Career Development

Business Acumen Skills for Landing and Excelling in Dream Job

Career Center Speaker(s)

• 

  Vivek Gupta, Ph.D.

  Associate Dean for Graduate Education & Research, Associate Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences
  St. John's University
  Queens, New York
• 

  Anuja Paprikar, PhD

  Senior Manager, Scientific Affairs
  Capstone Development Services Co, LLC
• 

  Heather Boyce, Ph.D.

  LEAD PHARMACOKINETICIST
  US Food and Drug Administration
  Silver Spring, Maryland

Career Center Moderator(s)

• 

  Adeola Coker, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

  Professor
  University of the Incarnate Word
  San Antonio, Texas

In today’s pharmaceutical world, simply possessing technical knowledge is no longer enough to secure the dream job. Employers are increasingly looking for business and soft skills that make candidates stand out. These skills are important for scientists to land and excel at their dream job. While scientific skills and professional know-how at work can be learned by many, intentional learning and practice of business acumen skills remain scarce. A panel discussion will focus on three key skills that are critical in landing and excelling at one’s dream job.
• Strategic Thinking: Identifying and focusing on what a dream job means to you. The journey to the dream job may have challenges, but developing a strategic mindset will help in overcoming them.
• Market Research: How to put on a magnifying glass and learn about multiple opportunities, the required skill sets, the different companies, and their pipelines and culture.
• Negotiation: How to obtain the proper compensation and have a productive conversation in terms of salary, bonus, role, responsibilities, and growth opportunities.

A panel discussion comprising early/mid/late-state professionals from industry, academia, and government agency. There will be a moderator who will ask specific questions on developing key business acumen skills (specifically strategic thinking, market research, and negotiation) needed at different career stages. The discussion will also cover how these skills accelerated the career trajectory of the panelists and led them to land their dream job and excel at it. 3-5 questions will be taken from the live audience. The audience will also be asked to share/write their one actionable task that will help them apply one or more of the business acumen skills.

Students, post-docs, and all stage career professionals looking to turn their passion into their day job.