说说BIG PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY 的RECRUITING PROCESS (ZT)

发信人: sixfeetunder (不如跳舞), 信区: Pharmaceutical
标 题: 说说BIG PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY 的RECRUITING PROCESS
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Tue Apr 15 02:17:46 2008)

偶先后曾在三个TOP 10 PHARMA COMPANY 工作, 招人过程大同小异.
MOSTLY ROUTINE, NOTHING MYSTERIOUS. I WOULD LIKE TO BRIEFLY DESCRIBE THE RECRUITING PROCESS HERE, AND HOPE IT HELPS.

1. CV SCREENING

SINCE JANUARY, THERE ARE OVER TEN POSITIONS OPEN IN MY GROUP, SO WE SCREEN LOTS OF RESUMES. THERE ARE FIVE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR DOING THIS WORK, AND EACH OF US WILL GIVE EITHER A "YES" OR "NO" AFTER WE BROWSE ONE CANDIDATE'S CV. IF ONE RECEIVED AT LEAST 3 "YES", WE WILL CONTACT HIM/HER AND SET UP A PHONE INTERVIEW.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR IN A CV:
1) FOR MS/ENTRY LEVEL PHD, THE SPECIFIC SKILLS S/HE HAS, SINCE MOST LIKELY THE CANDIDATE WILL BE INTERVIEWING FOR A BENCH WORK POSITION. MAKE A LIST OF THE TECHNIQUES YOU ARE SKILLED IN.
2) FOR MORE SENIOR POSITION, TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES AS WELL AS LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS.
3) GOOD SCHOOLS / PROGRAMS / ADVISORS ARE BONUS.
4) INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE IS PREFERRED, BUT IT IS NOT A DETERMINING FACTOR.

CV DOESN'T NEED TO BE LONGER THAN 3 PAGES.

A few more things regarding CV.
1. Normally we will only spend around 5 minutes reading one CV, so try to be precise and brief. Try to be as specific as possible. A large portion of CV's we screened were too general.
2. Turn-offs:
1) In publication list: DON'T mix conference proceedings with peer-reviewed journal articles, in false hope of increasing the number; This will be singled out easily.
2) Only include papers that are either published, or accepted or at least submitted. DON'T include those are yet "to be submitted" or still "in preparation". Bottom line--They don't really count.
3) Your technical writing skills will be judged from your CV, so take time refining it to near perfection. Any weird grammar or typo will be a turn off. Publication counts!! Say if you have 1-2 papers published in Nature or Science, we will definitely set up a phone interview with you and admire you over the phone :). At least in my group, it is very research-driven.

Think about it, for a student or a postdoc without much industry or even work experience at all, how can we judge his/her technical ability except for looking at the publication list. I normally read a CV in the following order:
1. Current position / work experience;
2. School / program;
3. Publications;
4. Skills;
4. Reference;

If you are coming from a big name's group, but lack of papers, we will set up a phone interview and find out the reason (for example, working on a very difficult project). But bottom line, more papers won't hurt, but will increase your credentials.

We will post openings on our company career website, as well as other job sites Candidates come from several sources:
1. Apply by him/herself.
2. Recruiters;
3. Network (colleague recommendation, alumni, friends...)
4. Internal candidates

For 1 and 2, HR will pass the resumes to the hiring manager (in our case my boss, the director), and he will pass on to us (apparently he is too busy for this.)

I am not sure whether HR will do some screening, but I doubt it since we have seen some terrible applications from people who clearly were qualified for the job.

For 3, CV will be sent to me or my colleagues directly.
For 4. They will apply the position directly, and they do have priority over external candidates.

This depends on how quickly we would like the position to fill. Normally it takes 1-2 months to gather resumes, but sometimes when we see a good candidate, we will bring him/her in for an on-site as quickly as possible. If we are happy with this individual, we will extend an offer within 1-2 weeks from the interview day. It's always very hard to find qualifying candidates, and we don't want that person to be grabbed by our competitors :).

2. Phone Interview

When conducting phone interviews, 2-3 people from the group will be participating, depending on individual's availability. In my opinion, phone interview is the most important part during the whole interview process, so the candidate needs to spend lots of time getting himself prepared.
1. The candidate will be put on speaker, so that everybody can hear him/her.
2. Questions commonly asked during the telecon:

1) anything from the information obtained from the CV;

2) 1-2 questions regarding new technologies emerged during the past 1-2 years, and their potential applications related to the position. This will test whether the candidate has a broad knowledge / vision in the field.

3) 2-3 BASIC questions, just to assess whether this candidate has a solid understanding of what h/she is doing. You will be surprised how many people fumbled in this part. Many candidates know their own research inside out, but they can't remember the fundamentals.

4)2-3 questions that are detail-orientiated, could be very technical-specific.

5) 2-3 questions generated from this phone conversation, in order to see whether the candidate is able to improvise, and has a quick way of thinking.

6) 1-2 questions asked by the candidate.

Some tips for phone interview:

1. Flash cards: For me they work wonders when I was asked a question about a number. I can't memorize all the parameters, etc., but if I can provide the number accurately without much hesitation, it likely will leave a good impression. You can also write some brief descriptions about almost anything, so that you have some assurance. It might be especially useful during the first 1-3 phone interviews.

2. Water. A phone interview can take between 20 minutes to over 1 hour. I was once on the phone with an Indian manager from Amgen for 2 and half hours, and I completely lost my voice after that ordeal. And when I was invited for the on-site, I firmly refused. His behavior screamed MICRO MANAGING, and I need to stay away.

3. Time. If you are able to pick the time, do it first thing in the morning. When I used to live in the west coast, I always had phone interviews with managers on the east coast at 6am pacific time. But it is just me. I wanted to get this out of my hair, and go on with my regular day.

4. Study! When you are seriously looking for a job, try to spend at least 2-3 hours every day preparing for it. The more you study, the more confidence you have, and it will show during your on-site.

3. On-Site Interview

If you are invited for a plant trip, keep in mind you already beat dozens of candidates, and now there are only 3-6 left to be taken care of.

A little inside story for the on-site interview:
Sometimes when we narrow down to 3-6 candidates, we will rank them from #1-#6, and candidate #1 will be the favorite. Unless that person really skrews up, the offer will likely go to him/her. If #1 turns the offer down, the offer will go to candidate #2, and so on. In other words, if you are invited for a plant trip, but you were ranked lower than #3, your odds of getting an offer will be really slim, and you have no way of knowing such information :(. However, this is life, and you just have to try your hardest.

1. If you were given the choice between renting a car or taking a limo (after your flight arrives), choose the limo. It's more convenient, and you have one less thing to worry.

2. Dinner with the host before the interview day Remember the interview already started the minute you met your hiring manager. How the dinner goes really depends on each individual. Normally the atmosphere is relaxing, but keep in mind you are not having dinner with your friends. Sometimes the host will give some coaching during the dinner, and if you recognize certain topics he is particularly interested in, you can slightly modify your presentation to make it more interesting. NO MAJOR CHANGES!! You don't want to give your slides a major surgery at that moment.

My experience: Some Chinese candidates acted very stiff maybe because s/he is nervous. In my opinion during on-site the most important thing is to let your personality show, so that people know who you really are. Try to be yourself so that your future colleagues know you are easy-going and fun to be around. Try to keep the conversation going without trying too hard.
This really takes practice.

A little more about the dinner:
Order food that is light and healthy (salad, grilled fish or chicken, etc...) since you want to show that you take care of yourself. Stay away from food which can potentially make a mess (pasta with red sauce, or some type of stew...). Don't order steak unless you are really confident with your table manner.

I see your point, but this is a question hard to answer :).

Generally speaking, it depends on the level of diassociation of your skills from the job requirements. For example, if you have protein / peptide analysis experience, and the job asks for skills in small molecule drug analysis using similar technology, we will definitely put you into
consideration since you have potential bringing new skills into the group. One nice thing about the big org is that it allows some flexibility. We look for potentials and diversities.

But after all, this is a tough market and there are so many qualified candidates out there whose resume fit the job description to a T thus will be considered first. I feel that you should focus on the openings that fit your background to increase your odds. In addition, once you are hired it
won't take long to get yourself up to speed.

再罗索两句.真要注意TABLE MANNER.有的老兄DINNER吃的风卷残云,5分钟左右盘子已经
干干净净.一般这种DINNER都是2HOURS.小事especially needs extra attention.

The impression you want to make: I am not only well-educated, but also well-cultured.

Abbott 面世流水 (ZT)

发信人: kevinwan (kevin), 信区: Pharmaceutical
标 题: Abbott 面世流水
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Fri Apr 11 16:10:22 2008)

我的面世流水

也想写个面世经历，希望对后来的人有帮助。事先申明不是牛人，不是炫耀。就是从这里得到了一些帮助，希望写点经验，让有类似情况的朋友有所准备。

Background, protein biochemistry, 2nd year postdoc, so so publications, position related to protein purification process development in Abbott Diagnostics.

简历投出去两个月以后，突然受到猎头电话，说背景符合，一个星期之后面世。于是不得不在一个星期之内安排好行程，准备好做报告用的slides，还得好好工作，不能怠慢了博士后老板。总之就是忙的手忙脚乱。所以教训第一条，就是在你决定找工作之前，一定要把自己该准备的东西准备好 (resume, presentation, etc.)。

准备slides的同时，联系了几位热心的网友，大致了解了一下这个位置的相关信息,帮助非常大。当然你也可以直接和你的猎头写信，让她给你详细介绍一下位置和招人的 经理的个人信息。同时多了解一下这个公司的大概情况，找一些和你背景，工作相关的公司的话题，为面世的时候和大家交流做准备。

然后就是飞往目的地，第一次面世，有些过于紧张，睡的很差，对第二天的表现也有些影响。建议如果可以的话，将行程安排的充裕一点，这样有足够的时间休息 （行程安排的问题，你应该可以早早的和小密协商好）。

面世过程：首先是和 见面，没时间寒暄，直接开始介绍公司结构和组内人员构成，大老板很健谈，没有给我什么插话的机会，不过找机会我也把我准备的relevant konwledge 给他讲讲，让他觉得我是有备而来。有个问题是整个面世过程中，很多人都特别向我强调学术界和工业界风格的差异，让人觉得不知道如何应对 （我就只能不断的表忠心，表示自己喜欢工业界的目的性很强，很多变的风格）。然后就是直接作报告了。不爽的是连个pointer 都没有，害的我只能用手指指来指去，所以有可能的话最好自己准备一个 。接下来是和组员见面，聊聊公司，项目。这里个人觉得应该把握机会把你想问的问题，和你的特长优点尽量展示出来，不要因为大家都很轻松，随便侃侃就过去 了，因为组员在最后会碰头给你打分，没有让他们留下什么特殊的印象，估计你也就不会是他们鼎立推荐的人了。

接下来是和几位直接负责人面谈，吃饭 （顺便说一下，Abbott餐厅的东西真是便宜，比我在学校里吃的要价廉物美的多）。注意不要吃太多，也不要吃太messy的食物。边吃边谈，有些常规的 behavior questions要准备好，同时也要有一些可以突出你的特色的问题（借问问题的机会推销自己）。有的人会问很多技术上的问题，好好准备，把你的简历和报 告上的东西都弄明白就没问题了。觉得这个时候就是要拼命鼓吹自己，按着job description 上的要求一条一条的吹，赫赫。

面完后，可以问一下下一步是什么程序，一般大老板都会很客气的告诉你（我面的这个位置是一个星期面完所有人，然后一个星期统一意见，给口头offer).

往回飞，到家已经９点多了，赶紧给每个人写感谢信（面世的时候给了每个人一张名片，同时也拿了一堆名片）。可惜回复很少，估计是机会不大了。

Anyway, several points that worth mentioning during the whole process:

1. Resume: Prepare your resume in an industry-friendly way, don’t use your academic CV, people in industry have no interest in knowing your boss/publication/great projects unrelated to the current position
2. Networking: try to find as many as friends/alumni/people interested inhelping you. Talk to them and hear out their experience, learn their language. It is very important to speak the same language when you are talking to your interviewer during your visit
3. Presentation: Straight talking, objective driven, simple, well organized, try to sell your skills for the specific position during presentation, remember nobody is interested in what you have achieve, peopleare most concerned on what you can do for this particular position
4. One to one interview: I am not very confident in this part, and would like to hear your inputs.

此次面世，得到板上不少网友支持，在此特意表示感谢。