The purpose of creating this article is to introduce students to different job positions, their requirements, and advice on how to attain them. Use this article to read about the different job positions you may be interested in and connect with these professionals. To watch our Career Panel webinar, please click here.
Jenn Bonilla (She/Her): Linkedin
Introduction
"My family background is Mexican (Jeres, Mexico) on my Father's side and German/British on my Mother's side. My two younger brothers and I were born here in Fresno, California.
Growing up, my parents were farm laborers. My Dad also worked as a grocery clerk and then as a pressman at the Fresno Bee. At times, he worked more than one job to ensure we were cared for. My Mother never worked outside the home but would babysit for extra money.
I personally started working when I was 10 by either selling greetings cards door to door or by going out to the fields with my Dad for a couple of summers (I'm a terribly slow grape picker). Later in high school, I worked as a bus person in restaurants or at retail stores.
I graduated from Clovis West High School but it was a challenging senior year. I almost 'dropped out' because I was so frustrated that at that time my family was not supportive of me going off to UC Berkeley, who had a program for minority students. It just was not part of our culture or expectations that we would move away far from home and go to college.
After high school, I ended up working at a local psychiatric facility in Fresno as a certified nurse aide. After a year of working and messing around, I went back to school at Fresno City College. My plan was to become a nurse, a registered nurse, but an English professor convinced me I could aim higher. He helped me secure a place at UC Riverside where I was a pre-med student. Throughout my college years, I worked and went to school full-time. I was not quite sure what I really wanted to do so I eventually decided to move back to Fresno where I went to Fresno State for 2 more years to graduate with a BA in Psychology."
Why Psychology?
"I worked in psychiatric facilities for 7 years, 6 of which I was also going to college. I had a practical knowledge of Abnormal Psychology and was even leading group therapy for people who had survived a suicide attempt. I personally find people very interesting. I also found that my classes, especially my research classes in Psychology, were really fun for me. I liked thinking about how to design an experiment to better understand the brain and human behavior.
At Fresno State, I took a class that was called 'Independent Study' where you design and execute a research project for a grade. My project was to better understand bilingualism: Spanish native speakers vs. those who learn Spanish later in life and how cognition varies between these two groups of people when interpreting Spanish. I worked with a terrific professor and my experiment not only generated interesting data but was published in what was at the time an important Cognitive Psychology journal.
My professor encouraged me to apply to graduate schools. I didn't know what that was but when I learned that they pay YOU to go to graduate school - minimal loans are needed - I was very interested. In addition to that, on a personal note, I was in a very difficult, abusive relationship and I needed to escape California. There was some drama going on which I kept very private but I knew I had to get far away.
Thus, I applied to schools and was accepted at several including Rice University, UCLA, Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. I ended up choosing Princeton University and felt like I had won the lottery. I spent five years there and graduated with a Ph.D. in Psychology. Going to Princeton University I felt both wholly unprepared having never gone to prep schools or other elite undergraduate schools and excited and determined to not miss this chance to succeed in an Ivy League. I still celebrate every April 22 the anniversary of my dissertation defense."
Job Position
"My current job position is Senior Vice President of Portfolio Strategy. This is an executive position so the pay is quite good; salary + bonus + stock options in the company can exceed $1 million per year. Entering into the industry with an advanced degree but no direct experience (salary + bonus) typically starts in the low 6-figures.
An advanced degree is essential to growing as an executive in the Pharmaceutical industry. It can be an MBA, Ph.D., JD, or MD, something that shows the world you are a constant learner and a good thinker. You have to show that you can solve complex problems and get things done. Very often this is how hiring managers think about advanced degrees.
Some positions of course require medical degrees, such as clinical scientists, but there are many jobs that do not require a science degree. A few things that are common to all are: being a fast learner, interested in science, and possessing sharp analytical thinking with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
The Pharmaceutical industry has many ways one can enter and contribute. Some are science-based while others are business-based or technology-based. It is a great industry filled with the smartest people who genuinely want to create great new medicines to improve human health.
Personally, I got my first job by applying to it via a local newspaper! Since I had just graduated from Princeton, it gave me an edge. They invited me for the interview because they were curious about how an Ivy League Psychologist might do. This is one of the many advantages of going to a 'known school'. It may not seem fair, but it is true - the name of your school can carry weight with hiring managers when they are deciding who to spend time interviewing or not.
My first job was as a 'business analyst'. I did not have experience but what is so great about this industry is the investment larger companies will make in people. My first employer, Merck & Co., sent me to various classes to ensure I quickly got up to speed so that I could do my job. My first salary was $60k per year + bonus. Today's initial salaries are in the low six-figures."
Advice
"You become more and more valuable the more you learn and try new roles."
"Once you are in the industry work hard and learn. Learn all you can about the business and science. Stretch yourself and change jobs regularly to diversify your experience and knowledge base. You become more and more valuable the more you learn and try new roles. It is also very important to meet people, to show your humanity, passion, and talent. Be kind to everyone - you will depend on word of mouth in addition to your own achievements to keep moving around and moving up in this industry (probably true for any industry!).
Don't be picky about what job you take, just get into the industry and start to learn. It is a highly mobile business and if you don't like your job, as long as you are doing it well and building a reputation for being a good problem solver and a kind person, you'll be able to move around quite a bit until you find the role you really love and thrive in!
Ask for advice frequently!"
Haanieh Riah (She/Her): Linkedin
Introduction
"I was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. I got a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and worked for a few years in sales and marketing roles in the Chemical industry. I left Iran when I was 26 and came to the U.S. to get my MBA. The first job out of Business school was in the Finance group at Genentech. The rest can be found in my LinkedIn profile."
Job Position
"My title is Senior Forecasting and Decision Analysis Manager. I consider myself an internal consultant. I provide training on various methods of revenue forecasting with a focus on a long-range forecast that supports strategic decisions that companies need to make in the next 5-10 years.
Payment really depends on the level of experience. If someone is just doing the modeling work, it could be considered an entry-level position post Business school. If one is experienced in decision analysis, it's a higher-level position. $170-$240K.
"High-level expertise with Excel and modeling is also a must. In addition, understanding basic finance concepts, probability, and having some statistics background is helpful."
An MBA or a master's in economics is usually required. High-level expertise with Excel and modeling is also a must. In addition, understanding basic finance concepts, probability, and having some statistics background is helpful.
I became aware of this position while I was doing something similar at a smaller company. All midsize to large companies would require this. The nature of the role would be very different at smaller companies and startups. Also, there are considerable differences in strategic planning based on industries, e.g. software vs. pharma.
I enjoy my job very much. I get to work on a variety of different projects and have to interact with cross-functional teams and individuals from higher or lower levels of management. There are always a few months of the year that are a busy time for us, usually when planning happens. The coolest part of the job is when I help people translate qualitative notions into numbers as well as when I help them interpret quantitative results into qualitative insights. It is a supporting role and I help teams make decisions."
Advice
"This could be an ideal position for you if you enjoy: efficiency, working with numbers and spreadsheets, making sense of numbers and translating them into insights, and working in teams."
Jenn Buechel (She/Her): Linkedin
Introduction:
"I'm originally from Winnipeg, Canada. I grew up in rural Manitoba, on the outside of the city of Winnipeg. My folks did not go to university; my dad was a tailor and my mom was a baby nurse - she went to a technical professional college.
When I was 18, I left Winnipeg and I chose a program at Queens. I got a scholarship to attend Queens University to study Chemical Engineering. My two favorite subjects in school were physics and chemistry. When I was talking with my family about what to study, my dad said, 'Whatever you pick, you better pick something that you can live on your own.' This was one of the main reasons I chose engineering.
When I entered Queens, as an Engineer, I had to pick a couple of art classes to fill up some of my electives. I ended up taking a lot of English classes while I was doing my chemical engineering degree. By the time I graduated from Chemical Engineering, I only had to do a couple of courses by correspondence in a night school to be able to get my English degree as well. In the end, I graduated with both degrees."
How was your experience in STEM as a womxn?
"The good thing about going to an all-girls high school was that I didn't think there was a difference when it came to being a womxn in STEM, but I think that was pretty naive. I always saw myself as equal to men and I expected to always be treated equally.
It wasn't until I got into the executive ranks in some of these companies that I've worked at that I saw how unequal we are treated. I think that it is so unusual to see a womxn in STEM that it distracts from you being a novelty yourself. Fortunately, I had a lot of crowds that really looked out for me. I had a lot of friends, both male and female, who looked out for each other. I think that outside of the social stuff that I had to deal with, I did not really see an issue at the university. It is not until later that it really hits you, mostly in the work field."
Job Position
"My current title is Global Future Council at Biotechnology and I am creating a blood test to detect cancer early so it can be diagnostic. It would be a blood test like the ones you would go and get for pregnancy or cholesterol. As a chief operating officer, I'm running all of the different functions required to get this product out to launch. I mean we're a very new company right now but the idea is that I'll have software engineers, biology engineers, robotic engineers, marketing people, and lab operation people. Those are the groups of most importance to me.
I think there's a lot of character traits that are required to do a job like this so I will break them into different groups. To do a job like mine, you need to really have a strong analytical horsepower. You need to be able to tell a story and be able to weave together a lot of different opinions to figure out what the right answer is. In this case, problem-solving skills and influencing are ideal.
Out of those three things, analytical horsepower is number one. To get that, it doesn't matter if you have a Chemical Engineering degree or a Mechanical Engineering degree or a Biostatistics degree; you just need to be able to really understand how to do analysis. You can either take public policy, communication, or marketing at school. The table stakes are to have a degree, ideally in some kind of analytical aspect. The skills required to run teams, have people work for you, and be responsible for people's work are really important to develop.
The roles of product management and COO are integrative connective tissue roles. I think that in companies that are public and have a lot of revenue, the average salary could be around $200-250K a year.
I love my current job. I love the people I work with and I love the product. I think the number one thing for me is the product."
Advice
"Once you're in a university, what's really important is that you understand what other people pick, what drives their motivation, and what makes them behave in different ways. Sometimes, that means that you end up not being as worried about the mark and you work more on the social aspects like how to get people from really diverse backgrounds to get along. This is good because these are the kind of skills that don't just improve the product in business but improves society.
"My number one recommendation is to take courses that improve critical thinking because we don’t have enough of that right now. Figuring out how to influence and communicate is number two."
My number one recommendation is to take courses that improve critical thinking because we don’t have enough of that right now. People are applying really light analysis to really complex problems. Figuring out how to influence and communicate is number two. Hopefully, you can do that in a discipline that has a lot of analytics behind it.
I also recommend taking a course in Bioinformatics, it is huge right now. Everything right now is Bioinformatics. We don't have enough people who understand biology and how to analyze it. Those folks right now are writing their own ticket for whatever they want to do because they're so rare and so needed. It's a huge field."
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