preferred.” I’ve never worked in government or written legislation. Am I just not qualified?

— Hesitant but Hopeful in Houston

Dear Hopeful:

Don't feel bad, this is a common question that I hear. Many scientists, engineers, and health professionals believe that they need a policy-related degree, work experience, or fellowship before applying for a policy-related job. They view it as a "chicken and egg" problem.

Some of this, I suspect, comes from "academic brainwashing." The academic community tends to give the impression that the only worthy career is one similar to theirs -- pursuing a career in academia, producing journal papers in an academic institution.

They assess you on the skills they deem essential for that career path (both for you and them) and don't recognize or acknowledge the other skills that you have, which may be more important than journal article-producing skills in the real world.

This is not to say that getting a policy job is easy. It's not. There may be people who have more policy experience than you, for example. But it doesn't mean that your other expertise might counteract that advantage if it's particularly relevant.

My first job in DC, for example, came from my work on hazardous air pollutants. I had no academic background or paid policy work experience, but only volunteer experience with the League of Women Voters.

That was enough, however, for the organization to move me from Texas to DC. The reason? I balanced out the experience of their team, who had policy experience but lacked a sufficient technical background to solve a major challenge the organization was facing.

With that context in mind, let's examine some myths.

Myth 1: It's not that you are not qualified for policy positions, you just haven’t translated your experience into the language policy roles use.

You may have gained policy-related skills in your laboratory work, but haven't translated that into skills relevant to policy roles. Or, you have (or could) participate in voluntary experiences that provide policy skills. Or, you have (or could) write policy-related documents related to your laboratory work.

Myth 2: Policy experience = government experience.

There are policy-related roles everywhere, not just in government. If you don't believe this, take a moment to look at the 100+ job openings I publish each week in my S&T policy jobs newsletter (link at bottom). Similarly, there are policy positions not only at the federal level of government, but all levels of government.

These are just a few myths about jobs in S&T policy. I encourage you to revisit "Dear Debbie 1," which addresses five common myths if you haven't already done so.

Reframe Your Experience

With that in mind, here are some ideas for reframing your current experiences.

1. Spot the Decision Points in Your Work

Policy is about how decisions get made. If you’ve ever designed an experiment to guide next steps, built an evidence base for management, or helped leadership decide between two options, that’s decision support. Write it that way.

2. Claim Your Stakeholder Experience

You don’t need to have “briefed a senator” to show policy fluency. Have you coordinated across teams, presented findings to non-technical audiences, or translated data to achieve a business or public outcome? Those are stakeholder interactions — the bread and butter of applied policy roles.

3. Show Systems Thinking, Not Titles

Employers in policy-adjacent spaces — such as foundations, consulting firms, and associations — love systems thinkers. Describe how you’ve traced upstream causes, mapped dependencies, or balanced competing objectives. That’s what analysts, program officers, and impact evaluators do every day.

4. Borrow the Language of Policy Practice

Read a few postings and jot down verbs that keep appearing: evaluate, recommend, coordinate, brief, analyze, facilitate. Replace your domain-heavy verbs (investigate, model, optimize) with these when describing results. It’s not embellishment; it’s translation.

5. Build a Lightweight Evidence Trail

You don’t need a big policy portfolio. Two to three short pieces — a summary memo, a slide deck from a cross-functional project, or an op-ed explaining the science behind a public issue — will do. The goal is to show that you can interpret data in context, not to prove you’ve worked on Capitol Hill.

6. Rewrite Your Internal Story

The real pivot happens in how you introduce yourself. Instead of:

“I’m a scientist trying to transition into policy,” try: “I apply scientific evidence to inform decisions about programs and outcomes.”

That subtle shift turns a deficit narrative into a value proposition.

Example: The Foundation Program Associate Posting

So, how do you apply this in the real world? Here's an example from an actual opening at a foundation for a Program Associate, Health Innovation role. The posting mentioned:

“Support evidence synthesis, manage external partners, and contribute to strategy discussions.”

Here’s how a scientist might first describe their work — and how to upgrade it for policy-readiness.

Before

• Led multi-team experiments
• Wrote a journal paper based on research findings
• Finished research project on time

Better

• Led multi-team experiments to identify implementation bottlenecks.
• Synthesized findings into options for senior decision-makers.
• Coordinated timelines and deliverables across 4 external collaborators.

Good effort — but these lines still sound research-centric and operational. They emphasize process (“led,” “coordinated”) more than judgment or insight.

Best

• Synthesized multi-source data into actionable insights to guide funding priorities and partner selection.
• Coordinated external research collaborations to ensure alignment with program goals and deliverables.
• Briefed internal teams and leadership on implications of scientific findings for public health strategies.
• Developed options memos translating complex research into decision-ready recommendations.
• Facilitated learning sessions between technical experts and policy staff to surface implementation barriers.

Why This Works Better

• “Synthesized” → moves beyond analysis to interpretation — the core of policy relevance.
• “Alignment with program goals” → signals awareness of organizational strategy.
• “Briefed” and “options memos” → show comfort turning evidence into usable guidance.
• “Facilitated learning sessions” → highlights stakeholder management, a must-have for program and partnership roles.
• Taken together, these verbs recast the applicant as someone who informs and enables decisions, rather than just executing projects.

Final Tips

Here are some common pitfalls:

• Treating “policy” as a destination, not a skillset.
• Waiting until you have “official” experience before applying.
• Overloading your résumé with technical jargon.

What Can You Do Today?

Choose one of your past projects and write a two-sentence summary that answers: What decision did this inform? Who benefited? That’s your first line of policy experience.

My Final Thought

Finding an S&T policy job is challenging and highly competitive, Hesitant but Hopeful in Houston. Still, you do yourself a disservice if you don't apply to positions of interest to you simply because you believe you lack a sufficient policy background.

Hope this helps! Let me know either way!

— Debbie

I hope you find this newsletter useful.

If you have a question you'd like me to consider answering for the "Dear Debbie" newsletter, please send me a DM here on LinkedIn or email me at deborah@scitechpolicyacademy.com. All questions are anonymized. Your question should be just a few sentences like the one above.

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• S&T Policy Job Openings (Over 100 jobs each Friday)
• SciTech Policy Analysis 101 Mini Workshop
• Inform and Influence Opinion Newsletter

Until next week!

Debbie