You now, some one
said: "You are aloud to wish..." But the fact is
that there are much fewer specialists with 5 years experience
out of job to fill out their positions.
I understand your concerns regarding years of experience. This
is how we recommend to handle it: you should find in your
previous occupation as many elements of QA as you can,
and you have to claim in the beginning of your resume that you
do have some years of experience in QA (not necessarily in
pharmaceutical industry), there is no specialist that doesn't
have experience with quality systems... So your resume won't
look unacceptable right away because of lack of experience.
Then, you will add new projects with us building your
experience in work with preparation of practical projects.
Also, even though, some employers say they need 2-3 years of
experience it doesn't mean you shouldn't apply for these
positions. When we have advertised our QA ad you think we
got many experienced candidates? Not at all. Most of
candidates don't know what QA is about. And the same happens
to other employers. So, your resume would attract their
attention, if it will be edited according to my
advices.
Of cause, we are
not a huge company, and we don't have other choice than to
hire only the most experienced and successful candidates or
some freshmen, but who have a really high motivation!
Although, hopefully, we are not the only company who hires in
clinical research. If you would have had a chance to attend a
job fair on Sep 18, 2003 held by Clinical Research Association
of Canada, you could see how our graduates were quite popular
among pharmaceutical recruiters and employers.
The best benefit of studding with us is the fact that we are
not educational institution, but contract research
organization (one of your potential employers). Mainly, we do
research and programs for QA had developed on the basis
of training for prospective employees.
But look, sometimes just knowing some people in the industry
can get you a great job. At least, this is the way how
it works in Toronto. Once I read in Toronto Star that more
than 90 % positions are filled upon personal references, and
after 8 years
in this area I can say: it is true.
The most important
thing is that you get reference letters from us on your
project
participation adjusted to your needs and reflecting all
appropriate details
of your active participation in full-scale research projects.
Without proper
reference letters it is completely useless to approach any
serious pharmaceutical company in order to get a job as QA.
You get perpetual support of our centre staff when you
mention our institution in your resume as a place
where your potential employer could obtain references. Almost
always, prospective employer would make a call to collect
references in personal phone conversation. When your
prospective employer will call us for
reference, we would reflect all the details of your
participation and appropriate qualifications. This could
drastically increase your chances
to get a job in QA. You get active help in your new
resume preparation. Remember, your resume is the first step to
get a job.
And as you see, you get on average every two weeks letter from
us including fresh QA Positions that you can apply
for.
If you ask about our successful graduates. Recently, my
student got a contract with for 3 years full time job ,
and I remember him expressing the same concerns like you do
now.
Last week I got a
message from one graduate , he asked to change something in
the reference letter and to fax it to his new employer, and by
the way wrote : "thanks!" - he got a job. This
is the problem, students not always inform me when they get a
job. Last week Kelly Scientific Resourses (one of the major
Canadian recruiters that we work with) recruiter asked us
to find a candidate for entry position. When our secretary
called the graduates most were unavailable because they got a
job. Again, may be not all of them got exactly the job they
wanted, the fact is nobody was available for some entry
position. Today I got a message two girls that where my
students got a job in pharmaceutical company.
