How to get to the top in industry

Posted on 30 Jun 2014 by Julie Gould

Contributor Scott Chimileski

David Proia, Erin Whalen, Vikas Goyal and Lauren Celano

The Career Paths in Industry Panel at the 2014 Naturejobs Career Expo featured three professionals from Boston area companies that have risen to top positions in the scientific industry. David Proia is the director of Cancer Biology at Synta Pharmaceuticals, Erin Whalen is a senior research investigator at Novaritis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR) and Vikas Goyal is a senior associate at SR One. Proia, Whalen and Goyal each have their own career path story, however they agree that working hard and showing initiative are key to advancement in the business world.

Proia always had a passion for cancer research, but he held several jobs completely outside of the oncology field before becoming a cancer biologist. Looking back on his career, he pointed out that gaining experience in broader areas of biology allowed him to learn about industry and leadership in general. His first jobs exposed him to a variety of managers and helped him to realise what management styles work for him. After working in a protein purification lab, another job as a contract scientist at AstraZeneca ultimately gave him the experience to enter the oncology field as a scientist at Synta Pharmaceuticals.

At Synta, Proia progressively advanced from scientist through many positions to become Director of Cancer Biology. He believes the key to his success at Synta has been his initiative. For young scientists, he suggested taking temporary or contract jobs to help build a toolset and a network in a particular field. Further, he suggested that once you have the job you seek, go above and beyond rather than doing the minimum that it takes to complete a task or project. For example, he recommended taking the next step whenever you can by designing follow-up experiments before they are required. “Simply give everything you have to your manager.” Continue reading →

Transferable skills and storytelling

Posted on 27 Jun 2014 by Julie Gould

Storytelling is a part of everyone’s lives, from childhood to parenthood, and even at career path transitions.

{credit}Credit: Arya-Marie Ba-Trung{/credit}

On Thursday June 19th I chaired a panel discussion on how to decipher a job description for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) conference themed “Transferable skills: added value for your CV“. The idea of the session was to help the MSCA fellows identify the transferable skills that they have developed during their day-to-day scientific research, and then how to relate them to the skills that potential employers are looking for. I was joined by three other panellists: Mark de Vos (Euraxess Copenhagen), Soren Bregenholt (Novo Nordisk) and Claire Hewitson (Copenhagen Business School).

Transferable skills are a hot topic amongst postgraduate students, particularly when looking for a new job either within, or outside of academia. It appears to be such a hot topic, because many fail to identify which ones they have, or how to properly communicate them in a job application or interview. The session at MSCA tried to show that scientists build up many of these transferable skills in their day-to-day activities as a researcher both in and out of the lab.

When you’re in a job interview, you are often asked questions like “could you please demonstrate how you are an excellent team worker?” Or “when have you ever had to deal with a difficult situation at your previous job?” This type of question is looking to tease your transferable skills from you . But you cannot simply respond with “I used my diplomacy and communication skills.” You’re expected to tell the interviewer a story about the situation, and how you faced the challenge using those skills. Telling stories on the spot can be intimidating, so it’s best to have a few up your sleeve. Continue reading →

A physician’s adventures at GSK

Posted on 24 Jun 2014 by Julie Gould

Sponsored content. This post is sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, and is written by Luke Devey.

{credit}Credit: Emma Oakman GSK{/credit}

It’s been nine months since I made the transition from clinical academia to GSK via the Esprit R&D leadership development programme. Making the move was a tough decision and my previous blog captured just my first impressions. So how do I feel now that the initial shock has subsided?

Breadth of opportunity

During my first role in Esprit, working as a physician scientist in the Experimental Medicine Unit, I’ve been exposed to an almost overwhelming breadth of opportunities, ranging from leading a team developing a novel immunotherapeutic to running clinical studies and participating in commercial boards and business development. I’ve found the organisation to be like a sweet shop of novel biology and exciting technologies, many of which have transformative potential. Of the areas I’ve needed to learn about, some have been completely unanticipated. Who knew that I would be expected to contribute to discussions of manufacturing design, assay validation or Bayesian statistics? As a result, I liken a day at GSK to a workout at an intellectual gym, and it’s hugely enjoyable. Continue reading →

Why Naturejobs is going native

Posted on 23 Jun 2014 by Julie Gould

Sponsored content, advertorial and in-stream ads are different types of native advertising. Buzzfeed are doing it, the New York Times are doing it. Native advertising has become a buzzword of late, but it is not new – marketers have made use of content marketing for some time and publishers have offered the platform for just as long. Naturejobs has already been doing it in print and online with products like the Inside Views. Now, we’re bringing native advertising to the Naturejobs blog. And we’re determined to get the balance right and explain the what, how and why. Continue reading →

Research opportunities in São Paulo

Posted on 21 Jun 2014 by Julie Gould

Contributors: Lynn Kimlicka, Prital Patel and Saheli Sadanand

Most of us currently associate Brazil with football, the Amazon rainforest, and Carnival. Add extensive, well-funded research opportunities to the list.

Brazil has a growing economy, with the seventh largest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world. In addition, it has a growing bioenergy industry and robust agribusiness. With the resources to perform cutting-edge science, Brazil is now looking to strengthen its scientific research community.

International work experience is becoming an expected entry line on researchers’ CVs if they hope to climb the academic ladder or gain a tenured position. Multitudes of organisations now aid scientists in seizing such global opportunities. São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), Brazil’s largest publicly funded, regional grant funding institution, is one such example. Continue reading →

The Nature Salary Survey 2014

Posted on 18 Jun 2014 by Julie Gould

Nature has launched its International Salary Survey 2014. Scientists and researchers in every country and at all career stages are welcome to take part in this third annual Survey. In fact, we encourage participation. We will use the results to identify salary and other career trends – spanning borders and multiple fields – that will inform you and your colleagues. Using data from this survey, our third in four years, we plan to capture trends over time as well.

The more people who take part in this survey, the more accurate the data will be – so we are seeking a high participation rate. We had close to 12,000 respondents in our 2012 Survey.

From the 2012 Survey, we learned that early-career researchers around the world, especially those in academia, were anxious about grants and other funding sources. Some were despondent and wondered how they could support their research – and themselves – down the road as effects of the global recession continued to squeeze resources. It will be interesting to see whether the after-effects of the recession still continue to affect the mind-set of researchers.

The deadline for this survey is 30 June 2014. Click below to enter.

https://survey.euro.confirmit.com/wix6/p1835297376.aspx

Participation is entirely anonymous; responses will be analysed in aggregate only and will never be associated with individual participants.

All respondents will have the option of entering into a prize draw to win one of three £100/$150 Amazon.com vouchers.

If you encounter any problems while completing the survey, please contact audienceresearch [at] nature [dot] com.

Destination: Science communication

Posted on 17 Jun 2014 by Julie Gould

Contributor Saheli Sadanand

Sarah Guadagno, Robin Lloyd, Peter Thomson, Julie Gould

What is science communication? Turns out that it can be a number of things, as revealed by an afternoon panel at the Naturejobs Career Expo. Peter Thomson, Robin Lloyd and Sarah Guadagno — all of whom have made careers in different forms of science communications – described the paths that brought them to their current positions, and held forth on the challenges and rewarding features of their work.

Peter Thomson is the founding producer of “Living on Earth,” an award-winning environmental news program that has aired on the US public radio network (NPR) since 1991. He now serves as the environment editor for the Public Radio International program, “The World.” “There is something about the human voice that is so elemental. It’s the way we’ve always told stories,” Mr. Thomson said in describing the appeal of radio communication. “Radio is the most intimate medium.” Mr. Thomson pointed out that environment reporting involves more than just a science component; he and his team of journalists must address other perspectives in their pieces.

Robin Lloyd came to her position as online news editor for Scientific American via a circuitous route. She got her Ph.D. in sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and after a few years in a tenure-track position, she realised research was not her passion. She then worked in a variety of different jobs (including a stint as a barista!) before becoming a locum editor at Scientific American. Her appointment ultimately evolved into a permanent position at the journal. Her job, as she puts it, is “to take the material that comes in from the writer and turn it into something compelling that the audience really wants to read.” In addition to planning and editing stories for publication, she manages the Scientific American home page. She emphasised that her job involves more than just presenting new and trendy scientific discoveries. Continue reading →

Contact Singapore: Translational and clinical science career opportunities in Singapore

Posted on 16 Jun 2014 by Julie Gould

Contributor Aliyah Weinstein

This article originally incorrectly stated Swaine Chen’s position as a tenure-track assistant professor there. In fact, he is a tenure-track assistant professor with NUS and an Adjunct Senior Research Scientist with GIS. The text has now been corrected.

Imagine going to the lab every day in a country with a tropical climate, whose main working language is English and whose government strongly supports scientific research. Singapore is ranked first in the world for ease of doing business, and in 2012 was voted as Asia’s Most Livable City.

Of particular interest to academic researchers: from 2011-2015, the government there has pledged S$16.1 billion (US$12.8 billion) to boost Singaporean research initiatives, and build more basic and clinical research space there.

That’s according to Contact Singapore an alliance of the Singapore Economic Development Board and the Ministry of Manpower and host of a session at the NatureJobs Career Expo Boston that was designed to draw the attention of attendees to Singapore’s research institutions.

Singapore has three medical schools: the National University Health System (NUHS); SingHealth/Duke-NUS, affiliated with Duke University in North Carolina; and the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, affiliated with Imperial College in the UK. Additionally, the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) is a research institute with government backing. Each institute has broad but individual research interests, and are accepting applications from interested researchers to fill their expanding laboratory space. Continue reading →

How to look your best on paper: Part 2

Posted on 13 Jun 2014 by Julie Gould

Contributor Prital Patel

During the first half of the Naturejobs Career Expo conference talk, “How to look your best on paper”, Lauren Celano spoke about the skills that should be highlighted in your resume for various career paths. In the second half of the talk, Celano elaborated on the differences between CVs and resumes, how to chose the right one for your application and how to compile your experiences in the best way.

Curriculum Vitae versus Resume

A Curriculum Vitae (CV) documents your academic career including publications, awards, honors, affiliations, presentations and teaching experiences in reverse chronological order. They tend to be at least two pages in length. CVs are common in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East for most job applications. In the United States and Canada, CVs are primarily used for academic and research positions or fellowship applications. For non-academic positions, a resume is generally preferred. Resumes are concise documents summarizing your qualifications, education and work experiences. They tend to be no more than two pages.

The key goal for each of these documents is to ensure that they are succinct. Don’t minimize any of your accomplishments; instead highlight the things you’ve done that are most relevant. Continue reading →

How to look your best on paper: part 1

Posted on 12 Jun 2014 by Julie Gould

Contributor Prital Patel

Driven by her passion to foster entrepreneurship and instill leadership in life science trainees, Lauren Celano along with Dr. Omar Amirana, established Propel Careers. Propel Careers acts as a liaison between companies and individuals with relevant skills. At the Naturejobs Career Expo, Lauren Celano spoke about tips and tricks on how to look your best on paper.

“You want to tell a story. All of you have done very important things, to be where you are. You don’t want to minimize what you have done, but instead you want to highlight the right details appropriately, so people can see that you are the right fit for the position,” says Celano.

When creating a resume or CV, assume that the decision on whether you get an interview or not will be based on a ten second glance at your document. In order to maximize the visibility of relevant experiences, it is a good idea to customise it for every job application. This is especially important because it makes it easier for hiring managers to immediately recognise whether or not you have the skills necessary for that job.

“Think about how you are branding yourself when you are applying to different places,” says Celano. As a young trainee, find some time to reflect on where your interests lie. This allows you to develop skills along the way that will aid in producing relevant experiences when you are ready to enter the job market. Ideally, your resume should demonstrate long-standing interests in a particular field of interest rather than applying to a non-academic position as a default option. Here is a list of various roles and the skills and experiences that you want to be able to highlight:

Business Development:Emphasising activities undertaken to expand your business skills can be beneficial when applying to business development positions. Ideally, internships at tech-transfer offices and start-ups, as well as practical experience in conceptualising business development plans should be highlighted. Enrolling into relevant business courses can expand your knowledge base while also demonstrating your interests positively to potential employers. Continue reading →

Naturejobs Blog

a blog from Naturejobs

Monthly Archives: June 2014