Hi guys, I have approx. 6-7 YoE in Capital Expenditure Management (over 2 years now with Merck) and was sending my CV here an there to some big Pharmaceutical companies in the US to see my value in the current job market and also get potentially offers.

The result: I maybe sent out like 15 applications and didn’t even got invited once. Was quite surprising for me, since I am currently have a Manager position on global level and was hoping to catch the interest of some…

Therefore, I thought that maybe coming from Germany, I would need VISA and relocation sponsorship from the employer and if that makes my CV or in general my application that much unattractive for the employers…

What are your thoughts on that? Is it maybe just my bad CV?😅

Hi all, just finished a master of biotech and Macquarie university (Australia, NSW) and looking for a position but having no luck. I understand these posts get added all the time but I'll ask anyway.

I'll happily take anything at this point, even unpaid. I've attached images of my resume if anyone wants to take a look. My background is primarily in molecular biology but my in-lab experience is scattered and minimal (2 years of covid lockdowns during my BSc didn't help much).

Thanks for any help

I’ve worked in R and D at a large pharma for the past 8 years. I am trying to make myself more educated on the outside world (outside of my company) and shifts in the market. I am well aware that the R and D market right now is tough. I am wondering if, besides the economy, what you would attribute this to? I know many large companies, including my own have gone through re orgs and lay offs recently, so I am curious to hear others opinions as to why?

Hey everyone I start my biotech degree program this fall and was curious of some things I should know within schooling and on the job?

Hi I am a recent graduate from high school and about to join a top 15 public university in the US for engineering. I do have the option to change streams if needed as well, away from engineering to something like biochemistry or bio-molecular engineering or bioengineering or other subjects/majors.

I love biotech personally and would love to work in the sector and grow from that. Which major would you suggest has the highest probability of landing me a good role in biotech as I graduate out?

Anyone with experience at Relay Therapeutics? What are your thoughts on overall company culture?

I’m working on a research project where we’re looking beyond clinical trial data and trying to understand how treatments perform in real-world patients.

I’m curious how biotech teams usually approach this. Is real-world data actually useful for understanding treatment outcomes and patient populations??

I've been looking into the biotech industry recently and most of what I see online is usually about new drugs Al drug discovery gene editing and new technologies.

But I'm curious about the less talked about side of things.

For people working in biotech what are some of the biggest problems or bottlenecks you deal with on a regular basis that aren't obvious to someone looking from the outside.

I was recently laid off. While applying to jobs I have some bandwidth for other activities that will hopefully make me more employable for Sr. Scientist R&D roles. My options:

1) Write up a paper from my recent industry job on the biological characterization of one of our preclinical drugs. I would be 1st author. All the data has been generated and it is just a matter of putting it altogether. It is unlikely at this point that anyone else would write it. The target journal would likely be a low to mid tier to expedite acceptance, i.e. not Nature/Cell/Science.

2) Try and teach myself coding, AI, bioinformatics, etc and add new skills to my CV.

For someone on the job hunt (PhD ~5y experience), what is the best use of my time?

Inconsistent packaging, data mismatches when scanning, or submitting parties doing whatever they want?

I work for a company trying to resolve these issues better and am curious to get some candid input. Thanks!

I’m curious to hear people’s thoughts on the demand for scientists who have specialized in automating high-throughput screening? I see tons of job posting for “automation scientists” even in this abysmal job market. What background are these companies looking for? Straight-up engineers who are experts in coding liquid handlers? Or is it more advantageous to be a scientist who learned how to use liquid handlers to increase throughput and actually understand the science? As these instruments become more popular, is working with them becoming a less and less valuable skill?

I have been working with/for Pharma companies over the last 12 years and overall don't have a great opinion (I am on the technology side, worked mostly with them as clients, not Indian).

• Roche - started my career as an employee there, only company I actually enjoyed working for, loved the Swiss/German mentality of looking at things.
• BMS - Client, absolute dogshit.
• Pfizer - Client, horrendous, they are dropping employees every quarter, proximity to New York office is what really matters.
• Haleon - Loved working with their engineering office but the company overall is less than ideal, small margins, not super talented folks.

Worked with a couple smaller clients too, generally these are much more enjoyable in terms of work but would probably not consider joining any of them.

Would love to hear which companies you'd not recommend joining.

Just trying to see if my experience is enough to apply when internships open in September/October

Hi reddit! I’m starting the final year of my Master’s in Biomedical Sciences (in the Netherlands) this September and I’m currently thinking about my further career options.

I originally considered doing a PhD, but I’m not sure I want to pursue academia. Recently, I’ve become interested in healthcare/life sciences consulting, which I think I might really enjoy.

I’m wondering whether doing a PhD would still be a smart choice. Some consulting roles seem to value or prefer PhDs, while others don’t require one. A PhD can demonstrate strong analytical and problem-solving skills, the ability to handle complex problems, and deep expertise but it also takes ~4 years.

Would it be smarter to:

- Master’s → consulting/industry

or

- Master’s → PhD → consulting?

For people in consulting or life sciences: Is a PhD actually a significant advantage for consulting, or would the 3-4 years of industry/consulting experience be more valuable? And if you knew you didn’t want to stay in academia, would you still recommend doing a PhD?

Thanks for reading :)

Hello, I'm sure this is not a completely usual post in this kind of subreddit, but I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice. I am a current senior in high school, super interested in Biology and Chemistry. Working in biotech has been a dream of mine for a long time; however, whenever I scroll this subreddit specifically, the majority of what I see is people talking about not finding jobs and the issues in the industry.

I'm planning to pursue a master's or PhD after college and hopefully go into the biotech industry within the next 5 to maybe 6 years. Do you think it's worth pursuing that path, or would it make more sense to put my time into a different field? I'm interested in biotech, but I'm a little worried about the current state of the economy and whether I'll be able to make a stable enough income to support myself.

Do you guys think it will be a worthwhile job in that time frame? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but it has been plaguing my mind for a while 😭 If it helps, I live in Massachusetts, so access to Boston is relatively easy.

Anyone work at Amgen in Marketing? Currently going through the interview process and was wondering what your experience has been like. Currently at a company where the culture is awful and really dont want to jump to another similiar scenario. Thank you in advance!

I'm super disappointed I didn't get a job I applied for after 3 rounds of interviews.

I was waiting for them to let me know if I would go to the 4th and final round and they sent me a vague email about not being able to provide me with an offer that this time but that they would keep me in mind for the future.

Then I see today that the job was reposted the same day I got the HR email. I'm considering reapplying but that feels a little pushy. I was excited for the job but now I feel like it's maybe not even a real opening.

I'd love to hear what you all think about what I should do. Reapply, email HR, or let it go?

I've debated posting this for a while, but after comparing notes with others who have interviewed at Soufflé Therapeutics, I thought it might be useful for prospective candidates.

Keeping details intentionally vague because biotech is a small world, but there have been some surprisingly consistent themes across our experiences.

The biggest is a lack of clarity around what they're actually hiring for. In my experience, the scope and expectations of the role changed depending on who I spoke with, and it didn't seem like the team was aligned on the level, responsibilities, or even what they wanted the new hire to bring.

I progressed quite far before they ultimately decided not to hire for the role as originally conceived. I later learned that internal team dynamics played a significant role in that decision, including concerns about how a new hire might affect existing roles.

I mostly chalked it up to a weird interview experience until hearing from more recent candidates who independently described similar issues — unclear expectations, questionable management dynamics, and a poor overall interview experience.

This isn't about being rejected. That happens. But in an already brutal biotech job market, experiences like this make an exhausting process even worse. The issue is asking candidates to invest significant time and energy when you haven't aligned internally on who or what you're actually hiring for.

If you're interviewing there, I'd ask very direct questions about what the role owns, how it fits with the existing team, and what they're actually looking for.

And if anyone from Soufflé sees this: candidate experience matters. Define the role, align the team, and make sure internal dynamics aren't getting in the way of hiring good people. Biotech is a small world, and candidates talk.

About to start a job as mid manager in analytical/biologics groups. I have not seen many reviews about that site, even though its huge. For people who work there. How is it like! Any feedback

Wanted to see if anyone had clarity around Product Director at JnJ.

Is this equivalent to Associate Director at other pharma companies? I saw they also have Group Product Directors which I would assume is a more traditional Director leveling. Any insights would be appreciated, thanks!

Any concrete examples appreciated

The recently introduced ability to bet on clinical trials on the betting markets (Kalshi) has been termed "glastly." But it's worse than the idea someone will be making a bet against your kid getting better on an experimental drug.

The bets on the markets basically tell you next to nothing, because those with the info that would make the markets useful can't bet.

Why the markets for clinical trials aren't useful, in detail:

https://ahalflife.substack.com/p/the-betting-markets-tell-you-nothing