Non academic career for PhD in Biology

This question has asked previously for PhD in mathematics and computer science in this StackExchange forum. However, the situation will be completely different for Biology graduate because of the skills we learn during our PhD. Math and CS graduates have lot of open options (?) looking at their quantitative reasoning skills, which are not enough for biology. We learn lot of logic, reasoning and statistics, but is that enough to survive in a highly competitive world?. So I was wondering: is there any alternative career option for PhDs in biology?

P.S: There are few options I am already aware of, like teaching in school/university, quality control posts at various firms, R&D in pharmaceutical companies. I was wondering if there are any other options which are not very obvious from our skills.

Update (18 Sep 2015)

After reading comments and answers, Following more options have raised

• Science communication


• Librarian


• NGO and firms for data analysis

Answer

There have actually been some studies (if I recall Mike The Mad Biologist's blog covered them awhile back) suggesting that biology graduate students are somewhat less happy than their peers because many of the specialized skills they pick up aren't immediately transferrable. For some aspects of "biology" this isn't true - for example, a mathematical biologist is likely just as qualified to exit into a quantitative field as an applied mathematics student, some fields of biology involve code, etc.

Failing that, some other options colleagues who are biologists have pursued:

• Government positions. Some of these are "academia-lite", some of them are markedly different, but there are several branches of government that hire biologists in some form.



• Teaching at the high school level. You're likely overqualified, but that's not a bad thing, and there are private high schools that very much value "X% of our faculty have PhDs..." as something to tell parents.


• As you mention knowing exist already, there are biotech companies that exist, and employ biologists in many capacities.


• Conservation organizations, private foundations, etc. may be of interest, especially if you're more ecology oriented.


• Depending on your research area, what you did, etc. you may be able to brand yourself as a "data scientist" - at the moment it's pretty vague as to what exactly that means.


• Science communication - university offices that do outreach, news organizations, etc.


• With the addition of an MLS, a career as a research librarian is also potentially an option.