Discovering Where the Jobs Are

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Image credit @ Pixabay

As a Biotechnologist and being Co-Founder & Executive Director of Biostandups (An online platform providing latest bio-news, career openings, interview series of expertise from Bio-world), it was my attentiveness to meet and share knowledge that I have gained through the years of my personal experience with young students who are currently perusing biotechnology degree.

My immense curiosity was to share information regarding career support and guide through how to achieve satisfactory success in their career. I have had great opportunity to meet more than 380 biotech students personally and shared career building tips and had a break to notice the skills students lack. Hence, I believe that it is critical to share the same information I shared with students personally, once again here to make sure it reaches more and more needed students. I try my best to put everything together in the following.

I think the following points are very crucial and real to be considering

Degree, grades, and educational knowledge covers only 60% while aiming at your career.

The things you learn at college are not the things that find you a job

Additional skills are required (which college won’t teach you).

What are those skills that recruiters look for you

No company will welcome you to hire

The points as mentioned above make sense right! Well, I assume the one who is reading this article at the moment agrees with me. It seems that finding a job/career out of having a degree alone is very discouraging. However, it might be easy and doable if guided and prepared well. Since I had the fair amount of experience in conducting students through their career progression, my guidelines on how to find a job. So, let’s jump into the topic.

Exclusive tips on Discovering Where the Careers Are!

Try to secure good grades

In this competitive world, securing good grades is the fundamental requirement. The good grades are main pillars of your future journey. Even though the grades accomplish for 60% of the need, its compulsion to have that 60% with you. Good grades reliably provide essential support to build your career

Preparation for finding a suitable job

The tips given here are more appropriate for the students perusing their degree but not limited to, as they will have a lot of time to experiment. Right now, I am not focusing on how to advance your higher education, and perhaps I can do this later sometime. But now my concentration is on how to improve your chances of finding a dream job.

Direct methods to find where the jobs are

Create a user account on job portals like Naukri.com, Times Job.com, Monster.com, etc.. and research job openings of your choice. Research all open jobs to find the best fit for you. Once the particular job type of your interest is selected, research the Job description, skills required, experience and salary matters. Once the research over, compare the requirements of that particular job by different companies/ institutes and choose the best fit for you. These tips help to identify or discover your dream job before your graduation, and you are ready to go.

I also advise you to create a user account on Linkedin, professional networking site to help yourself to find the jobs related to you and it also aids to network with professionals from universities, biotech company CEO’s, and early career expertise. One can easily have access to information and guidance can also be expected from professionals on Linkedin.

Indirect methods to find where the jobs are

Network with purpose. Yes. I meant it. Apart from family and friends it’s very much needed to have professional friendship too. I tasted the benefits of having the best network with the purpose. Sometimes you can expect help from people you know who are actively working at a particular company or institute. This non-traditional yet essential relationship helps you to find new openings coming in future and have full access to the information. Many times, internal reference aids in securing your dream job with ease.

Follow up sessions:

The social media and online marketing have taken over the traditional ways of reaching the target audience. Every legitimate University/Institute/Companies have official websites, and most of them are on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter too. It is expected of you to make regular visits to respective University/Institute/Companies webpages to look for information related to jobs/internships/training programs. The reach of information is faster and much quicker on social media hence you better start following updates of official accounts to get the snapshot of details primarily. By doing it regularly, you will become familiar with information and processes associated with career choices. If you are generous, you can share the same information with your friends who are looking for such opportunities.

Skills Needed

It is hard to tell which one skill is either essential or not. As the requirement of skills vary as the different job types demand different skill set. However, having basic, personal and technical skills gives a bonus to you. From the crowd you must stand out unique among the group, it is very much advised to work on improving your own and technical skills every day. Hence, once you find your dream job profile, better to narrow down the skills needed and make efforts to master them. By doing this routine am sure you can bag a job that you are craving. One must be determined to learn their personal and technical skills as these skills are in constant change as your career progresses. So, I advise both entry level (fresher’s) and experienced level candidates to strengthen your personal and technical skills.

Buttress Marketability

Yes. You need to think, Imagine and prepare on how to present yourself. As an aspiring career seeker, it was expected of you from the people whom you meet professionally. I want you to think about the preparation and presentation for most important days in your career. Sometimes it is very much helpful to have a pep talk with yourself regarding upcoming meetings since this act can give some insight into the future happening and you’re better prepared to face the worst.

Internships

Well, you heard it right. Short-Term courses are the best way to secure your career or dream job. Internships can build a truthful connection between you and your institute. This positive bonding can help to gain credits via a word of mouth or a recommendation letter supporting your candidature for the job you seek. It was a misconception that bachelor degree holders don’t have jobs or internships for that matter. However, I see it differently. There are opportunities for everyone who try to prove their worth. The opportunities (Internships/jobs) for bachelor students are there but few. Knowing the information about them and preparing for such limited resources highly recommended from my side.

I suggest bachelor students to not fall for limited offers but create offers for your benefit. You can do non-research internships to build your professional persona. Working with non-research based internships can give you lot of exposure to management, execution, planning and multi-tasking roles.

Read our latest article stating list of internships suitable for B.Sc and M.Sc students. The list is exclusive for India educational system. 

Volunteering

In my opinion, this game does not work incredibly repeatedly concerning Indian system. However, it’s worth to give a go when the opportunity knocks on the door. Volunteering can be a good start to gain experience and exposure towards new challenges, test your ability to real-world situations. Volunteering helps you to identify or discover your hidden talents too. Everyone love free work, there is no discrimination of which career stage you belong. Non-research, non-scientific volunteering can also be considered to boost your multi-tasking abilities.

Be a fan

Out of 100 individuals who were exposed to the same learning background only few will enjoy the sweetness of achievement in their career. There must be some unique qualities in these successful individuals who stood out from the crowd. I advocate you to follow and be a fan to such successful personalities and find out how and what are the unique talents that they have mastered to be successful. Everyone will have their twist when it comes to scoring a job. Don’t fallow someone who is a very big in the industry (Biocon CEO, CSIR Director, University professors), and they care less about you. Follow your friends, colleagues, seniors and those who are very close to your professional level. Indeed, you can be a fan to Biocon CEO, CSIR Director, University professors, with an inspirational touch but not with the intention to bag the job. You know what I mean here.

Slack desperation & Fear of dropping offer

One will continuously look for better job profile, better salary and wish work with reputed institutes/company to progress their career. Freshers will not have this attitude while preparing to find a job or attending their early interviews. It's very common to feel desperate and want to bag any offer that comes in your way since survival is the key and you had very few openings since you moved out of the college/university. Loose the desperation and show your attitude showcasing why you are so important to your appointer (even if the job matters to you).

While you are going through nerves of worry, fear of losing the job bites. Failing or not able to bag a job is not the end of the world. To get rid of such nerves you should imagine about events that you wish to do post-interview. This kind of imagination brings confidence and keeps your nerves calm. I know many students will give mock exams before their final competitive exams to gain the experience. Similar policy can be applied while doing your job search. It is good to practice to attend mock interviews or discussions to gain some insights to real-time situations. 

I am hoping that the points I have listed can bring the change and advances your older version of job searching tips. Wish this was refreshing and useful to the readers. Readers are welcome to reach me to clarify their doubts regarding job hunting tips. I do my best to bring the confidence back to you.