Career Path Help!

Hello, I'm a recent graduate from college (last month), has a degree in Biological Science and minor in Economics. I want to pursue a career path that is related with the business sector in the pharmaceutical field, but all I'm getting are rejection letters from pharma companies. I've done 2 internships in healthcare settings and 1 business-side internship. I've done 2 extracurricular activities, and my gpa stayed at 3.4. What is wrong with my situation? What is the best way that I can get a full time job in business sector? Any idea? please help!

 
Best Response

not trying to be rude, but your writing is poor. I'm guessing it could be because English is a second language for you or you wrote this in a hurry, but if you messed up verb tenses (has v. have) or omitted articles (job in THE business sector) in anything like a cover letter, you'd be dinged.

beyond that, I'm not entirely sure I know what you mean by business sector in the pharmaceutical field. do you mean a healthcare investment banker or ER analyst? do you mean an analyst within a healthcare company? if so, what part of healthcare? if you've had 2 internships in healthcare I would leverage those relationships and ask for introductions to folks to give you informational interviews and give you advice. they will know best since they are in the industry and in your geographical area.

what could be wrong with your situation is you're casting too wide a net and you started backwards, try leveraging your mentors and bosses from your internships then if that doesn't work, try something else. persistence is the name of the game, assuming your activities are sound.

 

@thebroprofessor

Sorry for my poor English. You are right, English is my 2nd language AND I was writing in hurry so those were the ones that messed up the original article a bit. Well, I've received a couple of feedbacks for my cover letter and resume so I'm pretty sure that those pieces are fine in grammatical ways.

My primary goal for the future career is to work in the global market strategy or global business development team in healthcare or pharma industry. I asked a couple of doctors and nurses but they only know about research opportunities since they are all residents... One internship was held in South Korea so it is hard to get a referral from them as well.

The only problem I have right now is that I'm experiencing too much pressure for myself. I heard from a recruiter saying that firms don't hire new people much after July 4th, and the feeling that there may be a gap on my resume are just killing me. I can't really concentrate on other things beside job hunting thesedays... is it OK for me to just step back a bit? How long is 'forgivable' for one to have a gap in experience?

Thank you for answering me, and please give me more sound feedbacks. P.S. : I'm kinda writing in hurry as well, so please forgive me if there's any error found in this comment as well. Thank you!

 

no idea how long it's ok to have a gap, I'm not in healthcare. if your USA internship was in a business setting, leverage that first, don't ask doctors, they know nothing about what you're trying to do. I'm gathering that the internship in USA was with doctors. that's fine, I'd look at contract research positions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_research_organization), that's a growing field that hires recent graduates. companies like Quintiles, PPD, INC Research, etc., are all options, just depends if they're in your area. big pharma usually only hires experienced people unless you have a scientific background (which, even though you do, if you're interested in the business side, don't go to the science side). you could also look at medical technology/software companies like Allscripts and McKesson. you need to keep at it. there are tons of companies out there, but you need to go about it the right way.

 

Best option to mix the two honestly would be something like pharamceutical sales. Because you don't hve the appropriate finance background.

Get a MS in Finance or a Economics and you'll have a much better chance at working your knowledge of both healthcare and business into a real job.

"It is better to have a friendship based on business, than a business based on friendship." - Rockefeller. "Live fast, die hard. Leave a good looking body." - Navy SEAL
 

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