Currently, I am 36+ and have gone through various career changes since my graduation in 2008. I have written about insights from my career in another blog explaining my own journey through academia and industry. So what other options does one has? Try venturing into a bossless domain, otherwise also called startup. As someone in New York City once told me, “no lunches are free and anything free comes with a price”. This correlates well with startups where although you are your own boss, the pressure to perform is highest.
While being from a privileged educational institute means a great network, it doesn’t always mean success. Nevertheless, many alumni of IITs earn decent amounts of money throughout their careers. For most of us irrespective of the college we study, our career ship starts from on-campus recruitment. While getting an on-campus job may sound like a piece of cake, there is a lot of competition between students every year to crack the best job.
When I sat for placements in late 2007, I wasn’t ready to apply to just any company. Being from the first batch of Biological Sciences & Bioengineering at IIT Kanpur and a passionate Indian, I was inclined to work for an Indian biopharma (core company as they say!). Luckily, that year Dr Reddy’s opened for placement and so I appeared for its test. With some difficulty, I was able to crack their written exam along with many others and appeared for the group discussion (GD). In the group discussion, I invoked a Brahmastra that I had studied in the Social Psychology course named “bystander intervention”. It killed the GD for most others setting me as a shining example. After a brief interview, I was hired for the position.
I must admit that this was not the first interview that I had attempted. Earlier in 2006 while applying for summer internships, I had a phone interview with a professor at Pittsburgh University and he declined to offer me a position in spite of my research background matching his research area. So you can say that I converted an interview at a crucial junction of my life but of course, going for a US summer internship would have benefitted me in so many ways back then.
After working at Dr Reddy’s labs for some time, I applied for PhD program at the US universities and joined SUNY Buffalo. Those days there were no interviews held for selection into the program, otherwise would have written about it. And the US being a land of opportunity, I was able to participate in various clubs and meets at Buffalo without ever being called for an interview.
Later, after the completion of PhD I decided to return back to India. While here I approached people for jobs and got a lead through a reference at one of the vaccine manufacturers in Hyderabad. This time was different as it was an off-campus interview but since my skills matched their requirements, it turned out to be a straightforward one. The interviewers asked about the LCMS that I had used at SUNY and a few other questions. But also warned about not having as advanced laboratories as the one in the US, so keeping a low tab. But, when I worked there I found everything technically smooth and as advanced as one could comprehend.
For my next job, I had written to the CEO of a biopharma in Hyderabad who was just starting a Biologics business here. It was a Biologics startup backed by a big API manufacturer. My insights from this career interview were also quite different as I had worked with the CEO when he was a scientist in the early part of his career. So, when I visited the Business unit, there were two young chaps to interview me. Then the CEO himself joined for the interview and asked me some questions more about ethics than skills and offered me a job.
So this also turned out to be an easy-peasy interview because of my historical connection. Later, after spending a year and a half I applied for a postdoc to the US. This was a turning phase in my life. I gave 3 interviews in 2017 from maybe about 100 applications and converted one. The interview was mainly technical requiring me to share my PhD work with the lab. Later, since I had been there before they asked for a brief writeup on what I would do after joining them.
After spending about 2 years I returned back to India. This US-India stay for gaining experience which I did was a bit messed up, but you know I had little clarity back then and, at present, don’t have much clarity either. One needs to be aware of the self to do the unthinkable. I ended up joining CCMB at Hyderabad for my second postdoc in a cancer biology lab. Since postdocs in India are temporary, I started looking for jobs starting my second year here. I looked at both the academia and industry positions and applied everywhere in Hyderabad.
My insight from this career interview was I think reasonable. I used to approach people on various forums and got a lead in one of the biopharma, which was a CRO (Contract Research Organization) in Hyderabad. They held an interview which was my first on a non-skype tool, so I struggled a bit. This shows that studying Biology may have an adverse effect on Engineering skills [:P]. The interviewers gave me options, join at a junior level and do benchwork or know everything under the sun and lead a team. I was particular about what I didn’t want, so they ended up rejecting me as I didn’t want to join as a junior and couldn’t explain to them clearly what I was capable of.
NOTE: We need to be good at selling ourselves which at times even experienced people struggle with.
Being at CCMB was helpful as many startups/companies would drop an email looking for the right candidates. Through CCMB, I applied to another biopharma in Hyderabad. They interviewed me with some very basic biology questions which probably was important for them, but I had never come across them. This interview was also a failure. I realized after the interview that they were more or less looking for someone who could think/brainstorm with them, not necessarily know the details but the ability to go deep into the process. As someone with a PhD and postdoc experience, I do think deeply but probably at that moment I just wasn’t calm.
NOTE: You have to be calm in order to think deeply and attain universal intelligence. Hot Minds don’t serve hot food, but probably junk food.
I was also interviewed for faculty positions at institutes in Hyderabad and Jodhpur but it didn’t work out there. I presented my latest work to them and although they were impressed with the work, perhaps they were also looking at the non-technical/HR aspects. After all, it’s not easy to get into academia unless and until one’s profile is exemplary or there is a strong reference.
NOTES:
If someone opens a door for you, you have to be kind enough to show respect to them and do justice after entering the room.
Not always privileges work, after a while human experience also normalizes and much depends on how you treat people.
Be calm during the interview and do not be overjoyed. I received a comment about being “Khush” during an interview. Possibly, interviewers were not impressed by my being overjoyed.
Keep your ears and eyes open during interviews. Sometimes there is a hint of what interviewers are referring to. If you are under pressure and they give you options which you at first don’t want to accept, trust me you need that at that time.
Keep networking and connecting on social media or meetups. Convert personal interactions into interviews and it might be just that a brief interaction turns into a game-changer for you.