hey guys ECR G here back with another episode today I've got a very very
special subscriber question and I believe this question is from the
podcast so if you haven't heard the podcast yet you're listening on YouTube
go ahead and subscribe to the podcast it's over there on anchor but we're also
on iTunes Spotify pretty much you name the platform we are on it
we are on it we are on pretty much every podcast platform so listen to the
podcast it is a lot of our older videos on
YouTube repurpose for the podcast but there are also some podcast specific
content that you're not going to be getting on youtube so you can go check
it out over there so without further ado I got a question and this is interesting
because I realized that the audience that listened to either YouTube or the
podcast is global so I'm getting a lot of global questions lately so for those
that are you know based all over the world I am based in the United States on
the East Coast so a lot of my experience and a lot of my clinical research acumen
is shrouded in American and how how things go in America so I can offer some
advice on certain things from across the country I mean from across the world but
you just want to think about what I'm saying with the context that I am based
in America and that's where all or most of my clinical research experience has
been about now of course clinical research is a global field so I've
worked extensively with people from across the country UK Australia Japan
Amsterdam Netherlands so you name the country I pretty much work with people
that have been based there so it's it's not as much as you know if I had lived
there and worked there myself but I do know people from all across the world
who work in this industry so without any further ado let's go and get into this
question so we received a question she says ECR G I am interested in a career
path of a CRA but I need training and I live in the UK
please can you advise me on this how to go about it and where I can get this
training so I don't really know too much about her background so I respond back
by saying hey do you have a degree from a university or any kind of clinical
research experience I also ask AUSA teller yeah I'm gonna make a video slash
podcast episode on this topic and could you give me a little bit more context
about your background so then she responds but actually says I am a
Nigerian medical trained doctor and I have a master's degree here in the UK I
have done a I don't know this pharmaco in the past but no my passion is growing
so maybe she's been a pharmacist or pharmacy I was growing in the CR she was
to be a CRA or a PV pharmacovigilance or farming farming pharmacist again I just
need to update and retraining to get into a entry-level job after being out
of the working force because she was being a mom for some time now
so this that's good you were able to take some time off hopefully arrested
recharged and you're able to come in a tack this industry hard so basically my
my advice is this so since she has previous industry experience it sounds
like what'd she say medical train doctor magic Wow okay I must have missed that
the first time she's a she's a medical doctor and she has a master's degree I
feel like she told me that she would worked in the clinical research industry
so anyway I think I thought she said that she worked in the clinical research
industry but I'm missing it going over my notes here so let's let's pretend
that she has and then I'll do a scenario where she hasn't so if she has the best
bet for you is to go and get that job again that's the best bet just go and
get your foot in the door back back in the industry and then go on and be a CRA
you need to get some current clinical research experience on your resume
it's got to be current show that you can work so you got to rebuild your work
history so that's the best bet for you go back and get that same exact job do
that for six months a year then figure out what you need to do pivot you can
email me again Ali clinical group at gmail.com we'll figure out how to pivot
from there into being a CRA obviously my favorite way to pivot is go be an
in-house CRA but there are other options you can go be a study coordinator go be
in project management shoot you if you can work your way up and being a project
manager then you can easily go be a CRA so that's what I recommend for you go
get that same exact job back in clinical research and pivot from there so let's
say you have no clinical research experience but your medical doctor you
are and you have a master's degree and some kind of pharmacy let's say your
masters in pharmacy so you are in a classic dilemma where you are too
qualified for entry-level positions so you've got to kind of get in where you
can fit in here you're you're too qualified
those are entry-level positions which means they're paying basement salary
rates and you have degrees which command salaries that are way higher than people
are willing to pay for those jobs so that doesn't mean you should stop
applying for those in fact I recommend taking them off your resume when you are
applying for entry-level jobs because you don't want to fall into that trap
where people think you're too qualified so I recommend taking your advanced
degrees off when applying for entry-level jobs maybe you can leave the
masters if you think that's gonna be helpful and it might your masters in
pharmacy that could be helpful so I would I would leave that one on but
definitely take off the empty when applying for entry-level jobs but there
are jobs that you can apply for where the MD in the pharmacy degree is really
good so one medical science liaison that's a really good one where you need
an empty - you could be a PI or a sub I in research if you want to get your foot
in the door that way that's a great way to get your foot in the door and being a
research and then potentially you could go on to become a CRA from that
depending on your involvement 3 you could become you could go into medical
affairs and went for protocol writing even though you're probably gonna need
some clinical research background experience but you could look at look
into that maybe you can become a medical writer entry level or level one medical
writer that could be a good fit for you because you do have that science
background so what you want to do is look for things that require an advanced
degree in science medical degree pharmacy master's in pharmacy degree and
figure out where you can get in there I gave you a few options go be a PI or sub
I've become a medical writer entry level medical writer medical science liaison
or go work in medical affairs so those are a few options you have there they're
probably some more I'm not thinking of so that's that's what I would do now I
do know of people that have gotten entry-level roles with like a PhD or
something you got to be smart about that I would that's not normal I don't think
because you fall into that classic trap like I mentioned earlier we're too
qualified on paper but for the job but you know it can't happen but you just
got to be aggressive this is this is one of those things where you've got to be
aggressive I don't think people apply for enough jobs the goal is to shoot for
200 so you want to make sure that you applied as many as you can and there are
jobs out there in the UK I've worked with a number of people in UK Great
Britain and there are a number of CEOs out there too so make sure that you know
all the CEOs that are in in the UK and keep your options open keep your options
as open as possible there are sites out there too so and don't be afraid to move
you could you could move around over there it's it's not too far I mean I
know there's people in France and you've got to know English and to work in the
clinical research field over there so I know people that work in France
Amsterdam Great Britain Ireland so plenty plenty of options to live in work
there so keep your options open don't be afraid to move and look up look up those
career paths I was telling you about earlier in this video
in this episode so I hope this was helpful if you guys have any questions
email me Ally clinical group at gmail.com
I will respond and then of course if it's one we haven't had before or
haven't talked about in a while I will definitely do a episode on it so hope
you guys enjoy that take care