A career outside of science
What are your options if you don’t aspire to a job in the lab?
A career in research is not the ultimate goal for everyone. According to the annual labour market research of the BCF Event 35 percent of the students do not aspire to a job in research & development.
If you prefer a career outside the lab, you have various options, but it may be difficult to visualise them, especially if you have never set a foot outside the academic world. What kinds of positions are available, and when are you eligible for such a job? What are the requirements, does your Master or Bachelor degree prepare you enough or do you need more work experience?
For this article we spoke with five persons who have all enjoyed a scientific education, but somewhere along their career path they chose to switch to a job outside science.
They will share their experiences with you, and give you tips on how to qualify for a similar position.
Stéfan Ellenbroek (30), Advisor Research Policy at LUMC
First job: Research Assistant at NGIZ
Gross annual salary: 50.000-75.000 EUR
Working hours per week: 40 (officially 32)
Education: Master Biomedical Sciences with minor ‘Business and Economics’,
As the Advisor for Research Policy I deal with all kinds of strategic research issues in LUMC ‘s large and dynamic organisation: research themes and profiles, publication strategy and citation analyses, research quality control, talent evaluation, collaborations, subsidies, etc, etc. My work is diverse; I do a lot of different things. My main activities are to confer with many different people, (co) write policy memos and business plans, and thereby manage information flow. I act as an intermediary between different parties, such as the Director of
In my job I am on top of scientific developments, I’m still serving science, but in a way that suits me best and without the lab bench. It is an incredibly versatile job. The only drawback is that I have to be careful not to get caught up in my work too much, especially as the father of a one-year old son.
Stéfan’s tips:
As Advisor Research Policy you need to be good at multi-tasking; keep an overview of a large number of projects and different activities. You need to be stress resistant, have insight into administrative and policy processes. You also need to be a good networker, possess people skills and be able to identify and seize opportunities when they arise.
If you also want to pursue a career as an Advisor of Research Policy, I advise you to orientate yourself broadly by working for a national organisation that deals with research, such as ZonMw, VSNU or the ministry of VWS. At the same time keep building on your network, and use it whenever appropriate.
Several UMCs have positions for Research Policy Advisors. Comparable positions can also be found within research consortia and research institutes.
About
LUMC employs about 7,500 people, among which about 1,500 are researchers. Much of the research focuses on the creation of transferable knowledge, translational research from patient to laboratory … and back. Further information can be found at www.lumc.nl.
Mark van Haaren (50), Manager of Business Development at Keygene
Education: Biochemistry,
First position: PhD student at
Working hours per week: 50-70 hours
Gross annual salary: >100.000 EUR
I have worked in research for many years, and about ten years ago I started as Project Leader at Keygene. Back then I already knew that my interests and strengths were in setting up partnerships and generating new business. Six years ago I switched to business development. As Manager of Business Development I am responsible for all external contacts of Keygene, both business and research related. In my day to day job I deal with at least ten different contacts. My activities include initiating new contacts, writing and reading business plans, planning business trips, setting up contracts, guiding current projects and coordinating external communication.
I like to search for new opportunities, and I enjoy the freedom, the independence and the travelling that go along with my job. Each year there are new challenges. The contacts with both business and science, with large companies, SMEs, and also with universities make the work very diverse.
Mark’s tips:
In general there are two ways of going into business development, either through research, like I did, or via a marketing/business background. A research background certainly works because it gives you thorough knowledge of the basic issues. If you have a business/marketing background, then it is important that you understand the details or involve experts in business development.
As Manager of Business Development you need to have a good overview and insight into the market and the market developments. An MBA training is recommended. You should also have a thorough understanding of the complete mix of technologies and products that the company offers.
A career as Business Development Manager should suit you. It is not a 9 to 5 job because you work in an international domain, and that means that you also have to work late in the evening and early in the morning. And travelling is definitely a part of the job.
Clearly you cannot start immediately as Business Development Manager after graduation: you need to grow into this type of position.
About Keygene
Keygene is a research-driven company that specialises in contract research, particularly for companies active in the plant breeding industry. The company develops new technologies and applications to accelerate plant breeding and to develop new varieties. For more information visit www.keygene.com.
Stefan Reneman (30), Product Manager at Eli Lilly
Education: Master in Biomedical Sciences,
First job: Sales Representative at Eli Lilly Netherlands
Working hours per week: about 50
Gross annual salary: 50.000-75.000 EUR
As Product Manager of Zyprexa, currently the most important product of Lilly, and one of the top-10 best selling products in The Netherlands, I am responsible for the strategy and communication with health care professionals about this product, including the sales force strategy, advertisement, mailing series, internet, national patient, physician programs, national symposia and congresses, and also foreign congress visits. I also write the product strategy plan, control operational expenses, chair the product-team (medical, marketing and sales cross-functional team), consult in supply-chain management and report to the management team.
The most important skills you need in my job are leadership, medical expertise (market understanding), decision making (preferably the right decisions!), creativity and interpersonal skills. You need to convince and motivate sales representatives, and at the same time explain and convince local management and international leadership about your decisions, cooperate with doctors and manage the internal system so that it works for your product. I like being a spider in the web, representing this product inside and outside the company, plus having responsibility devolved from the management. The continuous pressure I feel to perform in this job well is probably part of the motivation for the way I work (best), but it can sometimes make me feel like a workaholic.
Stefan’s tips:
As a starter you normally enter our company as a sales representative, and typically after 3-4 years you may become a product manager, provided that you possess the required skills. Make sure you stand out in the crowd (we have about 2-3 vacancies for a product manager each year and employ about 60 sales representatives), do a NIMA-B marketing course (skip NIMA-A!) and talk about your ambition with your manager (preferably after a very good first year). Make sure your manager wants to support your development; in the end, your manager needs to ‘sell’ you to the decision-makers for a product manager vacancy.
About Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly & Company is a US-based worldwide operating company. It employs about 40,000 people globally. It was the company that introduced human insulin to the market, changed the way people thought about (treating) depression with Prozac and has recently introduced Byetta as a totally new way of treating type 2 diabetes. For more information see www.lilly.nl.
Rianne Roukema (29), Manager Corporate Communications at OctoPlus
Education: Fundamental Biomedical Sciences at
First job: Junior Advisor at Competence Center Life Sciences
Working hours per week: about 50
Gross annual salary: 35.000 – 50.000 EUR
My switch to communications came rather naturally, when I suggested a redesign and update of our company website and fact-sheets. During the following year I took on an increasing number of communications responsibilities, obtained a NIMA degree in communications and became Manager Corporate Communications when OctoPlus went public in 2006.
I am responsible for communications in several areas: communications strategy, media relations, acting as a spokesperson, public affairs, internal communications, marketing and supporting investor relations. A large part of my work involves media and investor communications. We issue a press release about once a month. I collect the necessary information, write the text and collect feedback from management and other people involved. Once a year I review our website and fact sheets, and update the contents and design. I also coordinate the production of our annual report and help to publish the internal newsletter.
I’m lucky to work for a company that keeps communications high on its agenda. For me the best part of my work is to advise the management team on how to communicate about strategic developments and product news to our audiences, both internally and externally. This role keeps me well informed about important developments in the company. The company is medium-sized, and all communications tasks are my responsibility. I have to divide my time carefully between all my activities. There are days when I have to work until late at night to complete a press release.
Rianne’s tips
The qualities that you need in my position are flexibility, stress-resistance, good verbal presentation and writing skills. You need to be well organised, and have the capacity to listen to, motivate and convince different kinds of people in the organisation, and be able to collect information from different sources.
Most people I know with comparable jobs have scientific backgrounds and learned the communication aspects by experience, and by follow-on education or courses.
If you have a scientific background and a proven talent for communications, you have all kinds of opportunities. In the
About OctoPlus
OctoPlus is a drug delivery company, currently with 5 products in preclinical and clinical development. The company’s business activities include pharmaceutical development services, drug delivery technologies and product development. OctoPlus employs approximately 170 people, most of them with a scientific or technical background. For more information see www.octoplus.nl.
Joep Muijrers (35), Partner at Life Sciences Partners (LSP)
Education: Masters in Biochemistry, University of
First job: PhD at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)
Working hours per week: 50-60 on average
Gross annual salary: Not disclosed
Joep Muijrers started his career as a promising scientist, receiving both his Masters degree and his PhD cum laude. However he did not pursue an academic career any further: “Maybe I’m just too impatient for science. Research is by nature inefficient, and 90% of the work typically doesn’t lead to the desired results.” Instead he co-founded a German biotech company, where he was responsible for business development. In 2001 he joined Fortis’s biotech investment banking team, where he entered as an Associate and left six years later as Director of Corporate Finance. “In a way my business development experience smoothed the transfer to corporate finance.” After a year as Managing Director of the tech-transfer company BioMedbooster, he encountered a new challenge in 2007 as Partner at the venture capital firm LSP. “In my current job I deal with a lot of different issues and different people: science, business, IP, strategy, management, finance, etc. For me this is the ideal combination. We constantly have to keep ourselves up-to-date on the latest developments in the industry. Moreover, it’s really a people’s business. As an investor, we take a constructive role by being a sparring-partner for the management teams, and by helping them to build their companies.”
Joep’s tips:
“The majority of my closest colleagues at LSP, but also at Fortis and BioMedbooster, have a scientific/medical background. It’s an advantage if you have knowledge of the underlying science. But more than anything, you must have the right attitude if you want to work in this field. You should be really motivated, driven, flexible, absolutely not 9-to-5-minded, and have a ‘can-do’ mentality. You should also be confident of yourself, because in the beginning you will be confronted with how much you do not yet know, and some people find that frustrating. In a certain sense the job is highly demanding, but in my experience if you enjoy what you do it can also be highly rewarding.
In our business you normally start as an Analyst. There are no standard career pathways. It really depends on the person. If you are very good, your career can take off rapidly.”
About Life Sciences Partners
Life Sciences Partners is a European venture capital firm specialising in early- to mid-stage life sciences companies. A budget of EUR 400 million, under management in offices in
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