Your First Pharma Job

The Wall Street Journal explains the “job hunt black hole”, wherein you submit a resume to an online posting or corporate website and never hear about it again.

The article explains that when you send in your information,  automated “Applicant Tracking Systems” (ATS) swallow and dissect your resume.  It will only be seen by a live human being if it matches with specific keywords and skill categories determined by the software. If you’re lucky, you’ll get an automated email reply telling you that you’re in the system.

According to the article,

Until recently, it was easy for job hunters to game the system: The computer ranks you higher in the turnip pile if you tweak your résumé to include the same phrases found in the employer’s job description. But lately, spoilsport employers are ruining the fun, with sophisticated software that uses artificial intelligence. This newer technology can analyze the résumé of a top performer — say, Dennis in accounting who saved the company millions by eliminating doughnut Fridays — and find applicants whose résumés fit his “ideal candidate” profile.

Personallly, I think that this is hyperbole.  ATS software is a niche market, and the companies that sell them for thousands of dollars or more in licensing fees aren’t ashamed to exaggerate their functionality. The truth is, many of the applicant tracking systems out there are absolute garbage pieces of software, no more sophisticated than your grandmother’s recipe database.  But whether the software is good or bad, the fact remains that it’s no friend to the job hunter.  This is especially true for entry level candidates and people trying to make a career transition.

So what can you do? Is there a secret method to outsmart the software?  Well, as the article suggests, it can’t hurt to be sure you’re including relevant keywords in your resume.  But really, what you should be doing is avoiding the machine entirely.  If you’re entry-level, or a career switcher, then replying to online postings is almost always going to be a waste of your time.  Even if your resume makes it past the ATS system, it’s only going to land in the hands of an HR associate or internal recruiter who’ll reject it immediately if it doesn’t seem like an obvious match.

Instead, you should be making personal connections by building a network and engaging in a series of informational interviews.  Remember, only a tiny minority of jobs are filled through online postings — if you’re going to be successful, you need to focus your energy on what works, not what’s easy.

Uncategorized applicant tracking systems, HR, resume

Science has a new article on their careers site about developing skills during your education that can transfer into a career outside of academia.  Communication, leadership, and management skills are highly valued in industry and public sector jobs but tend to get minimal attention during the average graduate or post-doctoral program.

“The quality that is hardest to find in the science policy world is the ability to write clearly and quickly,” says John Marburger, Washington, D.C.-based science adviser to President George W. Bush. “Communicating technical material in technical journals does not give you the skills to communicate to nontechnical audiences,” he says.

The article suggests some resources, such as the National Postdoctoral Association, that students and postdocs can turn to for help in understanding and developing these skillsets.  Some of the suggestions in the article will be familiar to readers of this blog — joining Toastmasters or relevant campus clubs, for example.  The suggestion to take charge of a lab responsibility, like radiation safety, as a way of demonstrating leadership is also a good one.

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You may have noticed that there’s been a bit of a gap in posting lately.  I’ve actually just started a new job myself, so things might be a little uneven until I get settled.  Thanks for your patience!

Uncategorized career, communication, leadership, management, skills, transferable skills

Given the current financial crisis, becoming a quantitative analyst probably isn’t at the top of many “careers in demand” lists these days. But if you’ve ever been curious about how you might be able to put your scientist’s mind to work solving problems on Wall Street, check out this Science Careers podcast with finance exec Lee Maclin, director of research at Pragma Financial Systems. Or read about algorithmic trading and quantitative analysis at the Advanced Trading Quant Center… but if this is the career you’re hoping for, you might want to ‘hedge’ your bets until things get back on track!

Uncategorized finance, podcast, quant, quantitative analysis, scientist, trading

A tough economy has many students seeing dark clouds on the horizon as they look forward to graduating into a tight employment market. A recent Boston Globe article discussed the drop in on-campus recruiting sessions and the challenges facing new grads.

Fortunately, not all sectors of the economy have been equally hard-hit, and healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotech companies continue to offer some good prospects. The Globe points out that opportunities in this sector aren’t limited to students with a science background:

• Political science majors are finding work in healthcare policy positions at think tanks, consulting firms, and within the government.
• Economics and business students are in demand at the larger hospitals and drug companies in management and financial roles.
• Sociology and psychology degrees open doors to counseling jobs at retirement and medical facilities.
• English majors with good writing skills can find work in corporate communications at pharmaceutical firms, insurance companies, and larger healthcare providers.
• Healthcare Information Technology is a steadily growing field taking job applicants from engineering, information sciences, and web analytics backgrounds.
• Pharmaceutical sales continues to be a reliable option with great long-term opportunities for liberal arts majors with strong interpersonal skills.

Uncategorized careers, corporate communications, nonscientists

Genentech is one of the world’s most successful biotechnology companies, and has been named to Fortune magazines “100 best companies to work for” for 10 years running. their human resources department has put together a series of videos about working at the firm.

This video, targeted primarily at students and other entry-level candidates, offers career advice for biotech job-seekers from a handful of Genentech employees.

Of course, right now, Genentech is flirting with acquisition offers from Roche, which may have human resources implications for both companies.  But the advice in this video is sound regardless of what companies you target.

Uncategorized advice, career, genentech, video

When you’re looking to get your foot in the door and find your first job in the pharma industry, sometimes it’s difficult to know exactly what a particular job entails.

If you’ve ever wondered what a typical day is like for a clinical research associate, then you might be interested by the story of Ann, a lead CRA for the UK-based firm CDSS. When it’s time for a site visit, Ann begins her day at 5am and works through to 8 o’clock.

The site also hosts similar ‘day in the life’ stories by Clinical Trial Associates and a Clinical Nurse.

Uncategorized career, clinical, clinicalresearch, clinicaltrialassociate, CRA, CTA, dayinthelife, jobsearch

I created this site while I was working as a headhunter for the pharmaceutical industry because I knew lots of people were looking for advice and information to help them find their first pharma job.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to put the time into the site that I had hoped — and I was a little worried that my employer would think it was a conflict of interest.

Well, things have changed. I’m now a former headhunter, so I now don’t have any conflicts, real or imagined, to stop me from posting. I will try to post regularly to make this site a useful resource.

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Welcome to the site!

Yourfirstpharmajob.com was created to fill a need.  As a headhunter who specializes in recruiting experienced professionals for rewarding positions in all aspects of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector, my job requires me to understand what companies are looking for when they hire employees.

Often, I get calls, emails and resumes from people who are eager to be a part of this industry.  They have heard that working for a pharmaceutical company can be very rewarding.  Many are from recent graduates with an educational background in the life sciences, who want to put what they’ve learned to work in a relevant career.

Unfortunately, I can rarely help these people directly.  When companies engage the services of a headhunter, they are usually looking for us to provide them with candidates who have direct, relevant experience in the position being filled.

So, what is a person without experience to do?  I won’t pretend it will be easy for you to get your foot in the door, but there are things that you can do to meet people in the industry and convince them to give you a chance.  This site is all about giving you the tools and information you need to set yourself up for success.  Good luck!

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