Thursday, December 12, 2013

Getting a job in the medical device industry PART DUECE

This is part two of my experience of finding an industry job. 

Now that you have a resume tuned to specific job posting, start writing your letter.  The letter is a weird thing. In my current role, I use it as stage two after the resume, after the recruiter/software has filtered the first round of candidates.  The only thing I look for here is whether the letter is generic.  If it's generic, I figure they're lazy, and throw the application away.  Some people actually look in detail.  Either way, write it very focused on what you can provide to the employer. This is generic advice, and I don't have any other tips here other than making sure it flows and keywords and phrases appear here, too. One other small tip: you'll be applying for a ton of jobs; make sure the correct company name and job title appear. I've gotten a lot of letters addressed to the wrong company.

Next up, you go online.  Even if you know someone, you usually have to go online and apply for legal reasons.  Your insider can bypass the recruiter though, which helps a lot.  I had no insiders, except at one company.  So for the other jobs, I submitted online and waited.  About half of them called me without any further work on my end.  For the other half, I went into stalker mode.  Look up everything you can about the company and try to find someone in the group where you think you're applying.  Someone said to use LinkedIn. I didn't use it for personal reasons (bing! Idea for a later post).  What worked for me was random searches.  For example, I found one job posted on a board of some obscure society, and the hiring manager actually put her email in the posting.  So I emailed her.  It look a lot of time to find these contacts, and I seriously felt like a stalker, but it worked out in the end.  In the emails, you have two sentences to explain how you found their contact info and why you deserve an interview.  Hiring is something I don't have a lot of time for, so it needs to be optimized...and short.

After this, comes the first talk with HR.  Strike up conversations about the city and employer (don't ask about the work, salary, travel, etc.).  You just want to show that you have general social skills.  The recruiter will ask questions about your availability, expected salary, and talk-up the company.  Only talk about the availability.

If this goes well, you have your first phone interview.  This was usually with just the hiring manager, they'll ask you an assortment of questions, and are getting a feel for what kind of skills you bring to the table and whether you have a compatible personality.  When they ask you if you have questions for them, don't be generic.  Generic questions encompass: "What's your day like" "Describe your company's leadership structure", etc.  I hate answering these because everyone asks them.  Be clever and find unique questions like: "I've been reading about this medical device tax, how is your company handling it" "What's the hiking like around your area", etc.  This is YOUR chance to determine whether you fit into the group.  You're trying to spark up a conversation.  Remember, you're going to be working with this person A LOT.  The second interview often involved the hiring manager and the team over a conference call with me.  Be sure to get names and recognize voices.  Take notes on what they're saying, and again, look for unique questions.  Your goal is to turn this into a group discussion.  Remember this whole time to be taking notes on whether you are compatible with their personalities.

If all has gone well, then you schedule the on-site interview.  Try to get as much out-of-interview time as possible.  This gives you a chance to check out the city, since you'll be spending more time out-of-work then in-work.  When you meet with the first representatives, be sure to be very appreciative.  For me, I flew out first-class and they gave me a limo.  It was pretty awesome.  You'll meet with between 5-20 people over the course of 1-2 days.  Be professional, but most importantly, keep the small talk and typical conversations out and replace it with unique, interesting conversation. Research the company and all the people you're meeting with.  And again, I can't stress this enough, MAKE THESE CONVERSATIONS.  It might seem like you're being interviewed, but it needs to be two-way.  In this process, there will also be meals.  Take cues from the people you're eating with.  If they drink, then you drink, if they are very formal, you be formal.  You want to relate.  And if you're too stuck up or too sloppy at the table, they'll assume it translates to the work.  Send thank you emails. Short emails.

Some companies had 2nd interviews, some stopped at one.  Treat the 2nd like the first, that's all the advice I have on that.

Now comes the fun part: the offers.  The recruiter will call and make an initial offer and go over bonuses, perks, etc.  Take notes here since you won't be getting a paper (or digital) offer for another day, and the hiring managers will want to talk to you that day.  The hiring managers will ask if you have any questions.  Now's the time to start asking for stuff: salary, bonus, relo, vacation, etc.  You were sucking up this whole time, now the employer has to.  This will be the only time they're really sucking up to you.  After this talk, be sure to be extremely grateful, and tell them you'll let them know in 2 weeks, max.

Talk with those important in your life, maybe make a trip to the city again to see things, explore real estate, etc, then make the call to the one you want to work for.  The hiring manager will work with the recruiter on the details after this.  So what do you do with the offers you turned down (other than cry since you may have taken the wrong job)?  You call each and every person you talked to to thank them and let them know why you didn't take the job.  Be honest, but tactful.  If you didn't mesh with their personalities, mention that you seemed a better fit at X company even though you know you'd have a fun time at Y (that you turned down).  You may be calling these people again when you're hunting.

Overall timeline after applying for a position: 2 days to 1 month for first call; 2 weeks for first phone interview; 1-2 weeks for second phone interview; 2 weeks to 2 months for first on-site; 1 month for second on-site; 1-2 weeks for offer; 2 weeks for decision/negotiation.

So, that's all I can remember, I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but if I think of it, I'll add the edits.  Happy hunting!

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