Skills/pathway question (life sciences recruiting)

7 Comments

1. IntentionGirl630054August 7,2023 at 7:59PM UTC

   Congratulations on getting a degree during the insanity of covid! You are early enough in your career and time is on your side to interview for clinical trials operation and quality assurance. The fact that you have a job, even if it does not align directly with your degree is opportunity to show you can be successful in the workplace - companies like to know that with new grads -- however, the fact that you want to switch your focus is totally reasonable - and since you are still pretty much a new grad, it allows the company to get your experience along with your maturity at new grad salaries as you switch! Go for it!!

2. AnonymousAugust 7,2023 at 9:12PM UTC

   Thank you! Yes, i had zero knowledge about marketing when i took up this job and pretty much learned everything on my own but i figured i did not enjoy it. So i am looking to switch to clinical trials.

3. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistAugust 8,2023 at 4:25AM UTC

   Go onto LinkedIn and/or Indeed. Run searches for the positions you want. They will tell you right there in the job positing exactly what they're looking for including if any of them are looking for that coursera certification.

4. AnonymousAugust 13,2023 at 2:03PM UTC

   I used to work for Clinical Research Fasttrack, they provided students with all the knowledge they need to get their foot in the door of Clinical Research plus they provided internships where many of the students actually ended up getting hired at the end of the internship. It’s a 4 week program including internship. If you want to learn more about them, Google them and see if it’s for you. The career path can be extremely lucrative and offers many paths depending on what you wan to do. Wish you the very best!

5. Julie NeubauerAugust 15,2023 at 2:13PM UTC

   Many clinical research organizations hire people with marketing experience (and new grads) to work in their contracts and proposals departments. These are excellent places to learn how clinical trials are run, since you are handling the budgets and interacting with the project managers, and to make contacts in other departments (like QA). People often start there and move internally into other roles that better suit their interests. Moving within the company is also easier. IQVIA, PPD (now part of ThermoFisher), Parexcel, Icon are all examples of companies where this would be possible.

   It sounds like with your degree and marketing experience you wouldn't have to make too hard of a sell to get your foot in the door, as long as you have good organizational and people skills, and then you're off to the races.

   Good luck!

6. AnonymousAugust 16,2023 at 1:00AM UTC

   I work in clinical research. While certificate programs might be helpful, nothing can replace on-the-job experience. With your biotech degree and with an expressed interest in the field, you are a prime candidate for an entry-level role in clinical research. Teaching and research hospitals hire clinical research assistants and clinical research coordinators year round, but hiring increases during the spring and summer when CRAs/CRCs resign their roles to go to medical school or graduate school. CROs (contract research organizations) and pharmaceutical companies do hire inexperienced staff, but academic medicine is very welcoming to newcomers. Best of luck!

7. AnonymousAugust 16,2023 at 1:53AM UTC

   I forgot to note that most academic medical institutions provide paid training for clinical operations staff in Good Clinical Practice and Human Subjects Protections.