Struggling to land interviews as a Masters Biotechnology Graduate.

JohnW1993

I recently completed the MSc. Biotechnology course at Uni and I am struggling to land interviews since finishing in September, and it's beginning to take its toll on me. It is very demoralizing.

The dream is landing a Quality Assurance/Control position within one of the leading companies in the Pharma or Medical Device Industry. I also would also love a laboratory role within these companies too.

I have gotten ZERO interviews and I have gotten people to look at my CV, particularly HR staff at some of these companies and they say it's fine and down to experience.

I have tried every trick in the book at this stage...

- Tailoring non-related and academic experiences to the line of work the job description entails.

- Reached out to my classmates to at least provide contact details for some of the HR staff to follow up on applications and they did not help me, left me on a "seen" on WhatsApp/FB

- Tried the backdoor route of applying for production line jobs through agencies but failed dexterity tests and now have to wait X months to reapply

- Have been unsuccessful on 4 attempts (and counting) to land a graduate position or even be considered beyond the initial application submission.

- Tried contacting talent acquisition staff i did manage to get in contact with to follow up applications

- Made appointments with Careers Services at my University who cancelled on me and 3-4 emails later have not replied to my emails to reschedule

- Asked friends who have siblings working in some places to see if anything is going but to no avail.

- My mother who works in a Solicitors firm is always in contact with people. She politely asks relevant clients if they could keep an eye out and some have willingly given my name/CV to HR. Anything I've applied for within their companies has resulted in nothing, even a graduate position which is up in the air as apparently "they do not hire master graduates for grad programmes". So the referrals aren't exactly working for me either.

- I've offered to work for free and/or to shadow but have been knocked back several times.

I am at a loss at the moment and I do know what to do anymore and my self confidence is at an all time low. My classmates have managed to get qualified positions within the industry by Christmas. I know I should not compare myself to them but I can't help it. Some of them did not have any experience, some didn't even have a CV when they finished the Masters course.

I need advice or guidance on what I can do.

Are production operator roles (ie line work) within these companies of benefit to me, a person who seeks a Quality Assurance/Control or Laboratory based position as my preferred career choice? Example Product Builder at Boston Scientific.

If anyone would like to look at an undisclosed version of my CV that would be fantastic also! I don't know how to upload it, but pm me an email address and I will send it to you!

turdball

Are you trying in every county in Ireland or just somewhere local?
Have you applied anywhere abroad?
Are you only applying for top companies and not smaller ones?
Are you on Linkedin? A definite must to build contacts and a ton of jobs are now only posted on Linkedin.

Getting your foot in the door after finishing college is always the hardest step. Took me over six months after finishing an IT course.

simongurnick

I'd be happy to look at your CV. Shoot me a PM and I'll give you my email or LinkedIn.

I'm not too familiar with biotech but did just work as a Talent Acquisition Manager with a bank, hiring about 3000 people annually, so I've seen a few cv's/resumes!

Sounds like you are doing a lot of the right things, but it is a slog, especially when you are new to the labour market with good education but lacking experience.

A few questions:

- you mentioned NUIG, are you only looking in Galway or willing to work elsewhere?
- are you on LinkedIn much?
- think about doing something in addition to the CV. Even a powerpoint presentation covering who you are and what your strengths are, maybe a short video, a web page? Just something to help you stand out a bit

JohnW1993

turdball wrote: »

Are you trying in every county in Ireland or just somewhere local?
Have you applied anywhere abroad?
Are you only applying for top companies and not smaller ones?
Are you on Linkedin? A definite must to build contacts and a ton of jobs are now only posted on Linkedin.

Getting your foot in the door after finishing college is always the hardest step. Took me over six months after finishing an IT course.

Applying to companies within all the major cities and towns. Athlone, Galway, Limerick, Cork, Dublin etc. These are major biotech hubs.
Haven't applied abroad, I not exactly sure where to start, its very daunting.

I am on LinkedIn. But I have very few connections. I have tried connecting to recruiters/HR managers but some have not connected. I'm not entirely sure if the random connection request is beneficial?

JohnW1993

simongurnick wrote: »

I'd be happy to look at your CV. Shoot me a PM and I'll give you my email or LinkedIn.

I'm not too familiar with biotech but did just work as a Talent Acquisition Manager with a bank, hiring about 3000 people annually, so I've seen a few cv's/resumes!

Sounds like you are doing a lot of the right things, but it is a slog, especially when you are new to the labour market with good education but lacking experience.

A few questions:

- you mentioned NUIG, are you only looking in Galway or willing to work elsewhere?
- are you on LinkedIn much?
- think about doing something in addition to the CV. Even a powerpoint presentation covering who you are and what your strengths are, maybe a short video, a web page? Just something to help you stand out a bit

I am applying everywhere in Ireland. Abroad may be an option.

I am on Linkedin but have little connections. The random connection request to recruiters/talent acq staff at these companies in my best bet at the moment. Some don't connect however.

My linkedin profile actually contains an award winning poster for my Master Research Project Poster presentation. I actually got a reward made of Galway Crystal for it too!

turdball

JohnW1993 wrote: »

I am applying everywhere in Ireland. Abroad may be an option.

I am on Linkedin but have little connections. The random connection request to recruiters/talent acq staff at these companies in my best bet at the moment. Some don't connect however.

My linkedin profile actually contains an award winning poster for my Master Research Project Poster presentation. I actually got a reward made of Galway Crystal for it too!

If you start searching for jobs on Linkedin it will bring up all jobs available with the description your looking for. You don't potentially have to connect with anyone but would be no harm to start linking with people in your field who post a lot on Linkedin to boost your connections.