This is a broad, broad topic – there are many places someone could fit in to the Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical industries depending on their motivations and experience. For any career transition, developing our knowledge about the target sector(s) is a necessary first step in planning and managing our transition.
A good place to start investigating any career are professional bodies – in this case, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industries (other countries may have other similar bodies) – the ABPI. The have helpful careers pages, in particular a library of careers case studies which display the diversity of roles at careers stages from apprentice to senior scientist: https://www.abpi.org.uk/careers/
Another useful website is Prospects. It is a comprehensive overview of the UK labour market aimed at graduate and apprentices, but nevertheless potentially useful to people at any stage of their career. Whilst less focused and specific than the ABPI resources, browsing through articles like Overview of the Science and Pharmaceuticals sector, might help generate ideas around job titles, entry points, possible alternative science careers such as consultancy, intellectual property, quality management, policy, etc.
Resources from the University of Edinburgh Careers Service include links to a variety of websites and organisations that have careers case studies, including SULSA the Scottish Life Sciences Association. The Life Sciences and Pharma pages can connect you to useful sector overviews, for example Life Sciences in Scotland, to help you identify where you can add value, where employers might be finding it difficult to fill vacancies, and perhaps even identify potential target employers.
The University of Edinburgh Linkedin Alumni Tool (this works for any university you‘ve attended) can help you research the career paths of people in your network, or people with a shared experience who could be in your network. What steps did they took? Did they have any experiences or qualifications which you could investigate further? Are there organisations and companies you didn’t know about or never considered? Beyond a tool for connecting and conversing, Linkedin is a massive database of people’s career histories that you can learn from. Connect with us on the University of Edinburgh Research Staff Careers Support page on Linkedin.
Increasingly journals such as Nature and this article in Molecular Pharmaceutics have advice and case studies.
As we’ve explored in our workshops, recruitment agencies can be a vital resource in job hunting and effecting career transitions. The ABPI provides a starting list: https://www.abpi.org.uk/careers/pharmaceutical-recruiters/
Is this blog post everything you need to or could want to know? Absolutely not. It will hopefully provide you with a starting point of trustworthy, up-to-date resources for planning and managing your career. Don’t forget to explore the Career Management Support and Resources we offer here at IAD (including 1:1 career development discussions with Eleanor or Darcey).
