hey guys Serg here today we're gonna be talking about a question I got from
somebody who listens to the podcast or the YouTube channel I think they said
the YouTube channel but anyway they asked me a question I'm a UK national
and I want to eventually move to the USA to become a CRA and they wanted to get
my thoughts on how to go about doing that and if that's a good idea a bad
idea so I'm gonna read the question here in a second but the first thing I want
to tell you guys about is obviously the resume review program we've got that
going on but also if you're interested in your question being answered you can
email me elite clinical group at gmail.com
and if it's a good one or one that I haven't answered before I will do a
video on it and then give you a response in your in your email so literally
respond to it via email and do a video on it usually the video will be a lot
more in-depth than I respond in the email just because it's a lot easier to
talk and expand on points for me through voice than it is in an email but anyway
we've got that we've got the resume interview program going on and if you're
interested in any type of interview preparation I do have that as well
so let's go ahead and get into this question this person writes in dear ECR
G I'm a UK national working as a clinical trials assistant for the
National Health Service after I get enough experience let's say two to three
years I want to move to the USA to work hopefully as a CRA and develop my Syria
my CRA career path there I was hoping you would do a short episode on the
amount of foreign employees and CEOs in the US and if CEOs in the US like or
dislike hiring foreigners pros and cons etc by the way your podcast has given me
so much amazing detailed advice which career advisors schools universities etc
should should be providing you're definitely helping out a lot of people
and make excellent content many things so thank you so much I'm not gonna say
this person's name because I'm sure they want to be
but thank you so much for those nice comments and I love doing these question
and answers I love making content for you guys so thank you guys so much for
supporting me so let's go and get into the nature of this so they they're a
clinical trial assistant now this person is and usually that is a prerequisite
for becoming a CRA it's one of the prerequisites it's not my favorite as
you guys have known I've talked about in the past my favorite to probably you've
got to kind of eat a lot of shit to do this and you kind of got to get lucky
but the best is the study coordinator route you're gonna build the best
foundation knowledge wise I think the easiest route to go is in it through
in-house CRA but I think the best for you
holistically long term and knowledge wise is to the study coordinator route
and that is really because you are the yin and yang of the CRA as a study
coordinator you are you know basically literally the opposite of the CRA you
are handling all the source documents you understand how things are supposed
to go you know how to follow the protocol you know how to read the
protocol you know the different sections of the protocol you know si ease you
know protocol deviations you know AES in depth so I think that's the best
position and you in study coordinators by far make the best CRA s by far the
next best is in how CRA which is going to be a lot more common I think because
CEOs and pharma companies hire more of those and they tend to make a little bit
more money earlier on in the path and you're already in you already in the
company you just got to switch over to the CRA role when you're a study
coordinator you've kind of got to you know you've got to change companies and
change levels so you got to go from the site level to the CRO level or from the
site level to the pharma level when it's a lot easier to stay at that same level
you're at so basically my advice for you is to not move to the USA until you're a
CRA already and that's because it is so hard for people that are CTAs already to
become a CRA and really the only way to do it is to a training
program but luckily for you in the UK there are C arrays there so they have
gotten there somehow if not in the UK there's C arrays in Ireland
there's series all over the world it's not just it's not just a USA thing I
don't think a lot of people realize that but there are sea Ray's in every country
in the world that there's clinical research you know you name it India
Japan China Mexico you've got clinical research all over the world and there
are C arrays there so since you live in the UK my best advice is to become a CA
there and you may not become one through the NHS the National Health Service you
may have to stop working there and work for a pharma company or you may have to
work for a CRO trust me they all have operations in the UK you just gonna have
to do a little bit of research there I know for a fact because I know some see
arrays that work in the UK now I would recommend if you don't know how to go
about doing that go on LinkedIn look up people who are see arrays in the UK and
cold message them they would be happy to talk to you about some career advice I'm
sure about how they got into being a CRA and you've got to remember you know a
few years ago it was a lot different it was a lot easier to become a CRA in many
ways I know people who were you know working
as a CTA for a year maybe a study coordinator for six months they were
literally being pushed out the door to become C arrays they were just being
begged to be C Ras now that's not the case they pretty much stopped that and
they really want people with you know some experience already under their belt
and it's kind of it's a lot harder to become a CA right now one of the best
ways is do a training program that a CRO may offer or a pharma company may offer
to get in as a CRA level one and that's really the best way to go about it I've
done videos on that before and I'll probably do another video heading into
2019 in the beginning of 2019 on how to get your foot in the door in clinical
research and how to be a CRA all that stuff because the tactics change
little bit but now is as good a time as any to begin looking for CRA roles you
didn't say how much experience you have so I'm assuming this is your first year
you said after you get two to three years you want to be a CRA I say start
looking now you don't want to overplay your hand but you definitely want to
start understanding the process and understand how you get to be that I do
not recommend that you come over to the USA if you want to be a CRA without
being a CRA already just because it's gonna be that much harder for you to
become a CRA you asked about the for the foreign how
do they hire foreign employees well CEOs usually have operations in these
countries already so they don't really need to hire foreign employees because
they can hire someone in the UK for example you can get hired right there
working for a CRO in the UK or a pharma company they all have operations there
or if you really if you really want to be a CRA in the USA I recommend you
become a CA for that company first in the UK handle all the immigration stuff
behind the scenes and transfer with that company to being a CRA in the USA that's
how I would recommend doing it if you just had to be a CRA in the USA but I
would if it was me I would not be a CRA in the USA I would try and stay in the
country that I'm in and cloud that loud that ladder there be a CRA there
obviously there may be a little bit more opportunity in the USA but there should
be plenty of opportunity in the UK there are plenty of pharma companies that have
operations there and there's plenty of CRO that have operations there you've
got to kind of do your research go on indeed compiled a list if you have to of
the different countries I mean of the different companies that have operations
in the UK that's what I would do so yeah that's that's that's honestly what I
would do immigration stuff is really really hard I get questions like that
all the time on the immigration stuff and you know I'm not gonna really get
racial too much on this this podcast but in the USA it's a lot easier to make
that transition if you're a higher income from the country you're coming
from if you are of lighter skin tone so I mean if you are I'm just gonna say it
white it's a lot easier to be coming to the country then if you are like a poor
person from India and that's unfortunate but that's just how it is right now
hopefully you know that that changes in the future but not recommend it for
everyone definitely not for everyone to come over
to the USA to become to get into clinical research I would most recommend
you get to the point you want to so if you want to be a CRA
do it in that country and then try and transfer over there are a lot of
different visas I know if you're if you have certain education level it's a lot
it's easier to get a work visa in the United States like we have a PhD or some
type of graduate training it can be easier but for the for the most part I
think the best way to do it is through your company if you can and you
definitely want to be a CRA and do it like that if you can so that's my that's
my words of advice thank you so much for listening everybody and if you have any
other questions email me elite clinical group at gmail.com
take care
you