hey guys ECR G here back with another video we've got a viewer-submitted
question for you let's go ahead and get it right into it
hey guys ECR G here today we've got a
viewer-submitted question and you can see by the title of the video this
person is a vendor project manager but they're trying to get in to the clinical
research aspect of the company they work for is business as a project manager so
they asked what's the best way to go about doing that
either for their company or elsewhere but they also have another wrinkle they
live in a place in Canada where there is not many clinical research jobs so we're
gonna break that down for you one by one so they've got two things
working not in their favor here one they don't have clinical research experience
in two they live in a basically a clinical research job desert so we've
got two things here we're going to talk about we got a fix but before we do that
for any of those people that are new to clinical research or looking to get into
clinical research we have a resume review program and this is really
structured for you if you're having a hard time getting clinical research
you've applied to 50 a hundred jobs and you feel like you're not getting looked
at by recruiters or hiring managers it could be your resume so we've got a
clinical research resume review program you email us your resume we will review
it we will upgrade your resume we will take it to the next level in order to
get viewed by rent by recruiters by hiring managers I guarantee it'll
improve your chances we have helped a number of people thus far the feedback
has been great you can look at those videos I show you how we go about doing
it step-by-step so I strongly recommend this for you if you are new to clinical
research looking to get into clinical research or even looking to make a
change in clinical research check out our resume review program but back to
this video so this purse says they're working as a project
manager in a CRO so that's good they're already in a CRO so they're already
internally in a company and that's the hardest part a lot of times have a lot
of people have the hardest time just even getting their foot in the door in a
CRO so you've got one thing working for you there but they have no exposure to
clinical research no exposure to the clinical research world and they mainly
focus on client support so they feel like it would be more realistic for them
to try and get their foot in the door through project management so this
part's actually a little confusing do they want to be in the clinical side of
clinical research or do they want to stay in the project management side so
we'll go over both of that as well and then they also talk about how they live
in Bank Vancouver they live in Canada there doesn't seem to be many
opportunities there in Canada all right we'll go through that as well all right
here's the deal so you're in a CRO that's great but you're a project
manager so if you're applying externally if you're a project manager in another
field you know whatever it may be what what other other industry it may be you
could have the title project manager but you're applying to get into clinical
research it ain't happening there is zero chance you're gonna get in as a
project manager why you have no clinical research experience but you're gonna say
I learned quickly I know how to do this I know how to do that doesn't matter no
sponsor is gonna hire you that's the thing in clinical research it's not the
CRO that is deciding these things the sponsor has to sign off on you and they
want a project manager especially a project manager we just did a video
yesterday or a couple days ago about the MVP of clinical research so if you
haven't seen that pause this video go watch that then come back to this but as
a sneak peek maybe if the project manager maybe it's not but the project
manager is very important to a clinical trial so they want somebody that knows
what the heck they're doing so the if you could be a project manager anything
and they're not going to accept you in the clinical research as a project
manager because the project manager is too important to not have any experience
they're too vital so what you're gonna have to do is you have to go into a
position that's under beneath that you have to pay your dues
just like anybody else but the good thing you have working for you is that
you already work for CRO so you do have CRO experience it should be no problem
you do have transferable skills to the project manager there believe it or not
there's actually a project manager vendor manager role typically or a
project manager level one or something that does focus on vendor relations of
the project while they are learning the other global project manager role so
that is good you do have the client facing aspects to your job but actually
we can help you reverse that into more clinical terms because that's one of the
things you have to do is translate your resume into clinical terms we can do
that for you if you submit your resume to the clinical research resume review
program we can help you with that but that's one of the things you've got to
do but the good thing is you're ready in a CRO so what I would recommend for you
is apply internally at your company to a position it could be an entry-level
position or the position right under project manager it could have the title
project coordinator project specialist clinical trial assistant whatever it's
called they have that position at your company I promise you because the
project manager is nowhere near entry-level so they have us position
there for you you apply to that you do that for a few years and then you go
into project management you ascend the ladder if that's what you want to do if
you want to be a project manager in clinical research other than that I mean
I'm that's that's going my advice either way if you want to get into clinical
research you're probably gonna have to pay your
dues in a entry level or semi entry level clinical research role because a
sponsor is not going to accept you never having clinical research experience it's
just not going to happen so that's my recommendation for you now the second
thing you don't have going for you is there are no opportunities in Vancouver
now it is exceptionally hard to get a hundred percent remote working job
without clinical research experience a lot of people that are a hundred percent
remote are going to be your project manager
they've been in the industry for five years they're gonna be your CE Ras once
again they've been in the industry a couple years so they're gonna be remote
they're gonna be you know people that have had been in the industry and the
clinical research side for a couple years at least they're gonna be 100%
remote so that's not going for you so how are you gonna do this like I said
try and get a job in your company and I think that's the best that's the best
thing because if your CEO has jobs in Vancouver they're probably gonna be fine
with you or maybe even move you they may relocate you at the company's expense
because you work there for a few years you've got loyalty they might just go
ahead and relocate you and that's what I would strongly recommend relocation or
if you can get a job at your company you can stay put but it's again in the
clinical research if you're not in one of these hotspots or in a place that has
an office or something like that so I think you have a real opportunity
already being in a CRO and working in a CRO to try and see what opportunities
they have for you to try and move over to the clinical research side after
you've done that and explored that then you can leave and go on to bigger and
better things elsewhere but I definitely think that you have an advantage already
working for a CRO and you should definitely do that
because yeah one of the things that people often don't realize is the CRO is
not the CRO making all these stipulations for who can be you know a
project manager or CRA or whatever role you're thinking about in clinical
research it's the sponsor that decides all of
this they want experienced people on their trials to cut down on mistakes to
cut down on turnover to cut down on you know time it takes to do this because
they're spending money for every single hour that's worked on their project
every single hour they're spending money so they want people that know what the
heck they're doing that's gonna cut down on errors that's gonna cut down on
mistakes and eventually you know not cost them extra money so that's that's
really he was determining who can be what in the industry not necessarily
not necessarily the CRO because don't forget the CRO is essentially a vendor
for the sponsor if sponsors decided they wanted to run their own clinical trials
from now on CEOs would go out of business most of them except for a few
of them that have other business models but if you're a strictly a CRO in spawn
all the sponsors decided tomorrow that they wanted to go in-house to run their
own clinical trials they'd a lot of them would be out of business so that's
something to keep in mind is the sponsors that's deciding this so let me
see if you have anything else here yeah so if you don't want to work for your
same CRO you're gonna probably have to relocate that's just that's just what it
is that's that's just how it is I know there are places Toronto has a
few CEOs there that seem to have a pretty good clinical research base I
mean I worked at people all over Canada they do definitely have clinical
research there but again these people that I know are remote they're in the
project manager and above level so they can work from anywhere it doesn't matter
once you get to that level they're a lot more relaxed on where you work from
because most of those people are 100% remote anyway but Canada definitely has
some opportunity out there you've got to look for it there's some hotspots and if
you're really wanting to get into this field you may have to move but I
definitely suggest looking into your own CRO what prop what programs they have
for you to get into to the clinical research side I think that's going to be
a very strong starting point for you and be sure let us know how it goes comment
down below let us know how it's going and we can do another video like this on
it too what you know if that works - let us know if that works
so definitely recommend that don't forget to reach back out you guys and
thank you guys for listening this far this is a great question I'm really glad
you asked it and I hope it helps a lot a lot of people so email us Ally clinical
group at gmail.com or comment down below if you have any questions you'd like to
ask get my take on it and don't forget to Like share subscribe to the channel
don't forget we have a podcast link is down below as well take care guys