Your Career Plan for 2022

If you’re planning a career move in the Life Science industry in 2022, you’ll need a plan in place to help you with your job search.

We’ve put together some key advice on how you could approach your career move; with tips on what you could do before your search, how to make the most out of job boards like ours, and how to organise your applications. 

Starting your Search

Before you dive into your job search and start sending off one application after the other, ask yourself the following questions:

• Who do I want to work for? – This could be an individual company or a sector (for example, Biotech, Pharma, Clinical Research, Medical Devices, Healthcare). Knowing this will help you to keep up with the latest job opportunities for that company and/or sector as well as important news.
• What is my target job? – It’s okay to have multiple roles in mind but try to avoid defaulting to a scatter-gun approach with applications. Targeted applications are much more likely to stand out over generic ones!
• Is my CV up to date and relevant? – Your CV should highlight the skills and experiences that make you the best candidate for the specific role and sector you’re applying to and should only show the most relevant information. More tips on optimising your CV for a job in pharma can be found here. 
• Is my social media up to date and professional? – Put yourself behind the eyes of a recruiter and scan through your accounts to see what impressions your social media profiles give about you. 

Once you’ve thought about the above, you can also consider the following:

• Set up saved job searches on PharmiWeb.Jobs – This will help you to easily access the latest opportunities for the roles you’re trying to target.
• Follow your key target companies online – Keep up with your target companies on places like LinkedIn and Google news for opportunities as well as recent developments.
• Upload your CV to PharmiWeb.Jobs – Registering an account with us and uploading your CV onto our database will help you to be seen by pharma and Life Sciences recruiters. You’ll also have the option to receive a free CV review which is a good way to get a new perspective on this part of your application. 
• Join social media groups – Use groups on LinkedIn such as our PharmiWeb.Jobs group to network with pharma professionals, be alerted about the latest job opportunities and industry developments and to get advice on your applications and interviews.  

Organising your Applications

Once you’ve started sending off applications, you’ll need a system in place for organising them. You can do this in whatever way suits you, but here are some suggestions:

• Have a folder for each company you apply to containing job specifications, CVs, cover letters and other supporting documents that you’ve used for applications to that company.
• Use a spreadsheet to create a visual overview of the progress of your applications. You could include columns for the company, location, salary, closing date and the status of your application.

• Set up a weekly task list for job searching, chasing applications, industry research and company research. Don’t overwhelm yourself with information but instead make a plan of what you’d like to focus on each week. 

Find Your Next Life Science Job 

Visit PharmiWeb.Jobs for more careers advice or to start your job search.