The Biotech Ink Insider

Feature Article

Insider Insights
Part 1: The Job Hunt and Your Resume
by Susan Caldwell  
 
How can you protect yourself in these tough economic times? In this series, Insider Insights, we'll suggest some ways to market yourself. Important for staff and independents, marketing your name and abilities can be done in many ways. We're going to look at ways to influence your reputation. Many of the best writing jobs and gigs aren't on the job boards. Rather, they're filled by word of mouth. Not surprisingly, workers with excellent reputations are often the focus of word-of-mouth job searches.
 
If you're an experienced writer or editor, then you likely have a professional reputation. Maybe it's good, or maybe not so good. How can you enhance or improve your reputation?
Here are a few ideas: 
1.  Especially if you're a writer or editor, your resume should be pristine. That is, it should have no typos, misspellings, incorrect grammar, or other writing errors. If anybody's resume should be written flawlessly, it should be writers' and editors' resumes. Check your resume after each round of editing, to ensure spacing, punctuation, headings, and other formatting are intact.
 
2.  Your resume's format should be simple and pleasing to the eye. Because resumes are often input into databases, the simpler the format, the better. When you submit your resume to a recruiter or job board, submit it as a Microsoft Word file, and minimize the use of special formatting. Avoid bullets, bolding, italics, and other formatting that's lost in plain text files. Doing so will help avoid the need to reformat the resume before it is uploaded into a database.
 
3.  Include specific details about your academic and work history. You should include your name and contact information in the heading. The reverse chronological work history (most recent job first) often works well, and should describe your best accomplishments for each job or assignment, with start and stop dates. The education section should include your academic background, with degrees earned and the dates when they were conferred. A separate section can include any continuing education and training courses you've taken, with dates. Finally, list articles, books, and any other content you've written, with the full citation in a consistent format. And here's an important tip: include specific dates for activities, events, publications, and education, whenever possible. Those dates add to your credibility, and their absence can be conspicuous.
 
4.  Decide what your target job or assignment is, and tailor your resume to it. Use key concepts and terms for your target job in your resume, and show that you know the language in the field. Even better, rewrite portions of your resume to match the specific job description and keywords of the job you want. Though this sounds like a lot of work, it can pay huge dividends, because it's more likely you will be perceived as being a great match for the position.

5.  Don't lie on your resume. It's a bad idea for several reasons. Not only is it wrong, but if you exaggerate or lie, you may be in over your head if you do get the job. In addition, employers do check resume facts, and they are likely to identify any lies or inconsistencies anyway.
 
6.  Emphasize your best accomplishments. Make it clear when you got the job done in an effective way, particularly if it saved time or money.
 
7.  Ensure that your resume is always current and well crafted. Update it every time you have new material to add to it. The resume's purpose is to get your foot in the door for an interview. If you don't keep it current, you may miss a chance to include vital information, especially if you need your resume on short notice. For this reason, your resume should be ready to send to recruiters or employers at all times.

8.  There are many resources on the internet that will help you craft an effective resume. Take the time to use them! You'll be glad you did.
 
Copyright 2008 Biotech Ink, LLC. All rights reserved.

October 10, 2008    Vol. 1 No. 3           Published weekly by Biotech Ink, LLC

Greetings!

With our third issue of the Insider, we've added content that we hope will be helpful. Because many writers, editors, proofreaders, and publishers are looking for jobs or contract assignments, we've begun a series of articles on how to market yourself and your expertise. This week's article focuses on resumes, with tips to ensure that your resume is an effective door opener in your job hunt.
 
This weekly newsletter is more than a job list. We invite you to submit articles for publication in future Insider issues. Your article should focus on various aspects of the job market or consulting arena, and how they relate to medical writing, editing, and related positions. Please contact Susan Caldwell (caldwell@biotechink.com, or phone 650-286-9300) to submit articles, or for questions related to publishing in the Insider.
 
And please do send us an email if you have comments or questions about our content. We'd love to hear from you.  
  
With warm regards,
 
Susan E Caldwell, PhD
Managing Editor and Medical Writer Consultant
Biotech Ink Insider 
Manager, Publication Planning
Genentech
Salary is $110K - $130k with a $20 to 30K bonus
 
Position will be responsible for collaborating with Development and Commercial stakeholders to develop and manage strategic publication plans in support of Genentech's portfolio.
 
The objective is to ensure timely presentation and publication of clinical and key preclinical data at independent medical and scientific congresses, and in peer-reviewed journals.  
 
Key accountabilities include:
  • Lead cross-functional Publication Teams to develop strategic publication plans
  • Collaborate with Clinical Scientists to execute on publication plans
  • Manage relationships with communications agencies providing tactical support
  • Manage publication development processes and projects
  • Practice company and industry publication planning best practices
  • Stay up to date on relevant product and competitor publication activity
  • Participate in Commercial Teams to inform brand strategy and tactics  

The qualified candidate has demonstrated experience in medical communications or education, strong communication and collaboration skills, and project management experience. A science degree, and an advanced degree (PhD, PharmD) are desirable.  

Requirements:

  • Bachelors degree required; Advanced science degree, Ph.D., is strongly preferred
  • Minimum of 2-3 years previous related experience at pharmaceutical or biotech industries, e.g. medical communications, product marketing, market communications, whether internally or externally as a consultant
  • Excellent communication and collaboration skills
  • Good knowledge of product development process
  • Scientific aptitude in the relevant Genentech therapeutic areas/disease states
  • Project management experience
  • Proven track record of meeting or exceeding objectives and goals
  • Team leadership is strongly preferred
  • Prior involvement in publication planning is preferred  
     

Submit a word copy of your resume to: h.lawsoniii@pharmalliancellc.com

Howard Lawson II
Director of Recruiting & Executive Placement
Pharmalliance
Office: 973.200.8290
Fax: 973.215.2113
Toll Free: 888.98PHARM
 
Biotech Ink Insider Looks at the Internet's Job Boards Hands on computer keyboard
 
 
Here are a few job boards that may be of interest to writers and editors. They are less well known than some of the major job boards, such as www.monster.com, www.biospace.com, and www.medzilla.com.
Has very detailed job listings, and you can search within your field by annual or hourly rates.
 
www.wahm.com
The online magazine for work-at-home jobs. This site prescreens jobs from freelance.com and other job boards, to ensure that the posted jobs are legitimate.
 
www.mediabistro.com
This job board is described on their site as "A forum for talented freelancers to showcase their work, and a quick way for editors and other media managers to find quality people who match their needs." Registration is free, and you can apply for open positions on their site. On October 10, 2008, there were 854 jobs listed for freelance editing and writing jobs! This site's job focus is on various media, including web, television, and magazine content. There are also classes offered in a variety of media, many of them available online.
 
Many writing gigs on this site.
 
www.sologig.com
This site focuses on web content and software development. However, the number of writing assignments is growing, so the site may be worth checking out. There are also numerous clinical research positions posted there. 
 
Like Elance and Sologig, oDesk has many writing gigs available to search on its site. However, oDesk monitors the output of its providers by their time tracking system on the provider's computer. They take a 10% fee off the top, and the provider keeps the remainder of the payment.
 
As of October 11, 2008, this site had numerous medical writer positions posted. Although not one of the well-known job sites, it may be worth an occasional look.
 
 
Copyright 2008 Biotech Ink, LLC. All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER:  Biotech Ink, LLC, and the Biotech Ink Insider provide the Insider jobs list on an "as-submitted basis," and neither assumes responsibility for, nor guarantees the quality or accuracy of, any listing or response. All listings are provided as a free service and courtesy to subscribers and users, and users assume all risk in using the lists.