by Kevin Foley » Fri Apr 29, 2005 12:22 pm
Hi Pam,
I'm curious, do you have any idea how many formal ?postdoc? positions exist in the biotech/pharma universe?
I am an Assoc. Director at an ~140 person biotech in the Boston area, and have worked for 3 companies in my career, none of whom have had formal postdoc programs. My experience as a hiring manager has been that I rarely receive CV's from scientist candidates coming out of industrial postdoc positions.
In general, I think most hiring managers are unfamiliar with what an industry postdoc is like (the well-known Genentech program being an exception). So it can be a bit hard to know what to make of such candidates, particularly if their CV is in an academic style that doesn't focus on specific accomplishments.
Personally, I am biased towards looking for candidates who have done a traditional 2-4 year academic postdoc. In part, this due to my familiarity with that career track, having gone that way myself. I know what to expect from such candidates.
I also think the scientific rigor of an academic postdoc is a very valuable experience that can?t be exactly replicated in industry (although, again, Genentech may be an exception). The question is whether the increased familiarity with the industry way of doing things, which is certainly obtained through an industry postdoc, makes up for the loss of a more hard-core basic research experience in an academic postdoc?
I?m sure it depends on the postdoc program. But as I said, that is the hard thing to judge, both for candidates and hiring managers.
Cheers,
Kevin