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Times are still tough and unemployment remains high. This means that finding a job is a lot harder and will take a lot longer than in previous times. Because of layoffs and reorganizations many jobseekers may have gaps in their resumes or difficult to explain periods of unemployment. Further, it you have a physical disability, health issues, a criminal record or you are older, finding a job becomes even more challenging.                    

With this in mind, an article entitled “Get Hired Despite Red Flags in Your Story” by Susan Adams at Forbes.com provides jobseekers with obvious disabilities, troubled pasts or less than stellar resumes advice on how to present themselves to hiring managers. Much of the advice is obvious but there are other gems in the article that may be useful to some in particularly difficult hiring situations.

Getting Hired Despite Red Flags in Your Story

By Susan Adams

Debra Ann MacDougall advises job seekers with troubled pasts or obvious disabilities on how to present themselves to hiring managers.

When a job-seeker's challenges are highly visible, like some physical disabilities or a serious weight problem, MacDougall recommends a direct approach. Although the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits job discrimination based on disability, it's nevertheless wise to be upfront about a potential employer's possible concerns.

A client of hers who had lost an arm in a motorcycle accident would routinely answer the ubiquitous first job interview question — tell me about yourself — by saying, "You may have noticed that I have only one arm." Then he'd proceed to explain how he coped, using a specialized computer keyboard on which he could type 85 words a minute. "He had a positive, can-do attitude that inspired other workers," MacDougall says. He landed a job as an administrative assistant at a large company in Los Angeles.

Older job-seekers should also consider potential employers' concerns, MacDougall says. Hiring managers might worry about an older person's health, his capacity to learn new systems quickly, his ability to adapt to technology and his energy level. MacDougall had a 59-year-old client who mentioned in interviews that she enjoyed running several times a week and participated in discussion groups on LinkedIn. MacDougall also advised her to get an updated haircut, if she didn't want to dye her hair, and a fashionable suit. She was hired as a sales manager in Denver.

For job-seekers with less obvious physical challenges, MacDougall recommends what she calls the "make them love you first" approach. For instance, if you have a vision problem that would require you to use a special computer screen or a bad back that makes it impossible to sit through long meetings without getting up, she recommends keeping quiet until you get a job offer. Before accepting, let the employer know about your challenge. "Tell the employer about it, but tell them after they already love you," MacDougall says. She explains that hiring managers are always weighing the benefits and risks of new employees. You want to convince your potential employer that you have a surplus of benefits before revealing your risks.

For more serious challenges like criminal convictions, MacDougall says you should be prepared to talk about what you did and how you've changed. She tells the story of a client she calls Chuck who had been jailed on drug charges. Chuck had a moment of clarity and life change when he had to tell his 10-year-old daughter that he would miss her soccer final because he was going to jail. MacDougall recommended that Chuck share that revelation with potential employers and talk openly about how he had remade his life. She also told him to volunteer to take regular drug tests. He is now clean and working, she says.

Job-seekers with criminal records, who are HIV-positive or have alcohol or drug issues do have legal protections, and there are nonprofit organizations that advocate for people who encounter discrimination. The Legal Action Center's website is a good resource, and the federal government has a site loaded with information about the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Sometimes your serious struggles may be far enough in the past that you don't need to address them at all with a potential employer. For instance, if you were hospitalized for a mental illness years ago but you're now healthy and your work performance won't be affected, you don't need to discuss it. "The deciding factor is whether the employer will find out about it," MacDougall says. "If it's not going to affect your ability to do the job, because you've stabilized, don't bring it up." The same applies to drug and alcohol problems, she says.

If you've had a long period of unemployment, MacDougall recommends listing yourself as a consultant on your resume. Include both paid and unpaid experience. Nowadays, she says, employers are increasingly receptive to resumes that include long stints of consulting or freelance work. "They know what the situation is out there," she says.

Until next time...

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

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Orphan drug manufacturer Genzyme today issued a press release that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified the company that it intends to take enforcement action to ensure that products manufactured at its troubled biomanufacturing facility in Allston Landing, MA are made in compliance with good manufacturing practice regulations.

The agency’s enforcement action will likely result in a consent decree under which a third party would inspect and review the plant’s operation for an extended period and certify compliance with FDA regulations. Under a consent decree, Genzyme also would be required to make payments to the government and could incur other costs.

The Allston Landing facility was experiencing product quality problems for some time before FDA intervened and threatened regulatory action and sanctions against the orphan drug producer. According to the press release Genzyme will:

work cooperatively with the FDA to restore the agency’s confidence in its ability to operate the Allston plant at the highest standards, building on the progress it has made over the past year to address the manufacturing deficiencies at the Allston plant. This progress includes:

• Retaining a leading quality assurance advisory firm to help develop a comprehensive strategy and risk mitigation plan. More than 30 expert consultants from this firm are currently working at the Allston plant or at other Genzyme manufacturing facilities.
• Naming a new site head and reorganizing and strengthening the management team at the facility.
• Hiring two highly regarded industry veterans to serve as President of Global Manufacturing and Corporate Operations and Senior Vice President of Global Product Quality.

While this is not good news for Genzyme, it is great news for patients who rely on Genzyme’s medicines to manage their oft times devastating and potentially life threatening genetically-inherited diseases.

Until next time…

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

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A spokesperson at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that it decided to delay its decision whether or not to approve GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) anti-cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix. The agency was scheduled to announce its ruling Tuesday on whether to approve Cervarix, but a GSK spokeswoman said the review will continue. An agency spokesperson failed to disclose any reasons for the delay because FDA doesn’t comment on ongoing product reviews. This is the second regulatory delay for Cervarix in the past two years.

The delay comes as something of a surprise because earlier this Earlier this month, an outside panel of health experts voted that Cervarix appears safe and effective for girls and women ages 10 to 25. The FDA is not required to follow the group's advice, though it usually does. Cervarix already is approved in nearly 100 other countries, but has been delayed in the U.S. since 2007, when the FDA said it needed additional safety data.

An approval from FDA would allow London-based GSK to compete against Merck's blockbuster vaccine Gardasil, which has been on the US market following its approval in 2006. Based on all available published reports, Cervarix has a similar safety profile and efficacy profile as compared with Gardasil.

One of the issues with Cervarix may be the adjuvant use to formulate the vaccine to bolster anti-HPV immunity. While Merck's Gardasil uses an aluminum salt adjuvant, Cervarix uses a novel adjuvant known as AS04. The agency’s lack of familiarity with AS04 and possible concerns about its safety may be what is delaying the Cervarix decision. 

Stay tuned for further details!

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After months of complaints by university officials and scientific organizations, the US State Department announced on Tuesday that it is taking action to speed up the delay-plagued visa process for foreign graduate students and post-doctoral researchers.

For the past few years, foreign science and engineering graduate students and postdoctoral seeking to obtain or renew visas have routinely experienced long delays sometimes taking as long as several months. The problem became so acute that students and researchers who left the US often found themselves stranded abroad, not knowing when their visas might be approved.  Not surprisingly, the delays have caused enormous problems for American universities, which heavily rely on foreign nationals to fill slots in graduate and post-doctoral science and engineering programs. Over the last year or so, visa difficulties having discouraged many scientific organizations from holding meetings in the United States. Some life sciences researchers said the apparent reluctance of the United States to accept them encouraged them to seek work in other countries.

The State Department has hired additional personal to deal with the visa backlog but will not say how long it will take to correct the problem. A state department official indicated that they hope to handle routine visa requests within a two week time frame.

While never officially acknowledged, the Bush Administration intentionally slowed the visa process for foreign researchers to “guard against proliferation of science and technical information.” In other words, the visa backlog was likely intentionally created to prevent foreign drug companies and national scientific agencies from infringing on American intellectual property and patent rights—an ongoing practice that clearly frightened many of the jingoistic officials running the Bush State Department.

However, what the Bush administration failed to understand was that a majority of foreign students who train in the US want to remain here after completion of their studies. The visa backlog and its protectionist intent forced many foreign nationals to forgo their US training and return to their home countries to seek employment. This was beginning to threaten scientific and technical innovation in US laboratories because for the past decade or longer American students have shied away from science and engineering to pursue careers in business and computer science. Ironically, the Bush Administration’s protectionist leanings may have contributed—more than they care to admit—

 to the massive job cuts that have taken place at American life sciences companies in the past few years because of availability of a US-trained work forces in countries like India and China. This provides American life sciences companies with reasonable assurances that preclinical and clinical research outsourced to these countries will be conducted according to US standards. Further, it also provides foreign companies with unbridled access to a growing cadre of US-trained scientists that will enable them to compete on a head-to-head basis with American life sciences companies.

Fortunately, the Obama Administration, unlike the previous one, delivers on its promises and appears to be willing to work hard to restore science and technology to its rightful place in American society.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (it may now be possible for many foreign students!)

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