Getting your foot into the biotech door is intimidating – especially for student pharmacists. Opportunities to venture in that direction don’t come very often—so when they do, you want to make the most out of them. This is from the perspective of a P2, who still feels overwhelmed sometimes in a sea of foreign industry terminology and acronyms. For those who still have a couple years before applying for fellowships, here are some key takeaways from my time working at a biopharmaceutical company.
Colleagues and preceptors appreciate learners more than knowers. It’s great to start the job with a lot of background knowledge on the company and your roles and responsibility, but it’s okay to be curious!
Something that my preceptor said to me that I really valued was that the more questions asked during a presentation, the more colleagues were invested and engaged. As students, we’re constantly fixed with the mindset that we must cover every information on our topic, and that if we’re bombarded with questions, it means we’ve failed to thoroughly deliver our presentation. It’s important to remind yourself that in the workforce, not everything is going to be a test!
Network to make genuine connections. This may sound obvious, but I believe it’s one of the most crucial takeaways. Networking shouldn’t be like a web where one stretches him/herself thin and reaches as many people as possible. Going the extra step to check up on how colleagues are doing is what networking should be about––almost like planting a seed. The more effort you put into helping others, the more likely they will want to help you in return.