Backpack to Briefcase: Navigating and Preparing for the Post-Degree Job Market

Transcription

1 Backpack to Briefcase: Navigating and Preparing for the Post-Degree Job Market By Jay Herson, Ph.D. Senior Associate, Biostatistics Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health December 19, 2015 Introduction This report is intended to help students in the process of finding a job after graduation and, in fact, throughout their career. It comes from an in-person tutorial that I gave with Paul Hutchinson of Career Services several times over the past decade. Due to student schedules it has become impractical to continue presenting the material in this way so we have gone to print. While this report was designed for our ScM/MHS students it will be of equal use to PhD students who are interested in applied rather than academic positions. Let me start by saying that I could not be more enthusiastic about the work of Career Services. Much of their material is online. They can help with resume design, interviewing hints, and even conduct a mock interview with you. Now on to my background. I received my PhD in biostatistics from this department in The department and the field of biostatistics was much different then so my training was similar to that of an ScM or MHS student today. I worked in clinical trials for most of my career. The longest academic stint was at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In 1983 I started my own firm to work with pharmaceutical firms developing new treatments mostly for cancer. During this phase of my career I hired and trained many newly-minted master s students so I know what employers are looking for in a candidate and I can often put students in touch with potential employers. I jointed this department as an adjunct in 2004 and I am involved in teaching, journal clubs, etc. Outside the department I am consulting on clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies. I think I can be of most help to students in one-on-one meetings but this report can give you some general things to think about as soon as you begin your job search. What kind of job? The most important characteristic of a job is the learning process. Whether it is your first job out of school or your fifth the ability to learn, be stimulated and contribute should be the highest priorities. Some jobs allow employees to work from home. This would NOT be a position to take as a first job. You will not get the training you need and employers usually have no long term commitment to employees that work exclusively from home. As an employee you would be looking for a position that might not be ideal for a 40-year career but, nevertheless, works for a three-year learning experience. You will eventually have to decide if you want to only work in statistics or seek broader opportunities after a few years of experience. In the pharmaceutical industry master s level statisticians are promoted to positions in regulatory affairs, product management, etc. In academic medical centers master s people can attain considerable subject matter expertise. I know a woman at MD Anderson who has been working as a statistician on lung cancer trials for the past 30 years. She is the go to person for information on different clinical trials of the past and present, drugs and their side effects, etc. Yes, she is a statistician but she has also attained prominence as an expert in the treatment of lung cancer.

2 Many master s students tell me that they want to work for several years and then, perhaps, return to graduate school for a Ph.D. I, in fact, did the same. However, do not think that you must get a PhD in biostatistics when you return. We have master s students who have gone on to get PhD in psychology, epidemiology, environmental science, gone to law school, medical school or optometry school and they tell me that they use statistics every day in their work. How to find jobs In the Internet age I find that students know more about finding jobs online than I do. LinkedIn and Monster are two services that come to mind. Also the employment exchanges at the annual JSM and ENAR meetings are a way of learning of potential employers. Generally those employers who file job listings on the professional meeting employment exchanges are looking for someone who can start immediately. If you graduate in May the JSM, held each year in August, would be a good place to go if you do not already have a job at that point. Our students have had multiple interviews at JSM. ENAR is held in March but close enough to your May graduation. Professional recruiters do not handle entry-level positions. However if a recruiter does a lot of business with, say, Pfizer he/she might send resumes to his/her contacts at Pfizer just as a favor to a good client. This could result in a position. Also, the recruiter might file your resume for follow-up in three years time when he/she assumes you have several years experience. In the appendix, at the end of this report, I have listed two well-connected recruiters and their contact info. Most large employers have their jobs listed online and applicants can post their resume to a specific job. Applicants can also post their resume in a file area with key words that describe the type of position they are seeking. Hopefully the human resources staff will contact people whose resumes are filed when an appropriate position opens. It is certainly worth your time to file. Where are the jobs? There are clinical trials and epidemiology/demographic opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry and academic medical centers. Under the Affordable Care Act there are careers opening in retrospective studies from databases and patient-centered outcomes. The federal government has positions at NIH, Veterans Administration, FDA, Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Health Statistics, Environmental Protection Agency, etc. There are companies that have contracts from federal agencies such as Westat and Emmes, both located in Rockville, MD. Another way to work for a federal agency is to become an employee of a contracting organization. This organization might be located in a distant city but you will never see that office. Instead you will be on a 2-3 year contract to work at a federal agency along side federal employees as well as employees of your or other contracting organizations. This is an excellent way to gain experience without having to pass the hassle of federal applications with points given to every demographic group but yours [or so it seems]. These firms will pop up in your Internet search or federal employees who you meet in your search might refer you to the appropriate firm for their agency. What are employers looking for? Employers are looking for: Team member especially ability to work with interdisciplinary teams How will your personality fit into this team / organization? Multitasking ability Problem solving ability Trainability Work under supervision handle criticism / evaluations Technical skills

3 Communication Skills Leadership Skills Interpersonal Skills Flexibility/Adaptability Do you fit into the current staff Do your appear Interested in the position as described I have listed team items first because employers know that someone coming straight from school has been in environments that stress individual achievement since they were 6 years old. Look at our department s website. Every week some student or faculty member has received an award for his or her own individual achievement. Do you ever see a team being awarded? This is why employers are increasingly concerned that universities do not teach the skills that are needed in the workplace. When you are interviewed and when you write your resume be sure to indicate any team you have been a part of. It could be in sports, band / orchestra, theater, volunteer work, even a summer job in fast food where you worked with others to keep the burgers rolling during the noontime rush will impress employers more than winning the prize for best grade on the first year exam. Trust me. The interview As mentioned above Career Services can be of big help in preparing you for the interview. What I can contribute is that you try to bring out at least some of the qualities I have mentioned above. Be proud of your education yet also humble. You have a lot to learn and you don t want to give the employer the idea that you already know everything you need to know. Do not discuss personal plans like I want to go back to school, or I will work here until I get married. You definitely want to give at least a three-year commitment if the subject should come up. Do not complain about a previous job you had or about grad school. Your complaints may be legitimate but what people don t realize is if your prospective boss is hearing these negative complaints he/she will think, Gee, in 2 months he s likely to go around talking about me like that. Do not give the employer the idea that you are always the victim. People with that attitude are a particular burden in any organization. Career Services has an excellent list of open-ended questions and what they employer is looking for in each. Here are some of my favorites but do work with Career Services on this because they have given this more thought than I have. What did you like about your previous supervisor/ advisor? What was your biggest challenge? If you could change anything about yourself what would it be? Describe a situation where your work came under criticism? What strengths do you bring to this job? What are the areas where we could help you to improve? Favorite course and why Why did you choose to study biostatistics? Describe an analysis you did recently methods and results Where do you expect to be in five years? How did you earn your first dollar? If you had my [prospective supervisor] job for a day what do you think your day would look like? What activities are you involved in outside of work/school? If you could be any animal which would you choose? Why? In all of these questions employers are looking for leadership, humility, collaborative ability, adaptability and your interest in learning and re-learning.

4 I have said a lot about information the employer will want to get from you but we must also consider what information do you want to get from them: The following items are important: Job responsibilities / requirements What will you be doing on a typical day? Who will you be working with? Can you meet them? Starting date When does the grant end? In academic positions you will most likey be working on some faculty member s grant. If the grant has only one year left you must know that. The faculty member may not feel it is to his/her advantage to tell you this. He/she just wants someone to get to work today. However you do not want to be looking for a job again in a year. Also keep in mind that if a faculty member who has a grant leaves for another institution they take their grants and employees with them. You might not want to move just anywhere this faculty member has been offered a job. It is reasonable for you to ask how much longer the grant has to run and if there is any chance that the grant will move to another institution before it ends. In general you would be looking for at least a grant with three more years. Most responsible institutions would try to find employees whose grants have ended another job but, realistically, their first priority are those employees supported by the institution s hard money. People on grants are, like the grant itself, often considered just a temporary gift to the institution. Salary, benefits Moving Expenses Once in the job Be aware that you have just completed your training and have up-to-date knowledge of data analysis, R, etc. Employers are aware of this and may be hiring you because they themselves and their current staff are not as up-to-date. Nevertheless they are important people, your coworkers, etc and much of what you learned may not be as important to your new organization as you think. You must not give your new co-workers the impression that you are looking down on them, that you are superior. We have spent a lot of time talking about how to get a job so it is appropriate to close with how to leave a job. Be sure not to burn bridges, not to go around telling everyone how bad your current position is and how much better your next position will be. This is true in hallway conversations as well as in the formal exit interview. I know a case where an employee left a company and his team members invited him to come to the local happy hour at the end of his last day. At this bar he talked about how much better his next job will be and how the city he was moving to was so much better than the one they were all now living in. One year later the supervisor, who was not at this happy hour, happily told the staff members that his fellow wanted to return [probably because he got an unfavorable one-year review or he was given one month to find a new job]. The staff members unanimously said, wait a minute, I don t think so. The supervisor listened to the staff realizing that they did not want to work with this person again. Lesson learned. In closing Your first job is the beginning of an amazing year journey. Wherever the road may take you in the future you will always remember that first job. Good luck. Appendix: The following link will tell you more about myself and my contact information:

5 Recruiters: John Peace -- Barbara Day --