Launching your Biomedical Engineering Career

1
Launching your Biomedical Engineering Career

• Tips to making your career search more
  successful!
  
• Lisa Waples
• Strategic Recruitment Services LLC

2

• A targeted plan - Goal
• Graduate and professional school
• Job Myths
• Searching Tips

3
Define your goal

• Post graduate plans
• Professional School
• Graduate School
• Employment
• Other Service Work

Graduate or professional school
Medicine Law Dentistry Physical Therapy G
raduate School Engineering, Life Sciences,
Management Full-time Employment Engineering
Quality Research and Development Regulatory
Sales, Marketing
4
Graduate school

• Collect school data during Junior year
• Online
• At meetings, BMES, SFB, meet potential research
  advisors
  
• Contact professors at universities
• Talk with advisors and counselors regarding
  application process
  
• Review your resume, do you have enough
  experience? Need more? Focus Junior year summer
  on necessary activities.

5
Graduate school

• Graduate schools financial aid decisions in
  Feb/March
  
• - research based degrees (MS, PhD) funding is
  usually available
  
• Offer letters for research assistantships and
  teaching assistantships are sent out around the
  same time from all schools
  
• Goal is to maximize research assistant offers for
  graduate study
  
• Submit completed applications by the end of
  December
  
• Be in contact with the schools that you are
  interested in (professors and departments)
  

6

• http//www.stanford.edu/plegresl/humor.html

7
(No Transcript)
8
Top Ten Job hunting myths

• Finding a job after college will be quick and
  easy
  
• The Internet is the best place to look for a job
  
  
• High salaries and signing bonuses are common
• There's no room for negotiation with an
  entry-level salary
  
• 6 The person who gets hired is the one who can do
  the job best

9
Top Ten Job hunting myths

• A well-designed résumé will boost my chances of
  getting noticed
  
• What I think of an employer doesn't matter as
  much as what s/he thinks of me
  
• If I plaster the Web with my résumé, I'll receive
  more interviews
  
• If a company isn't currently hiring, I can't get
  an interview
  
• If I don't know what I want to do after
  graduation, I should go to graduate school
  
• Kiplingers online April 7, 2005

10
The Job Hunt

• On-campus interviews, dont be too selective
• Attend informational sessions
• Career fairs attend them!
• Develop your own network
• Talk with professors, fellow students, alumni,
  family and friends
  
• Resources Finding companies
• Medical Device Register, Medical Alley (MN)
• Online Resources
• BMENET - www.BMENET.org
• College Grad Job Hunter - www.collegegrad.com
• Minnesota Biomedical and Bioscience Network
  www.mbbnet.umn.edu
  
• Monster.com
• www.careerbuilder.com
• www.jobweb.com

11
Industry who makes the hiring decisions?

• Be familiar with corporate structure
• Divisions within company

12
Corporate Structure Decision Makers in the
hiring process
WEB - resume
13
Locate and Contact the Hiring Managers

• Smaller Company,
• President or Vice President
• Mid-sized, 1000- 10000 employees
• Director or Manager
• Large, 10,000 employees
• Managers

14
Contacting companies

• Research company on internet - size, divisions,
  types of engineers hired?
  
• Cold calling
• Contact main headquarters get decision makers
  name
  
• If name wont be released
• Call during lunch hour, before or after business
  hours
  
• Ask to speak with the person, have an
  explanation for your call
  
• Get voice mail, leave non-specific message
• Send resume and follow-up within 2 weeks (make
  2nd phone call to ensure correct spelling)

15
Contacting hiring companies

• If position of interest is posted on the
  internet
  
• Apply through normal channels, web, mail
• AND ALSO CONTACT A DECISION MAKER!

16
The elevator pitch

• 1st conversation with potential employers 30
  sec pitch!
  
• Goal Secure a face to face interview
  (informational interview too!)
  
• Who you are, reason for call, your interest in
  the company, why you are a good fit
  
• If the answer is negative for opportunities
• Other colleagues who might be interested in your
  background
  
• When to call back if the hiring situation changes

17
Do your research!

• Know about the company products, divisions
• Review current jobs descriptions
• (intern jobs will be very similar to full-time)
• Read the press releases valuable information!
• January 18, 2007, Business Week A Diagnostics
  Deal for GE and Abbott
  
• CEO Miles White fuels his MA streak with an
  agreement to sell two-thirds of Abbott's
  diagnostics business to GE for 8.1 billion in
  cash
• The purchase is the second for GE in three days.
  On Jan. 15, the conglomerate announced it would
  pay 4.8 billion for Smiths Aerospace, a British
  aviation-parts maker with 2.4 billion in sales
  and 11,000 employees. That deal comes on the
  heels of a transaction by Siemens. A direct
  competitor of GE in medical-imaging equipment
  such as computed tomography (CT) scanners,
  Siemens two weeks ago closed its 5.3 billion
  takeover of Bayer's diagnostics unit.

18
Follow-up

• In any correspondence, FOLLOW-UP
• Do not wait for the phone to ring
• Following up opportunities!

19
Things to do now

• Get Experience! Look at your resume, whats
  missing?
  
• What do you need to reach your goal?
• Freshman positions that show responsibility,
  highlight communication skills
  
• Sophomores and Juniors internships, co-ops,
  REUs, continue with activities, research
  careers
  
• start researching companies, grad and
  professional schools for summer-time
  
• Seniors applications and interviewing
• should be actively interviewing, sending out
  resumes
  
• calling, applying and visiting potential schools

20

• Give Back!

21

• Thank You

22
(No Transcript)
23
Application answers to avoid

• DESIRED SALARY 185,000 a year plus stock
  options and a Steve Jobs style severance package.
  If that's not possible, make an offer and we can
  haggle. 
• EDUCATION Yup. 
•  
• MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT My incredible
  collections of hubcaps and beer bottles. 
  
•   
• PREFERRED HOURS 130 - 330 p.m., Monday,
  Tuesday, and Thursday. 
  
• MAY WE CONTACT YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER? If I had
  one, would I be here? 
  
• HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY SPECIAL AWARDS OR
  RECOGNITION? I may already be a winner in the
  Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes.