Hi all!

I have a background in Business Administration. My career experience deals mostly with logistics and product/service management. If I am looking for a position in Bio-tech field dealing with purchasing/supply chain/procurement, do you believe that my background will be an issue? If yes, why and how can I overcome this? If no, please advise what key items you believe will need to be emphasized.

Thanks!

My experience in this job market is that there is a glut of applicants for most positions and this means that employers are being very picky. Given a choice between applicants with or without previous biotech experience, they are likely to go for the one with the experience. It is going to be tough to switch fields in this market. Probably the best shot you have is through personal connections. If a personal connection can get you past the resume screen, then you have a much better shot.

I think that employers will be most concerned that you speak the "lingo" of their field. This can be a challenging target even for people in biotech. I find it very useful to attend seminars and conferences to find out what people are talking about and even how the new terms are pronounced. Check this list out http://qb3.org/news/c... and you may find some talks that interest you, although some of them might be a bit too technical for someone new to biotech.

Of course, the Bay Area Bioinformatics meetups should be another great way to practice talking biotech.

Good Luck

Doug

Thanks Doug!

I agree with you.