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You have been in your current role for a while and feel, just maybe, it is time to move on, but how do you decide whether you have the necessary skills for a new role?
Let me make it clear at the outset, you can develop your career and not change jobs but for many people, there comes a time when they want to see what else is around.
Naturally, if you are a CRA, you may decide to move on via clinical project management to a role as Clinical Research Manager or Head of Clinical Research. In this case, it is relatively easy to persuade an interview panel that you can transfer your existing skills into a new role. However, what if you want to move into a different field eg product management, business development, pharmacoeconomics, general management or management consultancy to name just a few of the many roles I have known people to move onto from clinical research?
What skills do you have?
Now, don't be modest. If you have been in clinical research for more than a few weeks, you will undoubtedly demonstrate many of the following skills or you would not have been successful:-
Communication & Interpersonal Skills
Monitoring Skills
Project Management Skills
Organisational Skills
Meeting Skills
Time Management Skills
Ability to interpret GCP
People Management Skills
Ability to Interpret Therapeutic Knowledge
Negotiating Skills
Data Management Skills
Quite an impressive list, most of which are generic and can be transferred to the new role you have in mind. However, there might be some skills that may be required for this new role that you may feel either you need to acquire or need to demonstrate that you possess. For example, whilst as a CRA, I had done a fair amount of "selling", before I took up a role in product management, I insisted they let me "carry the bag" as a sales rep for a short time, in order to show I had selling skills and to establish credibility with the field force. Sometimes you can acquire new skills by being mentored or coached or, on occasion, it may be necessary to follow a course eg for pharmacoeconomics, there are a number of MSc courses available.
In identifying your skills gap, make sure you talk to people already in the role you aspire to. You may well get a pleasant surprise and discover that you really are more skilled than you thought. Remember in these rapidly changing times the accent will be on your employability and it will be primarily down to you to demonstrate you have transferable skills.
In my view those involved in clinical research have one of the broadest skill mixes of any profession and are therefore best placed to transfer their skills. Happy hunting.
Copyright © 2009 PDR Partners, incorporating Bob Gammon Associates. |
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