MSLs: Protecting your CV from the Black Hole

It goes without saying that a strong Curriculum Vitae’ is critical to getting you noticed, and can keep your CV from falling in to the proverbial Application black hole. But what makes a strong CV? In my experience, I’ve found that a strong resume’ includes: a detail of scientific background and areas of expertise, examples of work within multidisciplinary teams,  it highlights post-doc training and certifications, has a clear objective statement, and attempts to convince the reader that hiring this person would benefit the company. The best resumes showcase previous contributions and their direct results. By that I mean; highlighting skill sets is good, but specific examples and outcomes are better!

Some important points to give consideration to when updating your own CV are: have you highlighted significant experiences and the projects you have lead? Did they provide support to the Medical and/or Clinical company strategies? Have you demonstrated how you have developed and maintained relationships with internal and external “customers”? And last but not least, have you included examples of presentations you regularly delivered and who your audience was? (conferences, poster presentations, department meetings, physician interactions, etc.).

To be honest, there is no secret formula for the perfect resume. But keeping this checklist in mind when refreshing your own resume may just bring you one step closer to what has often been called” the best job in the pharma industry!”