Moving in before commitment

So like many married couples, my spouse and I co-habitated together prior to marriage. Marriage seemed like a formality. And when we started to live together we already started our lifestyles into more of a married one. Why delay moving in if we know we're going to be together? I know there are personal as religious implications, but from a personal standpoint, if I know something is inevitable I have trouble focusing on the present because I know what's on the horizon. So we moved in immediately when we thought we were ready.

In 13 months I'll be quitting my job and moving to New College University (NCU). I know it's inevitable, but in this case I can't leave early because of obligations. So I'm stuck with this anxiety about my next stage in life.

I keep looking online at houses at NCU even though these probably won't be on the market when I move out there.  I kind of want to pull the trigger on a house just to have there; ready for me.  I can start making upgrades while I'm away.  But I think this is just my anxiety: wanting to 'move' in before I'm married....

Why blog?

One of my biggest fears is that someone discovers who I am.  I thought that the likelihood was low because I don't really blog to get famous.  I blog because it's cathartic.  The interactions with other awesome people (well, I hope you're people and not bots) has been a great side effect (or affect...I never know which one).

On this note, someone I know in my real life discovered who I am.  Someone in a competing group within my company.  And groups within my company are cut-throat. We compete like rival companies compete so the threat of him trying to hurt me was real.  What the heck were the odds that someone would find me out?!?!?    He mentioned it in a passing fashion and said, "that must be you [in reference to a blog from a PhD in the med device industry], huh?". It seemed half-joking, but the timing of my posts with things that happened in my real life (especially the award I won a little while ago), made this person act more serious about the accusation.  I thought this person was going to out me.  They said they weren't, but everyone (including me) has let things slip that they shouldn't have.

This would have been very very detrimental if people here found about about the academic search.  Especially since I have two products getting ready for human studies.  If I got fired or moved around, this could potentially change the lives of the patients that might have relied on these products.  I was terrified.  So I left the blogosphere.  Well...I went private.  I needed to turn the identity off.  I still read everything I could, and not posting comments was killing me!  I couldn't risk any of my posts going public.  I know my comments weren't damning, but I felt I needed to switch off to protect my job, and the patients.  He said that he would keep it a secret, but we were one argument away from him letting everything loose.  My goal was to keep things private until I had an academic offer in-hand.  I try not to disclose anything that my company wouldn't want me to disclose, so I know I wouldn't get in trouble, but I couldn't risk losing my job or being shifted away from my projects.

Notice how everything's been past tense.  I got two offers shortly after taking the blog private, and so I thought that I was home free. But neither of these positions were right for me. Either I hated the city or the department, or both. Then something magical happened: the perfect school in one of my favorite cities gave me an offer. I thought I was home-free. I could quit my job, take this new one, and get back on the blogosphere.  As I was in negotiations with my new school another product of mine had been approved for human studies.  This has the potential to double efficacy for this particular therapy.  My involvement in this study is crucial. So I turned down what could be my dream job.  I can't leave patients in the lurch and thought there will be more opportunities. The department head said he was very disappointed, then a week later mentioned that I could start a year late. A year from this upcoming August, if I wanted. This was too perfect: I get to finish this human study and pass off my devices in a nearly complete stage, meaning patients will see it much sooner, and afterwards I get to start my dream job in a much more awesome city (not to mention-make my crazy high salary for another year)!  This also gives me a chance to work on grants early-on and submit and start running experiments as soon as I start the faculty post.  I know it may seem cocky that I think I'm the only one that can get this product past the first human studies, but I've been burned three times in the past when handing off projects to people. They've screwed them up bad in animal and human studies delaying release of the life-saving devices.

Everyone in my company knows I'm going to leave, and my final 1.5 years here gives me a chance to pass on a ton of knowledge and leave on great terms (helloooooooo industry money for the lab :) ). It also means, that even if this person does out me, it'll only make him look petty. So I don't have anything to lose. The paperwork has been signed.

I can start to post again!  Ahhhhhhhhhhh.  It feels so good.  Given that I haven't been able to post my writing, it reminded me about why I like to blog.  Below are a few disconnected thoughts related to why I like it.  In the next few posts I'll be posting things I wrote up but had to keep on the DL.  Some things related to the job search, and some things related to industry. Some might be a little outdated, as I wrote them while on hiatus.  Oh yeah...and there will be other random thoughts, too.  I'm worried that this guy will out me to my new faculty colleagues, but I'm not worried if people find out now.  I intend to try different things to make it difficult to tie me to the posts.  I intend to make it very difficult for people to link my Earth-self to my blogosphere-self.  In the next 1+ year I intend to post more on industry, my transition, and ultimately ending my industrial tenure...for a whole different type of tenure :).   Thank you to those that have emailed me about my little hiatus.  I am really pumped about interacting with all of you again!  I'm so excited to be coming back!

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Why blog?

In the past couple of months I've done a lot of self-evaluation. I think my current situation is partly to blame in addition to the fact that writing all this stuff down in a blog causes one to reflect. The only friend that knows my real identity said that blogging would be a waste of my time.

I've said this before, but I'd like to reiterate. Blogging has been great to get things off my chest. I play things very political here on Earth, and try not to ruffle feathers.  So I rarely get to vent. It really is cathartic.   But in the blogosphere...in the blogsphere, I can say anything I want.  Politics don't exist here (mostly).  But since politics don't exist here, it's a place of fantasy; hence the existence of trolls.  But as long as you don't feed them, they starve and die. 

Reading is cathartic, too, as many of the issues that plague research, work, life, etc. are universal. Something about knowing that RandomInternetPerson is having issues lets me realize that I'm not on an island. 

I'm constantly getting ideas for new projects at work/home and topics that I feel could make an interesting post. But I don't really have time to make really detailed posts all the time. So I try to keep my posts short (this one totally violates this principle) and I mostly read short posts.  I find that I don't have the patience for typing or reading really long posts. Not to mention, I type most of my posts on my phone while I'm on-the-go. So lengthy posts can wear my thumbs out. 

Aside from the psychological benefits of the blog, I also like to let people know about how searches go and how life is in industry. I'm sure my industrial position is different than others, but I'm sure there's overlap. And graduating students should get a feel for what it's like in industry, what it takes to succeed, what's great, and what sucks.

My friend that said blogging is a waste could possibly be correct, but I fear I'd turn into a psychopath without an outlet. Ted Kaczynski could've used a blog...

Throwing in the towel (not me...someone else)

It's funny.  We're peaking in terms of hiring activity for TT jobs, and so my conversations with friends in-the-hunt have been slowly turning away from the usual immature conversations to talking about the successes, failures, and frustrations of the faculty search cycle.  Because of this, I'm intending on throwing in a couple posts of my friends' experiences since I think their stories are interesting.  This post covers a friend at a VERY elite school who has been academic-focused since she was a kid:

A good friend is finishing her third year in her second post-doc.  She's been applying to many many universities with no hits whatsoever except one phone interview.  Her BS/PhD pedigree is similar to mine, just I went to industry and she stayed in academia (plus, most people really really REALLY hate her PhD advisor).  She got a pretty cold reception in her phone interview and they haven't gotten back to her for 4 weeks.  We Skyped earlier today and she has told me that she's officially throwing in the towel: she wants me to give her a referral for a job at my company.  I'm going to oblige because I know we will take care of her, and the things I don't like about industry and my reasons for going to academia don't necessarily apply as strongly to her.

This is really unfortunate because she's a very talented researcher (double digit pubs, good presentation record, solid ideas), and if I can bring her into my company, she's going to be a quickly rising star.  I read her research statement and CV, and if I had the budget, I would bring her in my group at a senior-level in a heartbeat.  She's also a great teacher, winning multiple TA awards during her time in grad school.  I think she'd make an unbelievable faculty member, but it's not going to happen.  I told her it was way too early to be giving up, but after years of rejection she's done waiting.

I guarantee that the people in charge in my company will recognize the talent she has and scoop her up very quickly.  I have 11 patents (submitted+awarded) from the past few years, and I wouldn't be surprised to see her pass me in a couple years.  Why can't academics see her talent?  I've read stories of people giving up, but I've never seen it.  It was heartbreaking, and it actually pissed me off.  I've came across many professors that are bad teachers, don't bring in too much grant money, and are total assholes.  My friend would be far better than half of the professors out there, I'm sure of it.

It was heartbreaking, and I'm pretty upset that she won't be able to train the next generation of scientists and engineers.  But, on the bright side, she's going to change the medical field (plus, we'll be able to hang out more. YAY!).  And if I end up giving up (though I'm not giving up hope, yet), she and I will be changing it together. :)

Rejected!

I really do appreciate the schools that email me early on saying they don't want me.  Although the rejection email I got today was weird because this school requested letters from my references.  Does this mean my references wrote bad ones?  My guess would be 'no', but I'll never know.  GMP from The Academic Jungle commented on a previous post of mine writing that I shouldn't read too much into the letters.  I didn't fit in their department, whether because of pedigree, research background, research interest, teaching interests, or all of the above.  Here's what's interesting: I have an 'in' at the university, and they've let me in on some details:

The people they're bringing in are all in a specific field that I'm not in.  I applied to the position because it was a broad posting.  If you're looking for a specific type of candidate, why waste your time on a broad posting and reviewing applications that aren't tied into what you're looking for?  You're wasting your's and all the applicants' time.  Secondly, all the finalists are in an underrepresented demographic.  My demographic is underrepresented, but these are in the stratosphere of underrepresentation (I've never typed underrepresented so much!).  The university wants to diversify, so that's their deal, but I've never once hired with sex, race, tattoos in mind.  I find the best candidate.  I'm sure there are other factors at play, this is just what my 'inside person' told me.

This particular school is an R1 with a department that I'm not a fan of.  However, I adore the city.  I could see myself settling down in that college town.  I guess it's not meant to be.  I still have other opportunities, and I’m going to nail those interviews!

I decided to add an extra category to the job count: Outright Rejections.  Though it'd be a fun addition.  The slash shows how many schools I applied for so far.

Outright Rejections (their loss): 3/29

Phone/Skype interviews offered: 10

Phone/Skype interviews accepted: 3

1st campus visits offered: 0

1st campus visits accepted: 0

2nd campus visits offered: 0

2nd campus visits accepted: 0

Offers: 0

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!

Getting a job in the medical device industry PART 1

If I'm qualified to speak on anything, it's how to get a job in industry.  I've had more success in finding industry work than anything I've ever done, and I've been invited to 12 separate talks at universities and conferences to disseminate this information in two years.  For the record, I applied for 12 positions, got 10 interviews, and 9 offers.  These were all senior level positions as either an engineer, scientist, or engineering scientist, and all with medical device companies, large and small. This is my experience, and I'm sure some HR people might not agree. This worked for me though, and I was sure to talk this over with HR people.  But each company, recruiter, and hiring manager will be a little different.  The job hunt process is a long process, so I'll split this up into a couple posts.

First up, find jobs.  Look at your favorite companies and peruse the postings, and look for consolidated sites.  I used indeed.com.  It's pretty solid, but I'm sure there are others out there.  Do the search for what kind of position you want, and bookmark the jobs that YOU FIT.  Some people say to take a shotgun approach and apply for positions that they're definitely unqualified for, however, you're wasting everyone's time - including your's.  So find the jobs that you think you're a good fit for and begin taking notes on what's important and what's not important.  Try and get a feel for exactly what they're looking for.

Next up, spend at least 80 hours of your life on your resume. Give it to at least 10 people in different roles in the industry you want to enter. Or cycle it amongst students, faculty, and staff. The ideal resume is at max, two pages, is written in a combination of functional and chronological, and has a flow with distinctive sections. The key here is to have a resume that will woo a computer. 

Why a computer, you ask? Each posting has key words and phrases that the hiring manager most cares about. And without someone on the inside to bypass the computer for you, your resume needs to have these keywords to get to the recruiter. Now, there's two aspects to tuning your resume: direct and hidden key phrases. 

Direct ones are directly from the posting. For example, "utilize direct knowledge of cardiovascular principles to design new medical devices and evaluate devices with statistical principles."  In this case, your resume needs to have that you know a) the CV system, b) device design, and c) statistics (or sadistics, as a friend calls it).  The resume will most likely run through an automated search routine looking for these terms before a human even looks at it. Before I continue, a little rant:

What the fuck are we paying recruiters to do?  From what I've seen, some program does all the hard work for them. A candidate uploads her resume to the company's career site, then an automated program decides whether the recruiter sees it. Now the recruiter has a significantly reduced pile that he just has to skim to determine if the recruit is called. The recruiter calls the candidates with decent looking resumes (decent looking being the symmetry, distinct sections, fonts, flow, some content) then passes on those that talk semi-competently on the phone to the hiring manager. The hiring manager does the rest of the interviewing with the recruiter only stepping in to place offers and schedule on-site interviews. Can't all the recruiters be replaced with a travel agent and the hiring manager just take care after the computer? I understand there are some legal issues. But recruiters need to start actually looking at resumes again. Get off your asses, and out the software creators out of business!  Your missing great scientists that can't necessarily play the recruiting game!

But I digress. 

Hidden phrases and words are the key phrases that you think they're looking for. Recruiters know exactly what the hiring manager is hunting for, and having hidden phrases prevents tailoring the resume based on the posting since everyone worthwhile will be tailoring based on the direct words in the posting. The key here is to read the posting a couple times, look at the company and direction, and try to figure out exactly what they're looking for. There are key phrases in the search algorithm or recruiter's head that they don't post online. This makes filtering applications even easier for recruiters since those that are not truly fit for the work will not have the hidden words. Now, you might have these hidden phrases embedded in your resume already since you have the proper experience, however, chances are that you don't. You will get through the filter if you can figure this out. For example, the posting is a generic scientist posting in a medical device company that does GI. You cover the things that are listed up-front in the posting, but you don't have GI experience. You need to look at the company direction, say they're working on new proton-pump inhibitors, or you saw recent patents or conference abstracts on a new stomach stapling procedure.  You also need to figure out if this is a position where you will be in the lab, clinic, working on a computer or on animal models, etc. You can gleam this from words like "hands-on" "hospital", etc.  But you have to figure out what you think they're looking for to insert these key words and phrases in the resume. Or, if you have an insider, have them find out.

For example, one offer I got with a mid-sized major medical device company was pretty generic: drug-delivery scientist. From the posting they wanted a generic scientist: polymer experience, simulation experience, material science, etc. I went deep into the company online and made a conclusion that they're shifting company focus to loading drugs onto existing devices since none of their current products have drug-elution. I also noticed the use of a particular drug, paclitaxel, in one of their European studies. Simple detective work. So I tailored my resume to say less of the stuff they wouldn't find useful, and put in more of the polymer, drug delivery, and paclitaxel language. I got a call in two days. The offer didn't come until a couple months later (I'll talk about timeline in a little).

Work on that resume! I'll post part two later on.