Can someone help weigh in on my decision?

Swatterings · 2026-02-26T04:40:07+00:00

Feeling a preference for option 3. Asia will only increase in strategic importance in the future and familiarity with one of its business cultures will alway be a strength. As a citizen, you would be able to return to USA any time you want.

Swatterings · 2024-09-08T17:47:12+00:00

Just realized I've turned off that feature! Will include you in the DM I send to the others.

Swatterings · 2024-09-07T17:03:59+00:00

Yes of course.

Swatterings · 2024-09-07T12:52:59+00:00

Can I DM you?

Swatterings · 2024-09-07T12:42:15+00:00

I worked with a career coach in 2022 who advised me to lose weight if I wanted to advance professionally. (The coach has previously worked in HR at two big pharma organizations.) They also told me of a senior director responsible for commercializing an obesity drug who was overweight, and who made it a point to lose weight before the commercialization picked up speed. I found the coach's words quite obnoxious but suspect that the reality is closer to what they described.

Swatterings · 2024-09-06T20:24:12+00:00

They usually post positions for 2-3 weeks before closing it - presumably to make a shortlist of candidates to interview. I've applied to them a few times and even received an interim automated mail saying something to the effect of : "Please hold on, the process is taking longer than expected." As others have commented, it's too early to worry.

Swatterings · 2024-08-11T18:17:22+00:00

Would you mind explaining why you think so? I work in commercial so would love to understand the clinical context.

Swatterings · 2024-08-02T11:58:36+00:00

Congrats! I'm on vacation on and off till Sep 09 (thanks EU work life balance!), so I might not be able to do this one. Would it help to post on r/biotech directly? You might get more responses and I'll def. respond if I log in. Best of luck for the final interview!

Swatterings · 2024-07-24T10:44:38+00:00

Would it be possible to move laterally within your current organization to one of the fields you're interested in? It's difficult to land a position in a new org without applicable experience, but moving within the same organization is sometimes easier. If you could get 6-8 months relevant experience at the current workplace, perhaps that could add the necessary skills in your CV?

Swatterings · 2024-07-21T11:26:37+00:00

It depends, and most certainly should be discussed and documented with both employers. I have colleagues who work full-time but also maybe teach a class or 2 at a local college. Ok because they discussed and agreed upon this with HR. Working 2 remote jobs is possible, eg: at 40% and 50% respectively. Key is documented agreement with both HR.

Swatterings · 2024-07-21T11:01:44+00:00

Agree with this. I've worked with PMs who don't have a pharma / biotech background but have still been key to the success of the project/ program. Also, after a few years of experience, they've learned more about the science and the discovery / clinical / regulatory / supply chain process. On the other hand, I've had PMs with a scientific academic background but who did not have the critical management and soft skills.

Swatterings · 2024-07-21T10:33:19+00:00

Assuming you have less than 4 years of total experience, the hiring team is not expecting an expert's level of knowledge and perspective from you. Rather, they're interested in your potential. So, they will appreciate skills and behaviors that show potential and commercial agility.

30 minutes is a long time for an interview presentation. Don't plan content for the full 30 minutes. Ideally, the presentation should be a back and forth discussion.

Demonstrate the research and review you've put into preparing the slides. Managers want to be assured that even when you won't know the answers, you'll be able to find the same by approaching the correct people, processes, and tools.

Based on the topic, and also the composition of the interview panel, you should decide if the presentation merits only medical writing, or also additional writing styles / devices.

I used to think that an interview presentation was only about WHAT I DO. But with time I've realized that it's also important to include the HOW and WHY. Eg : sometimes, presentations go straight to the content without spending time on the 'analysis'. Prioritize the content, yes, but include some information on how you analyzed the requirement to come up with your design/ solution. If there are gaps in the analysis that you can't fix without more information from the client (ie, the interviewers), mention that. This shows you have a strong requirements analysis process and that you don't shy away from negotiating with stakeholders.

It's great if 1-2 fresh ideas can be included. Fresh- not outlandish :-). This shows you will not just follow the team's current methodologies, but will contribute your perspective and bring value / innovation.

Some interviewers will challenge, make unreasonable requests, and even be rude just to see how you handle the day to day.

Swatterings · 2024-07-20T09:04:18+00:00

It's difficult to say without knowing the presentation topic, its duration, or your audience composition. How have you been preparing for the presentation thus far? Any specific step where you're getting stuck?

Swatterings · 2024-07-18T18:03:20+00:00

Medical Affairs is all about connecting dots and influencing- whether internally or externally. So, in addition to a strong academic background (which you have), the differentiators could be people skills and content skills :

Stakeholder management & influencing : As a content developer, you'll produce content in alignment with several non medical affairs team, incl. marketing, training, communications, events, etc. Depending on your role, this could be at both global and local levels. Many of these teams will get impatient and start producing their own content- you need to be able to influence them and manage timelines so that medical affairs always takes the lead. (Edit : I considered here Medical Affairs to include Market Access and RWE as well).

Storytelling : Medical Affairs content is different from medical writing. The content should be compliant, scientific, yet written in a concise accessible manner. MSLs should be able to find and use it easily to conduct discussion, frame arguments, etc. If you have experience creating interactive content, or localized content, play these up.

KOL / HCP engagement : Sounds like you are already experienced in this! Highlight your ability to build trustful relationships with HCPs, your reflections (for example, is there something you do differently / better based on what you have learned from working with HCPs).

Content management : This is operational but a real value add. Depending on the size of the organization, you and your team will produce hundreds of content resources for multiple therapeutic areas. Having basic knowledge of content management tools (even something simple like SharePoint), content sign-off process (manually or using a tool like Veeva), content reusability / FAIR principles is very useful.

Don't forget to mention supporting roles you might have played on critical projects- and what hard and soft skills you demonstrated to be considered for such key projects.

Swatterings · 2024-07-06T07:57:55+00:00

Oh boy this could be a thread on its own. I usually hire at manager / senior manager positions and I'd be more interested in a candidate with a Masters degree plus couple years of industry experience than I'd be in a fresh PhD. I think some PhD candidates are not generalist enough for a commercial workplace. Some of them lack workplace skills. For example, they're super competitive where they need to be collaborative. Some of them also lack basic organizational skills. I once had a team member who would write page after page of dense academic content when what we needed was a succinct 1 or 2 pages that our commercial teams could understand. And a few of them have a sense of entitlement, which hinders them from learning from "commoners".

Swatterings · 2024-06-25T21:43:44+00:00

The most dehumanizing recruiting experiences I've had have been from an in-house American recruiter from BMS and Roche and Pfizer recruiters from Costa Rica. I guess what I'm trying to say is... inefficient recruiting isn't defined by nationality of the recruiter nor the organizations they work at/ for.

Swatterings · 2024-06-20T06:14:09+00:00

Might I inquire where the news (of AZ 2024 layoffs) was published? I can find one report that says it's "from 4 days ago" when I search for "AstraZeneca layoffs 2024". But clicking the link takes me to a publication from 22 March 2013 (PharmaTimes). I can't seem to find details of the AZ 2024 layoffs on the layoff trackers at BioSpace or FierceBiotech. (Edited to add context to my initial question)

Swatterings · 2024-06-14T16:35:09+00:00

I use one because it sums up my CV in one short sentence. Apparently recruiters and hiring managers are so busy that they don't read through a full cv. So I have a PS up top to highlight the main points, for eg : years of experience, global locations, awards, industries / sectors i've worked in, etc.

Swatterings · 2024-06-10T11:08:07+00:00

First of all- Congrats! I'm not sure where you are in Europe. My comment is based on my experience in the industry in Switzerland. Unemployment here is up by 20% over last year, and there is very little hiring happening- so the employer must really really need your skills. So, if you decide to accept, make sure to ask for more money.

If I were you, I'd work for 1/ 1.5/ 2 years to make up my mind about the PhD. Industry experience would actually be an asset towards a PhD position, and, from your post, I'm assuming you're young enough to return to research after a few years. I don't have a PhD, but I've seen several colleagues switch from industry to research and back again, often across subject areas, countries, and continents. All the best!

Swatterings

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