Your First Pharma Job

The Blue Sky Resumes blog has a great post, the 7 Mistakes You’re Probably Making on LinkedIn.

The pharmaceutical and biotech sectors have been enthusiastic adopters of this social networking site. If you’ve ever wondered how to find the names of people to call for informational interviews, or for personalizing your cover letters, this is your answer.

These days, LinkedIn should definitely be a part of your networking strategy but you can’t just put up a profile and forget it.   Louise Fletcher’s advice will help your profile get attention.

If you’re trying to land a clinical research job, you should apply these tips on how to write a clinical research resume to your profile as well. Be sure to sign up for some LinkedIn groups that relate to your career goals (e.g. the Good Clinical Practice group).

In a future post, we’ll talk about how to use LinkedIn to actively build relationships, and discuss the value of other niche social networking sites.

Informational interviews, Resources, Resumes & CVs, networking LinkedIn, networking, resume, social networking

There is a secret weapon that can help you get on the inside track in your job search, and it’s free.  A wide variety of pharmaceutical trade journals cover every aspect of the industry from early-stage drug design all the way to marketing. Trade journals are basically news magazines with a very specific focus. They contain articles and advertising content that is highly targeted to specific industry niches.  For example, Applied Clinical Trials is focused on clinical research professionals and the challenges of designing and executing clinical trials, whereas Contract Pharma offers content specific to outsourced drug manufacturing.

Many trade journal publishers offer free subscriptions — all you need to do is fill out a form. A number of sites (like this one) allow you to quickly review and sign up for multiple journals.  However, if you don’t meet the publisher’s criteria for a free subscription, don’t despair.  Most of these magazines make their content available free online.

So, how can reading trade publications help you find your first pharmaceutical or biotech job?

1. In today’s tough economic times, companies aren’t interested in spending a lot of time and money on bringing people up to speed on the basics of their business. Reading the trades can help you understand what’s really involved in the careers that interest you.
2. If you use the trades to learn the acronyms and buzzwords, and familiarize yourself with key issues and new developments, you’ll be able to hold an intelligent conversation with professionals in the field and make a great first impression at networking events, informational interviews, and in cover letters.
3. Not only do trade magazines often include job advertisements, but they’re a treasure trove of company information that you can use to identify firms that might have unadvertised openings.
4. You can follow up with the authors of articles to build your network. Expressing your genuine interest in their article may give you an opening to ask for advice and referrals.

So don’t delay — read a trade today!

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