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Eli Lilly & Co. is offering buyouts to 4,000 U.S. sales representatives to eliminate several hundred jobs and restructure its operations. Sales representatives will be offered four months' pay in addition to the typical Eli Lilly severance package, which ranges from two to 18 months' salary depending on seniority. The company had a total of 40,500 employees at the end of 2008.

Lilly’s best-selling drugs include Zyprexa for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Cymbalta for depression, Byetta for type 2 diabetes, and Evista for osteoporosis. The patent supporting Zyprexa, which bought in $4.7 billion in revenue last year, will expire in 2011. The patents on the company's next three top drugs —Cymbalta, Humalog insulin, and cancer drug Gemzar —are set to expire in 2013.

The restructuring is expected to start in mid-November and take effect in January.

Sales reps and R&D scientists have suffered the most during pharma’s recent three year downsizing binge. While many R&D jobs have been shipped overseas, pharma sales reps might consider a new career in biotechnology drug sales. Growth in biotechnology and personalized medicine drugs is expected to increase for the foreseeable future.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

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Another useful post for job seekers from Job Profiles.org.

The recession may be the worst in recent memory but modern technology can blunt the added frustration of searching for a job. While visiting countless employment sites and emailing resumes can be time consuming and fruitless, your browser may help make the search more efficient. Firefox 3 has proven itself remarkably popular, especially thanks to the add-on feature which allows users to customize their browsers to perform a wide range task specific functions. Check out these 50 helpful Firefox add-ons to make the job search easier.

Job Updates

While the Internet offers an unlimited amount of information about any number of topics, sorting though the details can be extremely tedious. These Firefox extensions will help you sort through the mass of information job sites regularly update.

1. Percula: Integrates your web activity with the monster.com database of jobs. Search a topic, find relevant jobs in that field.
2. CraigZilla: Allows users to monitor any section of Craigslist (such as "jobs") for updates. Even better, this add-on scans updates for customizable key words refining results further.
3. TwitterJobSearch: Search job postings made to Twitter in real time.
4. Indeed Job Search: Includes updates from every major job site. Also includes job postings from a number of newspapers, associations and individual company's career pages.
5. CharityJOB: For those needing moral satisfaction in their work, here's a database of jobs in the non-profit sector.
6. Search4Jobs: Integrates Monter's RSS feed directly into Firefox in an easy to use format.
7. Check4Change: This extension let users monitor web pages for updates at regular intervals established by the user. Unfortunately, it only works with open tabs but great for monitoring niche job websites that are short on features.
8. Update Scanner: Select the websites you want to scan for changes, Update Scanner does just that while ignoring minor changes.
9. DapperFox: Sites without an RSS feed are annoying. DapperFox eases the pain by "RSSying the Web," building its own RSS feeds for any website.

Social

Research has shown that pre-existing social networks often play a key function in helping people find a job. In the Internet era, the popular conception of a "social network" has changed significantly to include Facebook, Twitter and the like. Of course, actually keeping up with even a few networking sites is an easy way of losing real friends. These Firefox add-ons let users simplify their social networking into easier to manage applications.

10. Linkedin Companion for Firefox: Builds a network of 25 million professional into your Firefox browser. Network to find your next job opportunity or catch up with colleagues in your field.
11. Jigsaw Contact and Company Search: The online directory of companies and business professionals brings you this add-on making available its community of 800,000 members. It also has sections for job postings and networking.
12. Yoono: Consolidates all your social network and IM accounts in an easy-to-use sidebar.
13. Meebo: Builds IM capabilities for every major IM network directly into Firefox.
14. RushmoreDrive: A search engine for the Black community that also offers a top notch job networking features. Users can create profiles, search postings and create their own networks.
15. Find on XING: Simply highlight the name of a person on any Website and right-click. The extension then looks for that person on XING.

Research and Organization

Researching and keeping track of job openings can be more than a little confusing. These add-ons are perfect for condensing the clutter.

16. Notefish: Shave portions of web pages for later reference or share them with friends or co-workers.
17. DeeperWeb: Adds a host of features aiming to streamline Google search results. Separates searches by function such as "Answer" or "Wikipedia" searches in addition to a host of nifty features.
18. ReminderFox: A truly excellent online appointments manager, this extension is valuable enough to draw a salary as your assistant. Remembers important dates and sends reminders along with managing extensive to-do lists.
19. KnowMore Extension: This application will let you research the environmental and social impact of a company without interrupting the job search. Perfect for those with a moral streak looking to work in corporate America.
20. Zemanta: Makes content suggestions for your emails or blog posts as they are being written. This application will also make professional introduction suggestions as you write emails.
21. Add to Search Bar: Allows users to add Websites' search functionality to your search bar.
22. Hyperwords: Select text from any page and perform any number of functions such as search and translate.
23. SimilarWeb: As you visit and search Web pages, an intuitive sidebar displays related sites.
24. Surf Canyon: This great extension re-ranks relevant sites as users sift through search results from engines like Google and Yahoo.
25. MashLogic: Scans web pages for topics you're interested about then adds links to show you interesting sites.

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Amber Johnson at Job Profiles suggested that BioJobBlog readers might be interested in this post about Twitter and job searches. While I can’t personally speak to the utility of using Twitter as a job search tool, it certainly can’t hurt to give it a try in today’s challenging economy. 

100 Useful Twitter Tools and Feeds for Your Job Search

If you're searching for a job, surely you've learned about the extensive amount of tools available online to help you land your perfect position. But did you know that Twitter is the hottest job search tool out there today? It's true -- employers, recruiters, and job search sites are flocking to the service. Check out this list to find tools and feeds on Twitter that can be a great help to your job search.

Search

Use these tools to search for the jobs being posted on Twitter.

1. TwitterJobSearch: With TwitterJobSearch, you'll be able to find tweets about jobs posted on Twitter.
2. TwitterTroll: TwitterTroll is a really useful real-time Twitter search engine.
3. Twitter Job Finder: Find fresh jobs on Twitter from the last 7 days on Twitter Job Finder.
4. Tweet Scan: Perform searches and register for email alerts using Tweet Scan.
5. TwitterJobCast: TwitterJobCasts' local job search will help you see who is hiring on Twitter in your area.
6. NearByTweets: You can search Twitter by keyword and location with NearByTweets.
7. TwitHire: This Twitter-based job board broadcasts a variety of listings.
8. JobMotel: Search for Twitter web developer jobs on this site.

Connections

With these tools, you'll be able to find and manage connections with others on Twitter.

9. TwitterMind: With TwitterMind, you can seek out Twitter users from the companies you'd like to work for and ask them for referrals.
10. Twellow: Use Twellow to identify the leaders you should connect with in your industry or community.
11. Workhound: Find a directory of the best Twitter job feeds on Workhound.
12. Just Tweet It: Find other Twitter users with similar interests on Just Tweet It.
13. TwitDir: Find some of the top Twitter users in this Twitter directory.
14. Twubble: Twubble will help you find more people to follow, reflecting on who your followers are following.
15. Twollo: With Twollo, you'll be able to automatically follow users with similar interests to yours.
16. FriendOrFollow: Find people you need to ditch, or followers you've overlooked with FriendOrFollow.
17. Find People: With Twitter's Find People tool, you can find or invite the people in your email address books to join you on Twitter.
18. Tweepsearch: Search Twitter bios and find recruiters using this tool.

Organization

Stay organized in your Twitter job search with these tools.

19. TweetDeck: Use TweetDeck to categorize your Twitter feeds, separating contacts with job listing feeds, and more.
20. Twuffer: Use Twuffer to compose and schedule future tweets.

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Using Facebook and Twitter to find jobs is becoming routine in many industries including healthcare. However, the life sciences industry is lagging behind most others when it comes to social media and recruitment. Nevertheless, many companies and academic institutions are beginning to realize that Facebook (FB), Twitter and other science social networks are good source of qualified candidates for  those difficult-to fill job openings. 

Lindsey Pollak, a GenY career guru who, writes on the use of social media for job searching, alerted me to a post (via Twitter @biojobblog) that describes how to effectively use FB to find a job.  While FB may be useful to scientist looking for work, there are many other bioscience social networks like BioCrowd (@biocrowd) that regularly post jobs and career opportunities for life scientists.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting 

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I first thought about starting a social network for life sciences professionals about a year ago after joined I Facebook and LinkedIn and then learned about SciLink, one of the first social networks for scientists. Apparently, others had the same idea and today, there are currently, by my reckoning, no fewer than 20 social networks for scientists—each promoting a unique approach to networking for scientists.

David Bradley, a UK-based science writer who can be followed on Twitter as sciencebase, did me a favor by posting a piece oh his blog in early November that reviews many of these networks. Surprisingly, most of them were designed almost exclusively for academic scientists! I was thrilled to learn this because we created BioCrowd , our new social network, for ALL life science professionals not just academicians and industry scientists. David has graciously agreed to allow me to repost his article entitled "Social Media for Scientists" below.

Social Media For Scientists

Towards the end of October, I received a flurry of emails asking me to check out new social networking sites for scientists, I’ve already reviewed the nanoscience community, of course. I suspect that, the academic year having moved into full swing, there were a few scientists hoping to tap into the power of social media tools and the whole web-two-point-ohhhh thing.

This from Brian Krueger:

“I came across your blog during my weekly Google search for “science social network.” I thought you might be interested in my website, LabSpaces.net. It’s a social network for the sciences that I’ve had on-line for the last two years and I recently got my University to send out a press release about it. I think you should stop by and check it out. Let me know what you think, I’m always looking for suggestions on how to improve the site.”

LabSpaces has all of the features of a social-networking site with the addition of a daily science newsfeed, lab profiles, a science forum, blogs, and a science protocol database. Apparently, the site provides space for researchers to create their own user profile, add their publication history, upload technical research protocols, blog about science, and share research articles with the community. The site will soon host a free video conferencing service to facilitate long distance collaborations and journal clubs.

New Zealander Peter Matthews who works in Japan emailed:

“I am a full-time researcher from NZ, working in Japan, at a museum with many international research visitors. This multilingual environment made me very aware of: (1) the difficulties that non-English based researchers face when using English, and (2) the difficulties that English mono-linguals face when trying to access or publish research in other important research languages, such as Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, French, and so on. Hence my website: The Research Cooperative - http://cooperative.ning.com. Please have a look, join if you want, and please tell any friends and colleagues about this site if you think they might find it useful.”

Pascal Boels, Managing Director of SurgyTec.com emailed with a medical tale:

“Our website is for and by medical professionals. It’s a video-sharing site for surgeons and medical professionals to show off their newly minted skills. It makes it easy for medical professionals to upload videos or slideshows and share those with the community. You can search for videos by specialty, organ/region, tissue, etiology, operation type, or technique. Many surgeons perform original and high-quality techniques in their operating room and equally many surgeons would like to learn from these new and inspiring techniques. Up till now it was very difficult, time consuming and expensive to take a look in each others operating room and share practical knowledge, tips and tricks. Surgytec.com provides the solution for this problem. We are currently serving over 4000 surgeons from more than 124 countries, sharing over 400 procedures

Priyan Weerappuli had long been interested in scientific research but felt that applied research was guarded by private institutions while basic research was held within the confines of colleges and universities by overpriced journals and an oversimplification that occurred whenever research results were translated for more general audiences. His forum/platform will attempt to open this research to a general audience - http://www.theopensourcescienceproject.com

Some correspondents are claiming they’re approaching web 3.0 nirvana:

“ResearchGATE is proud to announce a major update: We greatly improved our search functionality and called it ReFind. The name symbolizes the importance of an efficient and result-driven search functionality within research in general and within our network in particular. ReFind is one of the first search engines based on semantic, “intelligent” correlations. It enables you to find groups, papers, fellow researchers and everything else within and outside of ResearchGATE without having to read through dozens of irrelevant results. Just type a few sentences into ReFind or simply copy and paste your abstract. Our semantic algorithm will then search the leading databases for similar work, providing you with truly relevant results.” [Sounds like my Zemanta/ResearchBlogging.org idea, DB]

One observer pointed out, however, that ResearchGate’s semantic search is maybe not the greatest thing to happen to search in a decade (especially, when we have the likes of True Knowledge Ubiquity, and Zemanta. Indeed, some users have said it is not much of an improvement on conventional search.

Then there was:

“ScienceStage.com - Science in the 21st century - A wide forum for science - on an interdisciplinary, international and individual level. ScienceStage.com, the only universal online portal for science, advanced teaching and academic research, bridges a major gap in scientific research and learning. ScienceStage.com is a virtual conference room, lecture hall, laboratory, library and meeting venue all in one.”

But, perhaps the best is saved for last. An Oxford graduate student, who has completed his PhD, Richard Price, has launched Academia.edu, which he says does two things:

“It displays academics around the world in a ‘tree’ format, according to which institution/department they are affiliated with. And, it enables researchers to keep track of the latest developments in theirfield - the latest people, papers, and talks.”

Price wants to see every academic in the world on his tree and already has Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking, Paul Krugman, and Noam Chomsky as members. But, that’s the hype what about its potential? It resembles BioMedExperts because both use a “social” publishing tree, but is that enough to engage scientists?

It will be interesting to see whether any of these sites gain the traction their creators hope for and how things will pan out as the credit crunch bites harder. “There are a bunch of them out there,” Krueger told me, “It’s kind of scary how many came out after Nature and I went on-line in 2006. There’s definitely a lot of competition out there, it seems like a new one appears every month. I wonder how the economy and loss of tech funding is going to affect the larger start-ups.”

Then, there are those perhaps more well-known social media sites and networks for scientists, that are listed in no particular order:

Nature Network - uber network from the publishing giant

BioMedExperts - Scientific social networking

BioWizard - Blogged up Pubmed search

Mendeley - Digital paper repository and sharing

Labmeeting - Ditto

YourLabData - socialised LIMS

SciLink - Sci-Linkedin

Myexperiment.com - mostly workflows.

Laboratree.org similar to Researchgate. Not particularly social beyond groups and sharing documents with collaborators, but email is better, and arguably more secure.

scitizen.com - collaborative science news publishing

SocialMD - Med-Linkedin

Ozmosis - Ditto

DNA Network - network of DNA/genetics bloggers

ResearchCrossroads - Socialised grant databases

MyNetResearch - Socialised LIMS at a price

SciVee - YouTube for scientists (see also Watch with Sciencebase page

Scientist Solutions - science chat

There are so many, I can barely keep up, but if you have any you think I should add to the list, let me know via the comments box below. Or, more importantly, if you have used any of these systems please leave your thoughts.

Meanwhile, my apologies if you were expecting a lesson in how to use the likes of Twotter, FiendFreed, Ding, Pyuke, or Facebok’s feeble science apps, to help you get on in science socially, but I thought it was about time I did some linking out to the web 3.0 brigade in the world of science, so here they are.

Addendum: Since David published this piece in early November, BioJobBlog learned about several other social networks for scientists including labroots, beaker, scientistsolutions and wizfolio.

Until next time…

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!

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Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) made a presentation this morning at the Credit Suisse Healthcare Conference that showed the company plans on saving an additional $2.5 billion in “productivity initiatives.” According to its new CFO, the company plans to squeeze the savings out of “headcount and related costs” — which  likely means more downsizing and layoffs.  Rumors have it that these job cuts will take place by December 1, 2008 just prior to when employee bonuses are traditionally decided.

To make matters worse, the Pharmalot blog reported today  that "the drugmaker earlier this week sent a voicemail to employees saying a 2 percent cost of living increase will be given this year to those who are meeting or exceeding performance standards."  The announcement has lead to speculation among BMS employees whether or not the same ceiling will be applied to the bonuses and stock rewards handed to Bristol-Myers CEO Jim Cornelius and members of his executive team.

Heavy losses incurred  by its former CFO who "bet the store" on mortgage-backed securities coupled with the recent, highly publicized failure of Jim Cornelius to purchase ImClone (to gain complete control over the multi-billion dollar Erbitux franchise) suggests that the future of the company may be in serious jeopardy.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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I am frequently asked by life sciences PhDs whether an MBA would improve their chances of finding a job in industry. And, my response is always “maybe— because it depends. I don’t think that getting a traditional MBA really gives you that much of an edge especially if you are an established PhD looking for career advancement or change.  However, if you are a graduate student or postdoc who has already decided that academia is not for you, then getting a certificate or M.S. through an established graduate program in biotechnology (Georgetown University’s M.S. in biotechnology or The New York Center for Biotechnology's  Fundamentals of Bioscience Program) may increase the likelihood of winning a job in industry. This is because hiring managers recognize that in addition to a job candidate’s technical competency, they possess an understanding of the business aspects of the industry—something that is vital for scientists to be successful in the biotech biz.

Recognizing this, Rutgers University recently created a program that they call ‘a mini-MBA for the biopharmaceutical industry’. In contrast with traditional MBA or M.S. programs, the mini-MBA is a 12 week long, degree-granting program that was designed to familiarize students with the nuances and intricacies of the business aspects of the biopharmaceutical program. The good news is that they are actively recruiting students to fill the slots available in their inaugural class. The bad news is that it costs $4,995 to enroll. That said, it may be worth the time to check it out because—in the end—the investment may be worth it!

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

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Let me begin with the good news. The Indianapolis Business journal reported today that Schwarz Pharma Manufacturing, Inc is planning a $12 million expansion of its Seymour, Indiana manufacturing plant and distribution center. When completed the expansion is expected to increase the company's employment in the southern Indiana city from 366 to 516 by 2011. The drug maker-a unit of Schwarz Pharma AG of Monheim, Germany-said it plans to begin hiring managers, business associates and production staff later this month.

And now, the bad news. The Pharmalot Blog reported today that the New Jersey-based generic manufacturer Par Pharmaceuticals is eliminating 26 percent of its workforce expected to save from $45 million to $55 million a year. Jobs will be lost in manufacturing, research and development, and other departments. How much more downsizing and job elimination can New Jersey take before it goes bankrupt? Maybe Icelanders can shed some light on that?

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting

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Online career sites like Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and Yahoo Hot Jobs have gotten so big and over subscribed that they are no longer useful to most jobseekers. Many career development experts have discovered that the large career sites tend to overwhelm jobseekers because of the enormity of job possibilities that appear on them.  Unfortunately, this seemingly endless supply of job opportunities frequently induces jobseekers to spend too much time applying for online jobs and not enough time exploring non-internet based job possibilities. While applying for online jobs is facile and may be emotionally-gratifying, it usually doesn’t culminate in many face-to-face interviews or job offers for that matter. This is because most online job applications are screened by software programs looking for key words or phrases and, if your resume doesn’t contain them it will not be reviewed by a human. Further, many of the openings posted on job boards are actually placed there by recruiters and contract employment agencies—not actual companies seeking to fill positions. Often times, recruiters post expired or fictitious job descriptions on the boards to “pad” their candidate databases with qualified applicants who can be used for future job orders. Finally, sometimes unscrupulous people/companies place false or misleading ads on the big job boards. Unfortunately, these people have no qualms about taking financial advantage of job seekers who may be desperate or “down on their luck

The declining usefulness of the big online job boards has given rise to smaller career sites like Indeed.com and Simply Hired.com which are driven by powerful search engines and permit jobseekers to customize job searches based on industry, geography, salary and job availability. Other companies like BioInsights.com and OneScience.com have built niche job boards that specialize in industry-specific job listings (in this case pharma and biotech). While these new careers site are more focused, easier to navigate and frequently yield better results than the large job boards, they too can be exploited by recruiters and unscrupulous would-be employers. 

The growing popularity of social networking sites represents an important paradigm shift for jobseekers and employers. Belonging to popular social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook or Plaxo allows job seekers to cast a wider net by taking advantage of the contacts or connections that their “friends” may have at various companies and organizations. Further, it is not uncommon for people within a network to pass on resumes or put in a good word to hiring managers on behalf of friends or contacts from their network who are seeking employment.  However, it is important to also point out that recruiters and contract employment agencies have also recognized the potential and power of social networks. Recruiters and HR specialists now routinely troll social networks (particularly Linked In and Facebook) for qualified candidates and don’t hesitate to contact “qualified candidates” whether or not they are actively looking for a job. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, hiring managers and recruiters are becoming increasingly reliant on social networks to screen and gather personal information about job candidates to assess their suitability for certain jobs. According to a 2006 study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, recruiters use social networking sites 23 per cent more than they did in 2006 to verify resumes, screen applicants and fill vacancies. Also, the study found that possible negative information posted on social network profiles—personal views, alcohol or drug use, sexually-oriented pictures or social commentaries— have a greater impact on hiring decisions than any positive information that may also appear on job seeker profiles.

The growing use of social networks by job seekers to find employment and employers and recruiters to screen job applicants has profound implications for people who belong to these networks. With this in mind, if you currently have profiles associated with your legal name on social networks like Face Book, MySpace or Linked In, I strongly recommend that are completely devoid of the following: 1) sexually suggestive or explicit photographs, 2) posts or photos depicting excessive alcohol or drug use, 3) any rants that you may have posted about your boss or a current place of employment and 4) personal information about your age, marital status, children or sexual orientation. Also, if you are actively involved in a job search, it is a good idea to upload a short bio or resume to your profile and to post any bonafide recommendations or career award and honors that you may have received. However, if you find the prospect of having to sanitize your MySpace and Facebook profiles unpalatable, then I suggest that you remove your name from your current profile(s) and replace it with an alias (your friends will still  know who you are) and build another profile with your real name for professional use only.   

We live in a highly competitive, constantly-changing world where even slightly negative perceptions about a person may mean the different between employment or not. Ironically, while the Internet allows greater freedom of expression, it also permits people with decision-making powers to more easily scrutinize our daily activities and gain greater insights into our personal lives. Consequently, the onus is on jobseekers to regulate or control what prospective employers may learn about them online. Put simply, the success or failure of your career may literally be in your own hands. That said, the next time that you update your Facebook or MySpace profiles take a moment (before you hit the “send button”) and ask yourself whether or not the new information “is going to help or hurt my career?”

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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I was reading Karen Ventii’s Science to Life blog today and she “turned me on” to a couple of new web-based tools that I think might be useful to people who work in the biosciences. I added Karen’s recommendations to a list that I was building and decided that it had reached enough of a critical mass to share it with you.

The first of these new tools is called graduatejunction.com, a research community primarily aimed at graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. According to its founders—a team of UK graduate students at Durham and Oxford universities—the intent of graduatejunction.com is build a community of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows so that members can stay abreast of research activities within in the community and to connect with other community members who share common research interests. Not a bad idea, considering that many graduate students and postdocs frequently operate in intentional mentor-induced research vacuums.

The second is called labmeeting.com. It is a novel, web-based tool that helps researchers organize (and search) personal PDF collections, share laboratory protocols, Powerpoint presentations and other scientific data with their lab mates. The software was created by graduate students at Stanford University and it aims to organize laboratory research so that it can be conducted more efficiently and at a faster pace (time is money after all). I think that this concept has legs and might be a big winner downstream (although security will be of paramount importance).

Another new tool that warrants praise is biomedexperts.com that was created by Collexis, Inc. In my opinion, biomedexperts.com is the “mother of all” publication search tools and literature management systems. Billed as the first literature-based social network, it allows users to quickly perform personalized literature searches (based on authorship and research interests) and then identify potential collaborators or competitors who have published in the same research areas. Unfortunately, while biomedexperts.com is a “monster” web-based, literature search application, the communication and interactivity between community members is extremely limited and almost non-existent.

Finally, for those of you who are tired of using PubMed’s arcane Boolean search algorithm to find relevant publications, you might consider trying a new free search engine (semanticmedline.com) that allows users to search MEDLINE using phrases or “conventional sentences." Cognition Technologies, creator of the site, says its “semantic natural language processing technology "incorporates word and phrase knowledge to comprehend the meaning and nuances of the English language." Although early reviews suggest that semanticmedline.com might not powerful enough for doing comprehensive science literature searches, it may be useful in situations when you are working on a time-sensitive project or you need to quickly find an article for this afternoon’s journal club meeting (that you failed  to enter into your blackberry or iPhone).

Check them out—they are all pretty cool (for scientists anyway-not that there is anything wrong with that)!

Until next time

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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Last week, I had the great fortune to meet (on the Recruiting Animal Show) a career development expert who despite her young age, has seminal insights into today’s job market and how to break into it. Alexandra Levit, a self-avowed GenXer on the GenY cusp, is the author of several books, including They Don't Teach Corporate in College, How'd You Score That Gig? and Success for Hire.

In addition to her book writing activities, Alex’s career advice posts are featured monthly in the Huffington Post and have been showcased in more than 800 media outlets including ABC News, the Associated Press, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, National Public Radio, Fortune, Yahoo!, and MSN. She is recognized as one of her generations (X or Y?) preeminent career experts who regularly speak at universities and corporations on workplace issues facing young employees.

Alex and I got to talking after Animal' show and I learned that like me, she dabbles in the pharmaceutical career development arena. That said, she graciously agreed to allow me to post a piece that she wrote entitled “Want to Become a Pharmaceutical Scientist? Here’s How!” (see below) that offers guidance for entry level scientist who are considering careers in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industries. Read and learn!

"Want to Become a Pharmaceutical Scientist? Here’s How!"

Talk about a career with intriguing possibilities. People entering the pharmaceutical research field today may be the ones discovering the cure for cancer or Parkinson’s disease tomorrow. Although the United States’ pharmaceutical companies sometimes get a bad rap, they routinely make astounding advances that save lives, and from what I hear, aren’t bad places to work either. If you’re a data-head who wants to use your scientific background for the greater good, you might consider becoming a pharmaceutical scientist. Here’s some detail about what breaking into the field entails.

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When I was a professional recruiter, I would always call my candidates the day before a scheduled face-to-face job interview to: 1) confirm the interview location and start time 2) insure that the candidate clearly understood the interviewing process and the schedule that he/she would be following and 3) to pump them up by giving them a pep talk reminding them how qualified they were for the position. Although most  of my candidates thought I was just me being nice, I really had ulterior motives (since I was a contingency recruiter and their performance could mean the difference between a paycheck or not). Further, I wanted to confirm that in addition to being mentally prepared, that my candidates were also physically ready for the interview i.e. they were wearing the appropriate clothes and shoes, knew exactly how they were going to get to the interview, made sure that all cell phones and beepers were turned off during the interview etc, etc.  As everybody knows (but is reluctant to admit) looks and image really do count when it comes to finding a job!

Many recruiters I know send their candidates an interview physical appearance preparedness checklist that they are instructed to follow before they leave their homes for a job interview. Of course, most candidates never bother to read the checklist (who wants to read stuff that you think is obvious?). And, not surprisingly, many candidates don’t get job offers because they were physically unprepared for their face-to-face.

Times have changed drastically since I was a professional recruiter. However, one thing that has remained unchanged is the need to be physically presentable and to act professionally at all times during a face-to-face job interview. Coincidentally, I came across an online “interview image quiz " that assesses whether you are physically and professionally prepared for your next face-to-face.

Check it out—you may learn a thing or two (and possibly get a job offer!)

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

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As we all know (or should by now) the face-to-face interview is the most important part of any job search. I and others have lectured and written exhaustively on appropriate interviewing behaviors and the requisite skills that must be developed to become a successful interviewee. However, it is important to point out that you are not the only person in the room during an interview—let’s not forget about the interviewer! To that end, little has been written about the types of interviewers that a job candidate may encounter during the face-to-face. As somebody once advised me, knowing your “enemy” can go a long way to insure success. 

With this in mind, I came across an informative article that describes 6 different types of interviewers that job candidates can expect to encounter during a face-to-face job interview. More importantly, the author provides insightful tips on how to manage each of them. As an aside, I have encountered each of the six types during my long and illustrious quest for my dream job.

If you have an upcoming job interview, I highly recommend that you read the article. It may make the difference between a job offer or not.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

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As much as I hate to admit it, I have been fired at least three times (usually for insubordination or rabble rousing) from jobs in my long and illustrious career. My guess is that anybody who has worked in the private sector has been fired at least once! Of course, nobody ever admits (unless asked) that they have been fired from a job. The point is that many people get fired and if you’re one of the unlucky people who get does fired; you will need to know how to deal with a “termination” on your resume. After all, once you are fired, you will likely need to look for a new job!

I came across a well- crafted post that provides ideas and insights about dealing with being fired and employment gaps when constructing a resume. Check it out—someday you may need to use some of the proffered tips.

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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Peggy McKee wrote an interesting piece on her Medical Sales Recruiter blog about personal branding and developing an online presence to find a job. For those of you who haven’t heard about personal branding, it is de rigueur and the hottest thing on the net these days. Put simply, you, the jobseeker, are the brand and to be successful (get a job), the brand must be vigorously promoted! Personal branding can be easily achieved by creating profiles on social networks like MySpace, Facebook or Linked In or creating your own promotional website using your name as the domain name.  However, there are a few things that you ought to consider before you embark on your personal branding campaign. Peggy offers a few pointers and recommendations when it comes to both personal branding and your online persona.

Employers and recruiters research prospective candidates online to get more information about them before an interview is scheduled or an offer is extended.  This can work against you if your MySpace page is filled with “party” pics (or worse), but it can work for you if you have an effective online persona. 

Web Worker Daily rounds up several tips for developing an effective online presence:

• Check your Google profile.  What comes up when your name gets typed in?  Know what’s out there so you don’t get suprised.

• Own your domain name.  Even if you don’t want to do something with it now, you might later.

• Develop your personal brand.  Set up a LinkedIn profile.  Write a blog.  Be a guest writer on blogs specific to your industry (maybe you could write a post for me - describing your job, etc).   If you’re not sure what personal branding is or how to do it, there’s a lot available out there.  Here’s 3 articles to get you started:

The 6 P’s of Personal Branding (Persona, Positioning, Packaging, Presentation, Promotion, and Passion)

Three Keys to Building a Strong Personal Brand.  “A good brand has 3 main features:  clarity, consistency, and constancy.”

Dan Schwabel’s podcast, Top Social Media Tools for Turning Your E-Brand into a Powerhouse.  Let Dan show you how to choose what to use.

 Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (personal branding can’t hurt)!!!!!!!

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Amy Quinn at Bootsrapper sent me a link to a plethora of job sites where you can post your resume or if you are an employer post a job ad for free.

Check these sites out at:

www.businesscreditcards.com/bootstrapper/better-than-monster-50-free-places-you-can-post-a-job-online-and-get-top-talent/

Thanks Amy!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

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