Ask, Ask, Ask

Well it's been a little bit since the last post and several things have popped up since then.

Concurrent with this career search I have to keep my current businesses rolling and progressing. That's been cutting into my time quite a bit. Got to keep the marketing programs up and now it's into the holiday projects. It's good to be busy and be able to grow my business in this economy!

Mainly I was chatting with a couple of my clients and independently they reccomended the same clinical researcher at a local hospital! I will be contacting him shortly and utilizing both contacts as references to him.

One of my very earliest (over a year ago!) network contacts sent me a couple of emails saying that their contact should be calling me shortly for an initial screen. This will be my first and it's very exciting!!! Of course I am going over my resources and practicing for a phone interview. I have researched the company's web site and made some notes. At least I will know the name of the HR person when she calls ;-) Seems like their primary areas of interest are in line with mine, so that's a big plus.

While things are very tight in the job market, my network is still working hard to help me out. How great is that?!

Whoa! It's been a while so let me catch up a little.

I've done a couple more informational interviews and as always met some really good people. One was a lady working for a company that provides evidence based health care tracks to hospitals and doctors. Actually my wife met her on an airplane flight and she talked me up to the lady. I chatted with her today on the phone and she was really friendly and nice. How cool is that? People do want to help and she was willing to take time out of her personal day to chat with me and do some follow up for me!

I've been posting to the web sites some more. Thought I had been logged into Stanford but turns out I hadn't been before. Posted to several jobs there.

One of my clients is in a clinical trial right now. So I asked her to send me the contact info for the principle investigator and now I will follow up and contact the PI directly.

All sorts of potential out there!

I finally connected with one of my interviewees today after we had missed each other several times. I was a little apprehensive in that I always want to make a good impression and we had failed to connect previously. However once we started chatting it was clear that my apprehensions were groundless. She made me feel very comfortable and was really an enthusiastic person. It made me smile and we laughed a lot. As always I learned some more about the industry and made another great contact.

So I think my take-home message today is that contacting these people in the industry has always been a good event and very positive. It encourages me even more to get a job in clinical trials.

This last week I started some informational interviews with people in the industry. I did some of these in August and am doing some more now. The most recent three have been just as informative as the ones earlier this summer. Everyone has some little bit and sometime a lot to say about their process getting into the clinical trials field and their path through it. Each has been helpful.


My first interview reinforced several companies to check out. Then she said to make sure my grammar and writing were in good form. I felt my close to the conversation was a little rough. So I emailed her back later and asked! She said that it wasn't uncomfortable for her at all. So just goes to show that what we perceive in ourselves may not be what others perceive. However I am perfectionist and I wrote out a simple close that I am now utilizing at each time. This makes me feel very comfortable that I am polite when I finish up the interview.


The next interview was not as chatty, but he asked me about why I was getting into the field. He was really interested. Then he directed his remarks around what I had told him. Later he emailed me several references and things to check out.


The last interview was via email. Not my preferred choice but she didn't have time to spend on the phone. She confirmed that it is harder to get started in the field without any direct experience but she was able to with an entry level job. Then after one year of experience she had much more opportunity to become a CRA directly.



All of these great people were generous and helpful. I learned something from each of them.

Multiple copies

I realized over the weekend that I had multiple copies of my resume' and cover letter in 3 different places. This was creating havoc for me and when I'd thought I'd made a correction it obviously was not corrected everywhere. So I've deleted the extra copies and left the originals on a flash-drive. I do have a back-up saved, but I won't be using that location for regular access to the files. I spent some time cleaning up the online postings.

I also started making more contacts with people in the industry via a referral list one of my instructors started for me. I already know a variety of people in the industry and these additional contacts just help me to get a better picture of what's going on and introducing myself to even more people. I received several good tips for doing this. Mainly to ask general questions to become informed and then to ask for more referrals. Finally to tell the interviewee "Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you." After all, I asked for their time and help.

Finally I realize that I am making many typing errors due to an old wore-out keyboard. Time for a new one. And just to be sure, I am getting some new reading glasses this week. Got to have good tools to do a great job!

This weekend I ran into a great opportunity to network at a party. Of course people ask what you do at these events. The guest of honor just happened to work in the industry and when the host introduced me she mentioned that I was looking in her field. Well that got us chatting and the guest of honor asked me for my resume' and cover letter. How gracious was that? I sent her my info the next day via the hostess. So you never know what will pop up.


I'll have my personal business cards soon. I created them on Vista-Print and ordered them up over the weekend. Probably see them delivered next week. While something is better than nothing (usually), some thought went into my process. I have designed many business cards (and other marketing materials) previously, but I always like to get a least one other opinion before I commit. We all have differing thoughts about marketing material and this card represents me in a small nutshell, so it needs to be potent. I got some honest feedback and I adjusted a couple of things - and left a couple of other items the way they were because I really liked them that way.


Today started out with a thorough update of my Linked-in profile. I imported my resume' and had to edit the page quite a bit. I wasn't sure about putting dates on all my old job and education posts. There seems to be some back and forth about putting age identifying information out there. I still haven't decided, and so it's on Linked-in but not on the resume' I will submit to job postings and print out. When I looked at resume's to hire contract people, I didn't want to know - so that I would limit any unconscious bias I might have.

I wrapped it up with applying for a couple more positions online. Each submission took time to compose a specific cover letter for. One asked for 3 references to be included with the initial submission. These were chosen specifically from a previously composed list for the position. BTW, I asked my reference people for their permission first and compiled a listing to choose from later, as appropriate.

03 September 2009

Today I spent 5 hours polishing my resume and cover letter some more. It seems like a never ending process. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so it's a little frustration to not be 'done-done' with something. However there comes a time to just launch. I did.

My strategy with job postings is to at least get a foot in the door. So an admin job is okay by me. Of course I would prefer the CRAssistant or CRC position directly.

Over the last year I have signed up with some job search engines and at particular company sites while I was going to school. Today I went to PAIRE and Biospace and updated things. I applied to some administrative assistant positions at PAIRE and had to modify each cover letter to the position. It felt good to get things officially rolling. I have started a spread sheet to track which sites and job postings I am applying to. Already it seems a little blurry and I like to keep things straight so I don't waste time down the road. Keeping track of logins and passwords will be necessary to. I change things up regularly.

Today I did a quick job at these two sites just to have some progress, but I will go back tomorrow and get into serious detail with the search agents. For instance the Abbott Labs site has an incredible number of locations. There are a lot of options for the search agent. I intend to create several agents so that when I get a notification I will have a good idea where and what it's about.

One of my instructors gave me a list of people to contact and keep my little network growing. I'll dig into that list soon, but I will get all my current sites updated and logged in. Then it's on to growing my network.

In my existing network I emailed people in the industry (and a couple outside) my new resume' and cover letter. It's a great feeling when people volunteer to help out with such a major project. No guarantees of course, but the support feels great!

I already have a small library of cover letters, but they need to be updated now. That's for tomorrow.

02 September 2009

Extraordinary massage therapist inspired by clinical research field….breaks through certificate program…earning “A” s and NOW..WHAT?

Owning and operating a successful massage therapy clinic has it’s challenges, and learning to navigate the field and job hunt in the clinical research field is definitely a new challenge.

Rather than enter the job search and “resume black hole” this blog is a learning avenue for us all! I'll post what I've learned and implemented, and then we'll see how it's turning out.


Here's some background:

For the last 1o years I have been a practicing massage therapist running my own clinic, and some time before that I was a software engineer. As I chat with my clients, I get to know a little about them and their work. Several of them are in clinical trials management or new medical product development. These initial discussions not only encouraged me, but I became very excited to enter the field. In August of 2008 I decided to enter the certificate program.

So the first thing I did was to research the field some more by chatting up and interviewing people in it to see if it was a good fit for me. I decided it fit my talents, skills, desires, and my drive to excel. From that starting point I let everyone know what I was up to!

Next I enrolled in a program to get a credential in my intended field of clinical trials. I excelled- receiving A's with only one A-. After all this is to be my new career and I want to stand out when it comes to looking at my qualifications.

For the last year at school I have continued to talk-up my expectations and be very excited about this new opportunity I have created. I really see it that way. Even in these times there are always possibilities. Now people are excited for me and are actively helping me find a job. This part really helps generate a positive feed-back loop for all of us!

A class project of mine was to interview four people somewhere in clinical trials or research and get some details about their path. What I found out is that they didn't start in the area initially. Every time they wanted to advance they took some form of continuing education. They changed their positions about every 4 years into something new. They are looking for a dynamic future in or out of the field.

One other help I have had early this year is that my wife landed a great job. Neither of us have been in a formal corporate environment for some time and it was very educational to see her process being hired by a major national company. Seems there is a lot of new verbiage for me to learn! But its all the same in the end. Employers are looking to maximize (aka "Leverage") their skill pool. It's a big risk with a new hire and I want them to feel like they won the triple crown when they ask me join the team!