Alternative Science Careers

1. Q: How long have you spent searching for a job? (Cause: do you have any shortcoming which other employers have discovered!)

A: After I quit my last job, I took time off to be with myself and discover things related to my career. I didn’t think about these things earlier, simply went ahead with a job. I wanted to find out my long term goals, and have adopted a selective approach towards jobs. I just started searching for jobs in the last couple of weeks. I am interested in your company and the position that I have applied for.

2. Q: How have you prepared yourself to face this interview? (Cause: are you really interested in the job or just have come without much eagerness.)

A: When I came across this advertisement on the internet, it caught my attention. I immediately logged on to the website of the company to find out more information about it. I found out about the company, its founders, the executives etc. when I got the appointment, I spoke to my friends (who are from the industry) about it.

3. Q: How much salary are you expecting? (Cause: can we afford whatever you are going to charge us? Can you demand less than what we expect).

A: I need to know more about the job, the responsibilities that come with it, before I can assess a salary. Can I know how much range is budgeted for this position?

4. Q: How do you stay updated on the progresses, news, about the industries in which you have worked? (Cause: once you are through, do you carry on with the habit of learning?)

A: I try and stay updated with almost all the information that I can gather. I read up the business sections of newspapers and magazines. I am a part of some of the professional organizations. I make friends with people who work in the industry. I also attend as many seminars as I can. This is how I keep myself updated with all the news related to the job market.

5. Q: Which type of people do you find uncomfortable working with?

A: I have been comfortable with most people I have worked with in the past (with a few exceptions). I came across people from varied backgrounds, yet had no problems dealing with them. However, I was upset with the dishonesty that some people had shown about work. I had told them that politely face-to-face, when I got the chance to communicate.

To learn more about careers and to search through thousands of job openings, please visit http://www.EmploymentCrossing.com/lcjobtypelisting.php and sign up for a FREE trial today. Silas Reed, Writer for EmploymentCrossing, writes articles that inform and teach about different job tips and career advice.

Who Should Attend?
Candidates with a 4-year life science degree or a community college biotech degree are invited to attend.

What types of positions are available?
Exhibiting life science companies will be recruiting for positions in areas such as: Research & Development, Clinical, Engineering, QA/QC/Regulatory, Processing/Manufacturing, Sales and Marketing, and more.

How do I get more information and pre-register?
Visit www.biocareerfair.org to view a complete listing of attending companies as well as registration information. Take the time to research what each company is recruiting for to see if you are a match.

Exhibitors will range from regional, national, and international companies, all with the common goal of attracting top talent. If you can’t make it on event day, you can still register online to submit your resume. This will allow exhibiting companies to view your resume and contact you outside of the career fair.

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In continuation of the Vault’s voted best internships, here are the top ten finance internships based on the Vault’s criteria. These may be of value to those looking to break into an alternative career using your scientific industry knowledge.

• AT&T Financial Leadership Program – Internships are open to first-year MBA students with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5. Each intern is assigned to one of AT&T’s finance areas. Applications are due by March so hurry if you are interested for this summer. Website: att.jobs

• The Blackstone Group – A leading global alternative asset manager and provider of financial advisory services. Blackstone has a relatively small number of professional staff members, therefore interns take on many of the responsibilities that full-time analysts and associates usually perform. Interns are for rising college seniors (summer analyst position) or rising second-year MBA students (summer associate position). Website: www.blackstone.com

• Credit Suisse Group – Offers 3 divisions: private banking, investment banking, and asset management. Offers a variety of summer associate positions for MBA and PhD students, and summer analyst positions for undergraduates. Website: www.credit-suisse.com/careers

• Deutsche Bank- a leading global investment bank with a strong and profitable private clients franchise. Offers analyst and associate internship positions in a variety of divisions including finance, asset management, private wealth management, global banking, global markets, human resources, operations, legal, risk and capital (which encapsulates legal, risk management, compliance and treasury), group technology, and operations. Associate interns work in asset management, global banking, or global markets. Website: www.db.com/careers

• Goldman Sachs & Co – a bank holding company and global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. Interns learn similar work as entry-level employees, such as investment banking, investment management, sales, trading, research, and financial analysis. The firm also provides scholarships and MBA fellowships to students from traditionally underrepresented groups. Website: www.gs.com/careers

• J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank – one of the world’s leading investment banks. A majority of interns are hired as full-time analysts and associates.  J.P. Morgan also offers scholarships. Website: jpmorgan.com/careers

• Lazard – provides financial services to corporations, partnerships, institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals around the world. Lazard considers its summer analysts and associates the primary source for full-time candidates, typically offering positions to about 80 percent of interns. Website: lazard.com

• Morgan Stanley – provides numerous investment portfolio opportunities to individual clients. Offers 10-week summer internships to both undergraduate and graduate students. Analyst and associate positions are available in a variety of fields, including finance, corporate treasury, financial control group, strategy and execution, global capital markets, human resources, investment banking, real estate, investment management, asset management, merchant banking, infrastructure, private equity, operations, risk management, sales and trading, technology and wealth management. The investment banking sector also offers the sophomore rotational program (SRP), which provides rising college juniors with a first-year analyst “buddy” to guide them as they rotate every two or three weeks to a different aspect of the investment banking business. Website: www.morganstanley.com

• Northwestern Mutual Financial Network – provides personalized financial services. All interns must prepare for and pass a state licensing exam. About 33 percent of interns are offered full-time positions upon graduation. Website: www.nmfn.com

• UBS Investment Bank Internship Program – a leading financial firm and one of the world’s largest managers of private wealth assets. Offers positions to undergrad and MBA students in multiple U.S. offices. Positions are available in compliance, equities (sales and trading and research), finance, fixed income (sales and trading and debt capital markets), IT, investment banking, legal, wealth management, operations and risk. About 75 percent of the intern class get offered full-time positions upon graduation. Website: www.ubs.com/graduates

For more information, visit the Vault.

St. Jude Medical currently has 19 internship opportunities posted that are available for scientific research, engineering, and alternative career options. There is only one position available in Westford, MA for research and development in the Optical Catheter Group. All other internships are in MN. Internships in the science and engineering field are available for Research Scientists, R&D Applications Engineering, Reasearch Biomedical Engineering, Software Engineering, and Hardware Engineering. If you are seeking an alternative career path, the following internship job openings may be of interest to you. These internships include purchasing, training and development, biostatistics, clinical, health economics and reimbursement, advanced process development, and market analysis.

The internships are typically for a three-month, full-time assignment. Additionally, most of the hiring managers are looking for students who have completed their junior or senior year to ensure that they have lab and/or research experience. The internships offer great experience where you will be given actual projects and you will have the opportunity to work closely with department team members, management and senior staff while learning about functional areas beyond your department and role.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) offer paid summer internships devoted to biomedical research for students at all levels, including those who are currently enrolled in high school, college/universities, or graduate school. The internships offer a great opportunity to work side-by-side with leading scientists at the NIH. Additionally, interns have the opportunity to participate in summer activities sponsored by the NIH, including lectures featuring distinguished NIH investigators, career/professional development workshops, and Summer Poster Day.

The internships usually begin in May or June and are paid with awards covering a minimum of eight weeks. The pay is based on your level of education and how many years completed at each specific level. Pay for high school students starts at $1,700 per month and goes to $1,900 after graduation. Undergraduates earn $2,000 – $2,200 per month and graduate students earn $2,300 – $3,100 per month.

Internships are located on the main campus in Bethesda, MD and the surrounding area, as well as in Baltimore and Frederick, MD; Research Triangle Park, NC; Phoenix, AZ; Hamilton, MT; Framingham, MA; and Detroit, MI.

The NIH Summer Internship Program is highly competitive.  In 2010, more than 6700 applications were submitted, and about 1200 interns were selected. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis from November through April by scientists in the Institutes and Centers of the NIH.  Note that the NIH does not use a centralized selection process for inters, and as such, individual scientists select their own summer interns. 

Applications are to be filled out online and can be found at https://www2.training.nih.gov/apps/publicForms/sip/forms/sipApp.aspx. Applications are due by March 1, 2011. Candidates must be a US citizen or a permanent resident to apply.

Last week, mobile applications for scientists and researchers were highlighted. This week, applications for job searching will be highlighted. There are apps that deliver job postings straight to your phone and allow you to send your resume to job openings.

General career applications that are very popular include:

–Careerbuilder.com, a free app that enables you to search for a new job from wherever you are, and has the full functionality of the Careerbuilder.com website.

–Job Finder, costs 99 cents, but it aggregates jobs from multiple job sites, such as SimplyHired, StarTribune.com’s jobs, Hireability.com, and others, so that you do not have to visit them all individually.

–Craigster, the iPhone application for Craigslist, costs 99 cents, gives you the ability to search for jobs in all cities on Craigslist.

–LinkedIn, free app, allows you to update your status, browse through your LinkedIn connections, and search for jobs.

To find more applications for the specific career that you are looking for, such as alternative careers in business, government, industry, education,etc, it only makes sense to find niche applications that are specific to that industry. For example,

–HealthcareJobsite.com, free app, provides users with access to top-tier healthcare career websites from the world’s largest network of niche career communities, allows users to search thousands of jobs by location and keyword, review detailed job descriptions, save jobs to a list of favorites and share jobs with friends.

The Washington Post added a new article “Must-have mobile apps for job seekers,” that highlights mobile apps for finding a job. According to the article, the following are the must-have mobile apps for searching job openings.

– iJob delivers “millions of jobs to your iPhone” and allows keyword searches.

– BeamMe is a free universal business card exchange on your BlackBerry or iPhone.

– LinkUp allows you to search company Web sites for jobs by keyword, location and category and apply from your iPhone.

– Real-Time Jobs analyzes, indexes and makes searchable Twitter status updates so you can identify job openings.

– Indeed.com lets you take the job search engine with you, including recent searches and jobs added since your last search.

– TwitterFon keeps up to date with Twitter so you can send or reply to tweets.

– Hire*A*Droid, a job-search app for Android users, supports LinkUp, Indeed and SimplyHired, allowing users to find job listings fast.