A Biotech Employer’s Job Seeker Wish List
August 21, 2014
By Angela Rose for BioSpace.com
If you’re thinking about looking for a new biotech or pharma job, you’re not alone. According to the recently released Randstad Pharma Engagement Study, 51 percent of biotech/pharma workers are planning to seek new opportunities with different companies and organizations within the next six months. Improve your chances of landing a satisfying and/or lucrative new position by ensuring you’re the perfect fit for every employer’s job seeker wish list.
1. Know your industry and market—and be ready to talk about it.
Your main reason for working may be the paycheck, but employers want to hire biotech professionals who are equally passionate about the way in which they earn those dollars. Whether you’re applying for a research technician job or a software engineer position, spend some time reading recent industry news, familiarizing yourself with the latest biopharma trends, identifying the major players in your local market, and learning everything you can about your potential employer. Commit a dozen or more of the details you dig up to memory, and prepare for a dazzling interview.
2. Polish your application materials.
The devil—or in this case, the job offer—is in the details. Submit a generic cover letter or resume with spelling and grammatical errors and you’re only wasting your time. On the other hand, polished application materials indicate you have taken the pharma or biotech job opportunity seriously and are worth a deeper look. Whether you want to further your career as a process technician or a data management director you must customize your cover letter and resume for the employer and position, proofread it carefully and—for best results—get a second or even third opinion on the effectiveness of your written presentation.
3. Understand your big-picture role—and be ready to describe it.
A QA specialist job is more than a list of testing and standard operating procedures related responsibilities. It’s an essential cog in a well-oiled biopharma machine. Think about the ways in which your daily responsibilities affect the organization as a whole. How does the execution of your duties relate to the larger mission of the company? Once you have an answer, your response to “What did you do at biotech X?” will be much more impressive. For example, you don’t just “Write, review, and revise standard operating procedures associated with the stability program and manufacturing.” You actually “play a key role in maintaining the productivity of the facility and the quality of its product.”
4. Practice telling the right stories.
Behavioral interview questions are increasingly common. While you can’t prepare a response to every “Tell me about a time...” or “What would you do if...” query, you can focus in on those that a biotech or pharma employer is most likely to ask by considering the job from his or her perspective. What skills are most important in a research associate job? The answer may be effective verbal communication, a proven track record of trouble shooting laboratory experiments, or a solid understanding of primer design. What situations would indicate a candidate has those skills? You can then prepare stories that address the situations and skills you’ve identified.
5. Above all, be honest.
Whether you’re prefer to not talk about why you left your last position or want to keep your former salary a secret because you want to negotiate for a higher sum, any response that is less than truthful—even if not outright dishonest—can come back to hurt you. For example, most biopharma employers will check in with your past supervisors in addition to running a comprehensive background check. They’ll find out why you left, if you gave appropriate notice and what you earned. They will also verify your education and credentials. If the information you provided does not match that uncovered, the employer will question your motives for subterfuge—significantly reducing your chances of obtaining the position.
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