Interviewing

An effective job search strategy has core fundamentals that set apart the best candidates. Learning how to build relationships and communicate effectively with recruiters to build career-long partnerships will give you an advantage in your industry job search. Knowing how to present yourself, your transferable skills, and your career goals to recruiters while avoiding these 5 mistakes will help you get the job you want that much faster.

PhDs leaving academia often find their first industry interview unnerving. It’s nothing like a postdoc interview. Your resume and published work might have advanced your career in the past, but these items alone will not be enough to get you hired into industry. Top industry recruiters have a predetermined set of guidelines for how PhDs should approach industry interviews. By following these interview preparation tips, you will increase your chances of getting hired into the position of your choice. Here are 7 non-academic interview tips according to top industry recruiters.

Interviewing for a job you’re really interested in is nerve-wracking. One wrong answer and you can completely fail the interview. The only way to set yourself up for success is by being well-prepared with answers to all the types of questions you will be asked during an industry interview. Being prepared with answers to these questions will not only help you diffuse pre-interview nerves, but also set you apart from every other PhD job candidate.

Having a job search strategy is the only way a Life Science PhD will be successful in landing a top industry position. Without a strategy, their experience in academia merely translates to an entry-level job working for someone with half their qualifications. Getting a top job in industry means investing in an organized, consistent approach to prove you are worthy of the industry job you deserve. Here are 5 strategies that will help you transition into a top Life Science position in industry.

Getting an industry interview isn’t easy. When you’re offered an interview, it means you’ve put your resume into the hands of a decision-maker through a referral or through other means. Now, it’s all on you to prove that you’re more than just your achievements on paper. It’s all on you to prove you’re the right person for the job and the right fit for the team. This means performing well during an industry interview and avoiding the 5 biggest industry interview mistakes. Here’s how.

Being invited to a site visit means you only have one or two other job candidates in between you and getting a job offer. During your site visit, you must convey your valid interest for the position. The only way to do this is to prepare the right questions to ask before, during, and after your interview. Asking the right questions impresses hiring managers and also helps you assess your fit for the position and company. Here’s how.

Industry interviews are very different from the academic interviews you once prepared for. Technical skills matter very little at the interview stage. Hiring managers are looking for you to demonstrate your critical thinking, communication, interpersonal, organizational and management skills, to name a few. You need to effectively demonstrate these transferable skills while showing that you are both personable and dependable. Most importantly, you must avoid the easily overlooked aspects preventing you from performing well during an industry interview. You must get comfortable with your own voice, practice answering questions aloud in front of others, and more. Here are 3 common…

Job searching requires strategy, self-control and self-motivation in the face of discouragement, setbacks and self-criticism. It’s not an easy process. A recent After College Career Insight Survey found that only 13% of graduate students have a job lined up before graduation while 74% do not have a job lined up at graduation. A study conducted by the University of Minnesota followed and analyzed over 70 job seekers who had high levels of expertise in their fields and found that 51% of them couldn’t face repetitive rejection. Here’s how to manage frustration during your career search and stay motivated long enough…

Having a PhD does not guarantee you an industry job. Too many graduate students fall into the trap of talking about their specific research niche when networking and interviewing for non-academic careers. They feel their strong academic record and long list of publications will get them the industry position they want. This is why it's so easy for biotech and biopharma hiring managers to glaze over your industry resume and say you lack real work experience. It's your job to show them how your academic experiences have prepared you for industry (even though they likely have not). If you want…

Phone and video interviews are growing in popularity among biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies, but they remain very unpopular with PhD interviewees. Very few people feel completely comfortable getting on the phone with a total stranger. Most of us feel awkward and can’t wait to get it over with. As if this wasn’t enough, add on the stress of trying to get your first industry job. Now, not only are you anxious about talking to a stranger, you’re also stressed about trying to impress the stranger enough to get hired. As the interviewee, you have to be able to quickly assess,…

Meeting someone for the first time activates both your amygdala, which is one of the few areas of the brain that receives information from all your senses at once, and your posterior cingular cortex, which controls your autobiographical memory, emotional memory, and attention. First impressions stick and having good interpersonal skills is the key to making a good first impression. The good news is you can improve your interpersonal skills any time by following a few simple guidelines.