a life science recruiters to writing a cv & targeting positions in industry taylorollinson...

A Life Science Recruiters to writing a CV& targeting positions in industry

taylorollinson

s c i e n t i fi c r e c r u i t m e n t

What we hope you’ll take away:• How to write a CV to target Life Science positions in Industry• How to approach your job search

So, who are:Tom Fowler Richard Taylor

BSc BSc, MSc, CPP

5yrs in Headhunting for the Life Science 15 yrs in Scientific Recruitment

& Pharmaceutical Sector Specialise in Life Science Sales

We cover temporary & permanent opportunities within:

• Laboratory & technical

• QA & Regulatory

• Scientific Sales & Marketing

Offices in Manchester, Oxford and London

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- How to write a CV - Targeting positions in Industry

- Content - Boolean Searching

- Do’s & Don’ts - LinkedIn & Social Media

- What Else & when to apply - Recruitment Agencies

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How to write a CV

It’s easy to worry too much about your CV, but you shouldn’t. It’s a documentation of your career, and you’re the expert on it. Most CVs we see are good, and the most important thing when applying to a new job is where you apply, not what your CV looks like.

Everyone has their own idea of what a CV should look like, but as specialists who look at science CVs every day, we’ve got our own ideas on how to turn a good CV into a great CV.

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What are companies looking for?

The first thing someone reading your CV should see is your speciality and level of seniority. They are often looking for a specific profile for instance:

• Science Graduate with PCR and mammalian cell culture experience. • PhD Graduate with experience using CRISPR to edit cells • Senior Scientist who’s managed experimental design and an Associate

Scientist in a time pressurised environment.

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A good CV quickly shows your seniority and speciality, we set off looking for this, and if we don’t find it quickly, your CV is likely to end up in the ‘no’ pile. If you have the right seniority level, we’re looking to understand:

• The timeline – What you’ve been doing, work or otherwise, in the last few years.

• Technical Strengths – What have you been doing alongside this speciality, how lab based, how independent and publication strengths

• Your personality – Sporty, Traveller, Additional Study

If you’re in doubt about what to write, think about what we’re looking for, and make a CV to match. Here’s our guidance on how to do your CV best.

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What is a CV? It’s Factual

We want:“Independently optimised and developed 8 colour FACS Assay” Not:“I did lots of FACS and like using it” It’s a SummaryWe’re looking to understand what you did, and what you’re best at. It should be easy for someone to read, and very quickly understand your background. PhD graduate CVs are ideally 2 pages.

It’s FormalThis is a professional document, and should be professionally formatted. Use formal language, and if you’re in doubt if something is not professionally relevant, omit it. Don’t include:• A photo• Date of Birth• Marital Status • Names of Children/Father• Details of Pets • Crazy graphics

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It’s Promotional Whether you’re going for a commercial role or a research position, it’s not the time to be modest. We’re impressed by people who put impressive things on their CV. If you’ve got good results, been given an award, stuck at something that was hard, put it in.

It’s Targeted You should review your CV for each job and each company. Make sure you provide clear detail on your experience for each point on a job advert, and research the companies’ other research teams, and put relevant techniques where possible.

It’s only the first stageThe CVs only function is to get you an interview. It needs to convey what you’re good at, but it won’t alone get you hired, and it’s your performance at interview which will make the difference.

It’s AccurateIf 80% of people make up things for their CV, they don’t do it in science. It’s really easy to be caught out on anything you make up, and it’s really not worth it. Put the effort in making sure you’re applying to the right company.

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Body of the CV

Format

There isn’t one perfect CV, and the best one for you is subjective, and depends on what on the experience you have. There are two types suitable for Science CVs

Chronological – The standard form, roles in order, and fully described in the text of the Role Skills – A more modern form, similar to the Chronological, however with skills listed additionally separately.

Roles

Each role needs the details:

• Company name / University Name

• Start/leaving date (month and year is fine)

• Job title

• Description of interesting activities. Dissertation title and achievements are a great place to start, alongside the techniques you used the most. This detail should all be relevant to people considering if you’ve got the skills for a job, so if you’re doing a PhD, it’s best to skip ‘Good at keeping a Lab book’ and ‘I cleaned my lab space’

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Example

We want:Masters’ Degree – University of Taylorollinson September 2014 – September 2015 “An in vitro study of Staphylococcus inhibition from unknown mould secretion”. We looked into the MIC of Staphylococcus colonies due to an unknown mould secretion, have submitted a publication to Nature and hope for the clinical use of penicillin in the future. I had a supervisor, but worked autonomously, and this role required extensive innovative experimental design and optimisation of microbial assays, particularly MIC curves.Not:Masters’ Degree – University of Taylorollinson September 2014 – September 2015“An in vitro study of Staphylococcus inhibition from unknown mould secretion” I did Aseptic Technique, Cell Count, Disinfection, media preparation, and MIC curve development. We first grew Staphylococcus then we found that some was inhibited, and investigated what inhibited it using microbial Assays.

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Level of Detail

The detail for each role should be changed on a role by role basis. For a research role we’re most interested in the technical detail and techniques relevant to the role. For a CMO role we need a balance between your technical experience and your commercial experience; bar jobs or other commercial exposure are a great way to show this.

Jobs become less relevant the longer ago they are, play around with the detail, or omit detail entirely sometimes.

This is a promotional document, not a list of everything you’ve ever done, so it all needs to be true, but don’t feel you need to put everything you’ve ever done.

Recruiters will be searching for you, and often search based on lab techniques. Put the main techniques you use on your CV somewhere, so you come up.

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EducationAll relative to how much experience you have. You don’t need to put you’re A-Levels when you’ve got a degree or higher, and you don’t need to put the individual units in your degree if you’ve got a PhD.

Hobbies Opinion is divided on hobbies, but we recommend you put Hobbies/Interests on your CV, particularly when you feel they demonstrate good qualities. Evidence working in teams, or holding roles of responsibility in your interests are really useful, and travel can also be a good thing to put here. With this, if you don’t feel you’ve got anything interesting to say, it can be better to omit it. Running an online business, attending a book club, and backpacking across Europe, yes. Browsing the Internet, Reading, and inappropriate hobbies, no.

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Career Gaps

If you’ve got a gap, give anything you can to show what you’ve been doing. Always non-scientific work that you’ve done if you’ve got spaces post-graduation. If you were traveling, relocating or doing a Coursera course, we want to see any evidence that you’ve had a daily routine beyond Netflix and Call Of Duty.

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Common MistakesJack of all tradesDon’t put every technique under the sun on your CV. No-one expects you to have done everything, and if you’re claiming to be an expert on every technique, we can’t see what you’re really good at, and if you’ve only done a PhD, and you’re claiming to be an expert at all of Cellular and Molecular Biology, we won’t believe you. Make it clear what you’re brilliant at, and what you’re competent at. PublicationsDon’t put a solid page of publications on a commercial CV. You should put a selection of your highest impact/most recent/most relevant papers, even if still pending, but the 4 page limit includes papers. Include posters, conferences and book chapters when they are important, but you shouldn’t put a huge amount of detail here.

PerfectionismShould that title be 2 mm to the left? As a scientist, your CV doesn’t need to be a work of art. Proof read what you write, but don’t worry too much on phrasing or layout.

Standing outScience CVs stand out because of your work and your publications. If your CV stands out due to formatting, it’s normally for the wrong reasons.

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BuzzwordsThis is an easy mistake, and not one to feel too bad about. Avoid using phrases that don’t make sense, or don’t really say much, and display the skills instead. Instead of:‘Great communication skills’ or ‘Great teamwork skills’Put: ‘Assisted on a successful grant proposal’ or ‘Regularly train and compete in the Taylorollinson rowing team’.

The Rest• Don’t put CV or Resume at the top• Don’t forget your contact details • Don’t refer to yourself in the third person • Don’t revolutionise the CV – Tables of skills aren’t needed

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What else? Content first

A great CV is based on content, not style, and this is only possible if you’ve got the content to put in it. If you have an active life of interests outside work, you should be able to put this in hobbies. If you need extra experience, an internship, industry collaboration, or a Coursea course is a great start.

Where to apply? Where you send your CV is as important as your CV. There are plenty of different paths to take from a PhD in life sciences, and it’s important that you know what you’re getting into, and what you’re missing out on when you take different paths. Do your research on:• Big or small company • R&D, Process Development, Contract Testing, RA/QA, Medical Affairs, Sales and marketing or

another path? • What comes with each of these careers after 10 years?• Will you need to relocate after 10 years?

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When to apply

Start looking for the next role 3 months before your current role ends.

When you do have a new role, have an exit plan. If you want to get to the top, you should view every role as a 3 year assignment, with a defined idea of what you will gain in those 3 years, and where you will go next.

Get on LinkedIn. The best roles don’t always come in when you’re actively looking. Companies don’t float or get a new funding round on your time table, so it’s best to always have an ear to the ground as to what else you could be doing. If you have a detailed profile and some contacts, you’ll find recruiters get in touch with you periodically with relevant roles.

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How to Target positions in IndustryTraditional Job search routes will include:

• Utilising friends, colleagues, industrial sponsors, visiting Sales Reps, networking events• University careers services• Milk-round and Graduate schemes• Job-boards (scientific and generalist)• Social Media• Recruitment agencies• Speculative applications (direct)

What I’ll focus on is how to get the most out of:• Job-boards & Social media (inc google)• Recruitment agencies

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Enables you to narrow your search criteria:In its simplest form, is uses a variable of:

( ) nesting: groups a set of words or phrases“ “ to search a phrase- or NOT excludes words or “phrases”OR requires at lease one word or “phrase” to be presentAND connects words or “phases” that all must be presentNEAR requires preceding words to be in close proximity

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Boolean Search Logic

So, to put this in a job search criteria:

PhD jobs in Molecular biology or genetics in the North West(google returns 1,730,000 results)

(job OR vacancy OR vacancies OR "careers") AND (molecular OR genetics) AND (qPCR OR (rt NEAR PCR)) AND (Manchester OR Cheshire OR "North West England" OR Merseyside OR Liverpool OR Lancashire OR Stockport OR Warrington) AND (PhD OR doctorate OR postdoc OR “post-doctoral”) AND UK -".ac.uk" -"linkedIn.com"(google returns 297,000 results)

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Boolean Search Logic

Google enables you to further define your search parameters:

limited results to a manageable number

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Google

SpellingManagers also search for Mangers

Electrophoresis search for Electrophoreses

Shift work search without the “f” (its more common than you’d expect!)

Build in bracketed groups firstBreak it down into chunks such as (subject) (skill) (sub-skill) (education) (location)

Expand or Restrict Use “–” sign or “AND NOT” to exclude results you don’t want

Examples are doc links (“.pdf” “.doc”) or sites (“.ac.uk” “LinkedIn.com” “amazon.com”)

Use OR to help broaden to search if too narrow

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Boolean Search Tips

Spend time to testing & developing the search so it:- includes all jobs that matches your skills & experiences- but excludes those jobs you aren’t interested in or suitable for

Virtually all job-boards are based on Boolean search logic

Once you have perfected your search-string(s) save, copy and paste

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Boolean & Job-boards

Social Media

Numerous streams but for this presentation we’ll focus on:

• In 2013 92% of UK companies use Social Media to recruit and 73% were successful

• For recruitment, LinkedIn is by far the most popular

• But be careful - 1 out of 3 employers rejected candidates based on something they found on social profiles

• 3 of 4 recruiters check candidates’ social profiles

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Profile (or CV)

• Add all relevant info (& customise)• Include a good description of your research and the techniques used• If you are looking for work – state it on your profile

• Choose a good “science appropriate” picture (of you!)Recent no-no’s include:• Pints of beer• Out raving

• Check for spelling errors!• 18,000 Mangers on LinkedIn• 9,792 Engneers

• Ask for recommendations

• Include Publications

• Get connecting• This is a business networking site, not social• All connections are good, they open up your network (& hide serial posters)

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Job Search Save search

• Powerful Advanced search option

• Based on Boolean logic

• Dominated by companies rather than agencies

• View profile of peers & managers

• Time stamped

• Normally posted by the Line or HR Manager taylorollinso

ns c i e n t i fi c r e c r u i t m e n t

Google

Google Alerts http://www.google.co.uk/alerts

Easily manageable daily email that crawls the web

Google Chrome extensions/apps

Page Monitor - tract changes on a page – perfect for monitoring careers pages

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Google

http://www.google.co.uk/alerts

Recruitment AgenciesChoose a specialist (in a specialist)• Work with agencies who understands your skills and the sector you want to work in

• Seek out the “niche” recruitment consultant who understand your area• Life Science Specialist - Regulatory Affairs - Scientific Sales & Marketing

How to get the most out of recruitment agencies:• Know what you want (and don’t) want to do

• Make yourself available

• Meet a consultant

• Ask what they can do for you

• Consider working with one to a few preferred agencies

• Develop a relationship with them

and hassle until they deliver results.....taylorollinso

ns c i e n t i fi c r e c r u i t m e n t

Contact us at:

[email protected]: 0161 300 9326

@sci_recruit

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