Bio Job Blog : Bio Jobs : Biotechnology Jobs : Biopharmaceutical Jobs : Bioscience, Biotech Jobs : Bio Job Blog : Biocareer : Bio-Business Training, Biotechnology Training : Jobs in Biology : Internships in Biology : Internships in Biotechnology

Ome Ogbru, Pharm. D, CEO and Founder of Rxeconsult, a new networking site for healthcare consulting and jobs, asked me if I would be interested in being interviewed about the companies and websites that I started.  Of course I could not refuse.  So here goes:

RxEconsult: What is BioInsights and why did you develop BioInsights?

BioJobBlogger:  BioInsights founded in 1998 was originally a bioscience training and education company.  The goal of the company was to help life scientists get the training that they need to get jobs at life sciences companies. Today, BioInsights, Inc is more of a career development company that provides individualized career development guidance and counseling for life scientists. This is because the life sciences job market has changed considerably since 1998 and jobs are harder to come by. However, we still offer bioscience training in drug development, regulatory affairs and biomanufacturing. Additionally, BioInsights also offer medical communications consulting services.

RxEconsult: How do you distinguish BioInsights from other Medical Communications companies? 

BioJobBlogger: Unlike traditional medical communications companies, BioInsights offers writing services that heavily focus on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and various blogging platforms.  We also offer medical writing, copywriter and website content development services.

RxEconsult: What are the main challenges in your business and how are you addressing them?

BioJobBlogger: Training and career development services are not high priorities for job candidates or life sciences companies until a scientist is looking for a job or a company needs to hire new employees.  Consequently, it is difficult to convince both companies and jobseekers to be proactive and engage us early in the process. We are beginning to address this problem by turning to various social media platforms to get the word out about our services. Paradoxically, the recent economic downturn has been good for our business activities!

RxEconsult: What attracted you to social media and blogging? How can professionals make a living or develop their career by blogging?

BioJobBlogger:  I enjoy writing and always have had a strong desire to share my ideas and opinions with others. Blogging seemed like a natural extension of what I like to do. So, about 6 years ago I launched BioJobBlog (www.biojobblog.com) which is focused on life sciences career development topics as well as opinion pieces and reports on the goings on in the life sciences industry. While blogging is exciting and extremely cathartic, it is difficult to make a living as a blogger. The days of individual bloggers selling their blogs for millions to large media outlets are over.   That said, blogging is useful in establishing yourself as a subject matter expert which can sometimes lead to paid opportunities.  At its peak last year, I was averaging between 65,000-70,000 unique visitors per month @ BioJobBlog.

I built traffic to the levels I mentioned by blogging 4-5 times per day and staying abreast of late breaking events in the life sciences industry.  I was able to maintain that pace for a couple of years but because I blog for free, I could not sustain the pace any longer. The original goal was to reach 100,000 unique visitors per month and then try to sell the blog or form an alliance with a media outlet. Obviously, that did not happen.  I am now happy to log between 30,000-45,000 unique visitors per month by blogging three times per week or whenever the urge strikes me.

As far as revenue is concerned, it has not been much.  It costs me about $2400 per year in hosting and management fees and I have been blogging for over 5 years.  In that timespan, I may have made several thousand dollars but not enough to break even or turn a profit.  Blogging is truly a personal medium that is driven more by desire and the need to be heard rather than a profitable enterprise; unless of course you can get a major media outlet and blog for them.  That is really my dream job right now!

RxEconsult: What are the top social media practices that professionals should use for developing their career?

BioJobBlogger: I think that LinkedIn, Twitter and a personal blog can really help in terms of career development for life scientists.  However, all of these platforms require daily monitoring and care. Sadly, most life sciences professional spend most of their time in the laboratory and fail to realize that career development is vital and cannot be ignored if one wants to find a job!

RxEconsult: What healthcare gaps can social media address? 

BioJobBlogger:  I believe that social media can be used in real time for adverse event reporting and educational outreach activities. Unfortunately, most drug makers view social media as means to bolster sales or look for specialized employees.  That said, these are early days for life sciences companies and social media and it will interesting to see how social media evolves in the life sciences industry.

RxEconsult: Why are biopharmaceutical companies struggling with leveraging social media and how can they best use social media? How can BioInsights help them?

BioJobBlogger:  The life sciences industry is very conservative and adverse to change.  Social media is clearly a game changing phenomenon and most life sciences companies don’t know what to make of it yet.  Over the past three years or so, more and more life sciences companies have experimented with various social media platforms and are beginning to realize their potential for their businesses.  

BioInsights can help companies navigate the social media jungle because of our experience using social media platforms and also developing life sciences websites and blog content.

RxEconsult: What feedback have you received and how are your websites performing?

BioJobBlogger: I recently redesigned the BioInsights website and traffic has been down. Most of my focus is on two other BioInsights web assets---BioJobBlog and BioCrowd (www.biocrowd.com) an online networking community for bioprofessionals.  

I frequently get comments @BioJobBlog about its content and how helpful it is to jobseekers and other bioprofessionals. BioCrowd was launched about three years ago and we are still growing the community. At present, joining BioCrowd is primarily through invitation only.  We are embarking on a mass membership drive early next spring.  At present there are 4,200 BioCrowd members.

RxEconsult: If you wrote a book about how to develop and run a business what pearls would you include?

BioJobBlogger: No matter how good the idea is, it is all about marketing! Good ideas with insufficient marketing power can easily fail whereas bad ideas with mega-advertising can succeed.  As a scientist myself, I failed to realize how important marketing and advertising are! In hindsight, I would have invested much more money and effort in marketing my business rather developing content and building sleek looking websites!

RxEconsult:BioJobBlogger, thank you for sharing your views and discussing your ventures. Hopefully, you can return to give us an update. I wish you success and I hope you find that dream job!

 To comment on this article or ask questions  join the RxEconsult community, a free business network for healthcare consulting, jobs, and more.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Last week, financial analysts and social media enthusiast were all a twitter (sorry I couldn’t resist) about LinkedIn’s multibillion dollar IPO. There is little doubt that LinkedIn has emerged as the preeminent job search social media platform. However, there are a few “tricks” that jobseekers ought to consider to improve their job prospects and subsequent employment.

To that end, Paul Boutin wrote a great piece in the Gadgetwise section of the NY Time yesterday entitled “Three Things All LinkedIn Users Should Do.” It was so well written that I reproduced much of the post below.

“Post a photo – A few years ago, people who posted photos of themselves to the Internet seemed self centered. In the Facebook, era, though, an account page without a picture seems like the work of someone who didn’t put much effort into it. It doesn’t need to be a professional headshot. Just stand against a white wall in business attire (or, if you’re a software engineer, a Rush t-shirt) and have someone take a cellphone photo of your face and shoulders. To upload your photo, choose the option Profile -> Edit Profile at the top of your LinkedIn page, and look for the Add Photo link.

Think keywords – On the same Edit Profile page, take a good look at your resume. If your past employers gave you odd titles like “gatorbox wrangler” or vague ones like “senior administrator,” replace them with industry standard terms like “sales engineer” and “accounts payable specialist.” Otherwise, you’ll never be found, because no one will type those terms into LinkedIn’s search box.

Search experts call this problem “discovery.” Other people won’t find you if they aren’t searching for words that match your entry. Pack your LinkedIn profile with as many popular job terms as you can think of related to what you do. If you can honestly change a past job title from something like “Web producer,” to something more senior like “product manager,” it’s better to put it  in your profile, so you can at least get found and get an interview.

Ask a question – A LinkedIn spokeswoman told me that sending a question to your LinkedIn network is one of the best ways to remind people that you still exist, and are still looking for work. Click the menu option More -> Answers at the upper right of the LinkedIn home page, and look for the box that says “Ask a Question.” Get to the point: “Does anyone know of an office administrator position with a full-time salary and benefits?” These days that might get you a part-time contract, but it’s probably better than blindly sending out resumes and watching your inbox in vain.”

If LinkedIn is too overwhelming or more time consuming than you are willing to invest, check out BioCrowd, an online networking site designed EXCLUSIVELY for life scientists and other bioprofessionals.

Hat tip to Paul Boutin and the NY Times!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting  (check out the BioJobCenter)

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Regulatory affairs professionals (RAP) are by far some of the most important employees at pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices companies. Without RAPs, the requisite regulatory documents would not be filed and new drugs and devices would not be approved for marketing and sale.

Unlike other life sciences disciplines, a career in regulatory affairs is highly industry- specific and rarely taught at most academic institutions. In other words, if you are considering a career in regulatory affairs, don’t expect to get the training that you need in a PhD or postdoctoral training program; you will have to get it elsewhere!

A recent report compiled by the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS) entitled the “2010 Scope of Practice & Compensation Report for the Regulatory Profession” highlights the growing value and importance of regulatory affairs personnel in the life science industry. The report was compiled from the results of a survey of over 3000 regulatory affairs employees in 55 different countries.

The results show regulatory professionals are taking on a wider range of responsibilities, including becoming increasingly involved in critical business functions. Despite the economic downturn since the previous survey in 2008, overall compensation continued on an upward trend, although it grew at a slightly slower pace. The report also points to the continuing globalization of the profession, increased involvement with multiple product types and 6% higher compensation for professionals with Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC).

Other important findings included in RAPS’ report include:

• US respondents with the RAC credential reported average total compensation that was 6% higher than their peers without the RAC. Forty-four percent of all survey respondents are RAC certified.
• The percentage of RACs is especially high in Canada (54%) and the US (47.2%). A little more than 21% of European-based respondents reported having the RAC.
• Overall, about 34% of respondents said they were involved in comparative effectiveness research and reimbursement, up from 23% in 2008.
• Half of all senior-level respondents reported being involved in government affairs.
• About 70% of respondents said their work is either global in nature or focused on multiple regions of the world.
• More than 68% reported involvement with multiple product types, a 6.3% increase from 2008.
• Overall, just 5.7% reported working with biosimilars, a product category that was added to the survey for the first time, but 22% of respondents from Asia and Latin America reported involvement with biosimilars.
• Nearly all respondents have a university degree; many have advanced degrees. The percentage of respondents whose highest degree earned is a master’s is up to 37.5%, a 17.2% increase from 2008. The percentage of respondents with MBAs and postgraduate certificates also increased.
• Respondents reported significant professional experience outside regulatory, an indication that many have transitioned into regulatory from another, related field. Most have educational backgrounds in life sciences, clinical sciences or engineering.

If this sounds like a career option for you, I highly recommend that you visit the RAPS website. If you already have a PhD, masters’ degree or even a bachelor’s degree, getting RAC certification will certainly increase the likelihood of landing a regulatory affairs job in the life sciences industry. One caveat: the RAPS courses are not inexpensive and may require a substantial amount of time in order to pass the RAC examination.

If the RAC route doesn’t seem realistic or reasonable, try getting an entry-level job with the US Food and Drug Administration. Being an ex-agency employee will guarantee employment in the life sciences industry until you retire!

Until next time....

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Last month, while I was presenting my seminar “Interviewing Insights and Tips: Winning That Next Job” at the Experimental Biology Meeting in New Orleans, LA, I realized that I hadn’t covered what to wear to a job interview. Until the meeting, I didn’t think I had to  mention— that while interviewing men—must wear suits (and appropriately-colored, professional-looking shoes) and women should wear suits with pants (or a skirt with an appropriate length) and shoes with reasonable heels (usually less than 3 inches). I saw more cleavage, bare thighs and high heels, not to mention men with atrocious footwear choices at the meeting than I care to admit. Not that I am a prude or complaining about the cleavage, thighs or high heels that I observed—what red-blooded American male would?  That said, it is vitally important to remember that there are professional dress codes that everyone is expected to adhere to while on the job or at national, regional or local professional meetings.

Phyllis Korrki, who writes the Career Couch for the New York Times, wrote a great piece on professional attire in this past Sunday’s Times that I think every prospective job candidate or employee ought to read. And, when it comes to cleavage, exposed thighs and high heels in professional settings she had recommendations similar to mine. She wrote “Women think they have to dress sexy to get noticed in the work world. It’s what they see on campus and what they see on TV and in movies. Cleavage is not a corporate look or what you want to be remembered for. The same goes for very short skirts and extremely high heels. Also, make sure the top of your thong, if you wear one, doesn’t show above your pants.” 

For you guys, as a rule of thumb, wear black shoes with gray, blue and black suits and brown shoes with all others. It doesn’t get much easier than that!

While we scientists are trained to ignore appearance and not pay attention to dress codes—the reality is—the way you look may make the difference between having a job or not!

Until next time...

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

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!!!!!

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link