By Jennifer Casiano-Matos It is very common in the Ph.D. and post-doc community to call ourselves specialists. Moving beyond the “specialist” or “graduate student” label is something that we ought to do if we are interested in a job outside academia. We often commit the mistake of not realizing the qualifications and skills that can make us stand out from others.

Hello All! My name is Jennifer. I am a first year Ph.D. student in the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics program at Rutgers University.  I am from Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico: a town on the west coast with beautiful beaches and sun every day. I have a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Microbiology and a master’s degree in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM).

  By: Yang Chen On April 12^th, I, the “one day intern”, was rotated to a medical marketing team at Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide. After the morning’s team meeting, everyone gathered again to discuss an ongoing project involving the launch of a new drug to market. As I looked around the table, it seemed everyone was still waiting for someone to join this meeting. After a few minutes, a man carrying a small piece of luggage entered the conference room.

By: Myka Ababon I first stumbled upon Oystir last year while I was browsing the internet for iJOBS blog post ideas. I first encountered a mention of Oystir in Reddit and, after visiting their website, realized what a great resource it was for graduate students and postdocs looking to go into non-academic careers. In short, it was perfect for the iJOBS community.

By: Yang Chen Medical communication plays an essential role in bridging the gap between healthcare professionals in different fields, such as pharmaceutical companies, research institutes, and medical societies. To explore the field of medical communication and fulfill my initial passion in this field, I have accepted a great opportunity to shadow at one of the leading medical communication companies—Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide.

By:  Dharm Patel Dr.

By: Chris Lowe Conferences are a rite of passage for graduate students and post-docs. Crammed into just a few short days are endless sessions of technical talks, poster presentations, mixers, and all the standard hustle and bustle of a scientific meeting. With everyone gathered in one city for a few days, the networking opportunities are substantial and you can stand to gain a lot by expanding your network.

The iJOBS program organized a visit to the Eli Lilly and Company site in Branchburg, NJ on April 6th of this year.  Eli Lilly and Company was founded over 140 years ago and has a long history of quality pharmaceutical products including several well-known drugs such as Cialis, Cymbalta, and Prozac.  The morning of our visit, we were greeted by the smiling face of human resources manager

One of the most oft-repeated advice for students and postdocs on a career search is to NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK.

By: Yaa Haber