Anyone work in pharmaceuticals / life sciences type industry ?

If so, are there any big trade/expo type events in the uk?

Other half is doing her PhD in this field (pharmacology was her undergrad) and starting to try and get a look into available jobs etc. For when finishing the PhD later in the year.

I worked in the sports trade and always found big expos good for networking, getting company names etc.

Thanks in advance.

Can a mod move to chat please! 😳

The PharmaTImes hold free webinars occasionally. Might be a way to get a few names?

Rachel

webinars

Well. There’s a word that needs to die in a fire.

There are plenty of entry level jobs going at the moment. Many are tough going though. A year or two as a clinical research associate visiting hospitals doing trials can be a good way in

If she is doing a PhD in the field then the obvious one is to go to conferences.
Is she looking at R&D or Manufacturing and Supply.
Because she needs to be aware that R&D is incredibly volatile and career stability is definately not guaranteed. Look at Pfizer and the sandwich site for evidence of that (they didn’t hit their projected development targets and pfizer pretty much shut the place), same as GSK and Harlow…..

Manufacturing is more stable but probably less interesting for most

No not in the UK. Something like Biotechnica in Germany is a good place to go to.

My other half works for one of the major firms, and the redundancies are never ending at the moment. She’s currently looking at jobs in italy and germany.

If she’s doing a biosciences PhD and doesn’t know where to look for a job or who to ask for advice in her department then she’s going to have a very hard time getting past interviews.

Cphi is a biggy – http://www.cphi.com/europe/home

But not till the autumn.

IMO: don’t waste your time/money going to trade shows.

If you are looking for entry level positions at pharma in the UK sign-up with as many recruitment agencies as you can. Not a pleasant experience, but they will find you a job if one exists.

Where is she based? Hopefully the answer to this is either Cambridge or the Thames Valley.

What does she actually want to do? Sales? Or work in a lab? Or just interested in getting into the industry at this stage?

As Nosedive has mentioned – being a Clinical Research Associate is a good “in”, but these days, most places want you to be an in-house version first (basically glorified admin), but within 6-12 months you should be able to move forwards. Talk to the big contract research organisations (Covance, Quintiles, PPD, PRA, Inc) as they all hire this type of person fairly regularly.

If she’s going to have a PHD, I would be looking at “Medical Scientific Liason” (MSL) or “Medical Development Associate” (MDA) type roles. More scientific in nature – they sit between sales and research, and they are really an expanding function at the moment. Again, agencies will be able to help you find companies that are looking for these people – it’s going to be the pharma companies themselves, and they are probably advertised on their websites as well.

If you let me know where you are based, I can give you some names.

Where is she based? Hopefully the answer to this is either Cambridge or the Thames Valley

The eastern end of the central belt of Scotland also has quite a few such companies. Charles River Laboratories and Quintiles spring to mind.

Cheers guys.
We’re Edinburgh based. So up here would be preferred, but fully understand she may have to move.

Research/ labs is what’s she’s been thinking, but scientific liaison seems a good option.

I suggested emailing companies at this earlier stage, with the view of contacting them again at a later point.

nosedive is right that CRA is a good stepping stone for other clinical trials jobs but I’m with batfink in saying that she’ll probably need another stone before that one. Good chance of promotions once you get a foot in the door though.

Be warned though, don’t think that a PhD will make her stand out from other candidates. Half my CRAs have either PhD or MD.

interesting view on MSL up there. I think it varies from place to place. Some I see have to spend an awful lot of their time telling big-headed doctors how wonderful they are and I’m not sure how much science they really get to do.

Have a look on the OBN and OneNucleus websites, too. There are many conferences of various sizes and specialities. BioTrinity in May is the biggest in the UK, I think, but check whether you can look around the exhiobition for free, or have to pay.

Edinburgh is a great location for biotechs, have a nose around the roslin bio centre, bush estate and 9 bioquarter.

industry jobs will want experience of GLP, SOP’s and ISO on top of the scientific experience. She may find it is very difficult to get into industry. Even getting a post doc position is now incredibly difficult to get. I’ve not had one in 4 years and that’s looking all over the country. Sadly grants are written with someone specifically in mind and then once you’ve had a couple you become too expensive to employ.