4 inside tips for pursuing a career in clinical research

After the COVID-19 pandemic has left workers feeling less connected to their offices, many people are in search of a career change. And with continued steady growth and proven resiliency through several recessions, the North Carolina life sciences industry is hiring — especially in the contract research organization sphere.

For those looking to start a career out of college or pivot into a new career after years in the workforce, here are four inside tips to help in pursuing a career in clinical research.

No matter what level you're working — from entry level to management — there are always lessons learned that can help you further down your career path. For those new to the clinical research field, this is especially true.

"I started off as an intern before landing my first job, which was at a small biotech company here in North Carolina where I worked as a clinical research coordinator. Being on the biotech and pharmaceutical end, I was able to gain a lot of therapeutic knowledge of oncology and actually be trained by the medical directors that were writing these protocols and doing this research," said Alvita Amanchukwu, manager of clinical operations at PRA Health Sciences. "Critical to my advancement within the industry was me being a sponge and trying to shadow and absorb as much as I could from people I worked with. My advice to anyone getting into the industry is to absorb as much as you can about what's around you from whatever end."

Even for those eager to move up in ranks, there's plenty of value inherent in an entry level role.

"I started out at the entry level and I knew I wanted to go the clinical research associate route. I was constantly trying to figure out when I could start the training and get the promotion. I would never recommend going straight into the [clinical research associate] route without that entry level position, because you can take so much in," said Tony Connell, a CRA with Covance by Labcorp. "As a CRA, you are at the crossroads of a lot of different aspects of a trial. If you have experience in prior roles, it can really help you build upon your current role. Soaking up the knowledge from your entry level position will give you the knowledge you need to be successful."

There's a lot of pressure to make sure your resume is perfect, but even the simplest changes can help improve your odds for a clinical research position. Before you start applying to these jobs, take inventory or your relevant skills.

"Make changes to your resume. Anything that's really focused on data, attention to detail, even a CPR class — that's all clinical and data-related experiences that you may not think are worth putting on your resume, but put it on there," said Michael Quinn, a clinical research associate with Syneos Health. "Even project management skills, because we're fixing project management issues on sites. If you're in an undergraduate program, that's a great foundation to reach out to your local community and look at entry level jobs."

While more traditional resumes read as a list of careers, many recruiters are instead looking for that emphasis on skills, as Quinn said.

"My favorite type of resume is a skills-based resume. They're very functional and are a great way for you to highlight transferable skills. If you're reading through a job posting and you've got some experience in data and other areas, that's a highly transferable skill," said Amanchukwu. "I'd love to see a resume with a summary statement that's a very quick, 'Here's who I am,' then a skills or competency section, then lead into your experience or education. I always recommend having the job description on one side of your screen then your resume on the other and work back and forth between the two."

The life sciences field is undoubtedly intricate — but you don't have to know everything in order to find a successful career. In fact, many clinical research careers suit a variety of degrees and concentrations.

"When I graduated college, I was working in legislative research and wanted to get into something else--I did not even know what a CRO was. I have a degree in healthcare administration and I worked as a pharmacy technician for three years in college, but I had no clinical research experience coming into the role," said Connell. "In my mind, I thought the pharmaceutical company, the medical device company or the biotech company, did everything. They made the drug, they ran the clinical trials, they marketed it--everything.

If you already have a career in a scientific field, odds are your employer — or even a company you've worked with before — offers ample training opportunities for a career pivot.

"When you're trying to make that transitional shift to a CRA, the majority of our CROs now have robust training programs that they put you through that will help and teach you all the terminology that's a second language to us," said Amanchukwu. "There are great training programs at all the organizations across the country that would allow you to have that good footing to write a report and engage with your sites and address your issues. Lock in with a company that does have that training and will help and support and foster your training. That'll set you up for success down the road."

Once you have a job in the clinical research field, don't discount the amount and range of experience that can come from a single position. Since there's plenty of overlap between jobs in the field, you can rack up a surprising amount of skills — if you're willing to learn.

"In the research coordinator role at major hospitals and smaller research sites, you're going to learn a ton. You'll have a blend of being a nurse, being a teacher, being a CRA — the site is going to teach you a lot," said Quinn. "It's all about training and making things as easy as possible, because it is really complicated and moves really fast."

Added Connell: "CRAs are at the crossroads of so many different parts of a trial — data management, safety, regulatory, shipping, project management. I get to do a variety of things on a daily basis. Sometimes I can do six different tasks in a day that are really different. That doesn't happen every day, but it allows me to build my skillset and say, 'Yes, I can do this,' or 'Yes, I can do that.'"