iJOBS Event Summary

Last week we briefly overviewed the Interdisciplinary Job Opportunities for Biomedical Scientists (iJOBS) program in its first two years of training biomedical graduate students and postdocs to be successful in a variety of non-academic careers. The NIH BEST grant funds five years of the development for the iJOBS program and expects the program to be self-sustainable after the grant period.

In late April, Rudy Bellani, founder and CEO of Oystir, came to Rutgers and gave career advice and information about his company. For more about Rudy, see Myka Ababon’s interview here.

By: Chris Lowe

The advice to keep unprofessional or embarrassing pictures from Facebook and Instagram has long been impressed on all of us. But why not take it one step further?

By:  Dharm Patel Dr.

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.

On January 26 of this year, the iJOBS program took a trip to East Hanover, NJ to visit the Novartis campus.  I say ‘campus’ because this place felt like a community, not a business.  Overall, the atmosphere was inviting and everyone we met seemed genuinely happy to be working there.  Several employees emphasized how Novartis encourages a place of diversity and comradery, and what a great overall place it is to work.

Last week, iJOBS hosted a career panel featuring professionals from WuXiAppTec. This panel operated slightly differently than previous ones in that the panel featured a single company rather than showcasing a single career with individuals from different companies. There were two PhD scientists, an HR representative, and a recruitment officer at the panel-this allowed for a well-rounded view of the company.