Life Science Graduate Prospects
 

Hi all,

I am just wondering the average time for a life science graduate (local/overseas bachelor degree holder) to obtain a job in the research industry (i.e at A*star, research centres, hospitals)?

I graduated last year with a first class honours overseas and found that I was not getting many replies from the HR departments, after providing a full CV and appropriate referees' details via their websites/ emailing directly. I also tried applying directly to the group leader or head of department but there were no replies. I was offered unpaid internships as a research intern (without an appropriate end period).

Is it a norm for graduates to be offered these internships or to get no replies from HR? I applied about 50+ research jobs and was called up for 4 interviews so far.

Thanks for your time!

Give you a hint. Best thing is not staying in labs but end up in some sales and marketing jobs in big pharma. Depends on your luck, the drugs usually sell by itself and you need not put in iota of effort. You jet set all over the world staying in top hotel, handshake top doctors.

Hard thing is how you make a break into the industry.

You are gonna regret staying in labs. Go Fcuk PAP and Philip Yeo's BS glamorizing labs.

FCUK PAP FCUK FCUK FCUK their propaganda for ruining our young Singaporeans.

A normal salary for big pharma is at least 16 month salary per year, and more often than not, more than this number. Very easy to hit more than 100k per year at early 30s.

Which overseas uni?

And did you check the job requirement? R they looking for ppl with advanced degree?

I am a life -science grad and graduated with a 2:2 last year. It is simply hard for us to find a related job in both public/private sector. For public sector, my honors was not good and no one wants me. For private sector, most require at least a master. I cannot find a job in 6mths, and in the end, I give up and apply to be MOE teacher. Luckily, I was accepted and now doing my PDGE.

Guess what? I will be teaching Chinese. Good luck to you.

But a job in the research industry pays really little for a bachelor. Are you interested in pursing further study?

I was based in UK. I did a couple of lab internships and the jobs that I applied for were stated entry level/ one year experience. I would assume that the HR departments were probably overloaded with applications, probably not getting enough time to read my CV or that there were much more experienced applicants asking for lower pay. I was asking for about 2.8-3k.
My friends did take a while to find an appropriate jobs but many ended up in non-science related fields. I am especially keen on research and PhD is what I'm keen to pursue after a few years of work... but I'm kind of unsure whether it'll be the right choice now.

wat is your class of hon? and which uk uni? better or worse than local uni? if worse, than the chance of getting a job related to life sci will be difficult. There are already tons of life sci grad from local uni that have difficulties getting a relevant job.

anyway, why dont you consider building ur career overseas.. life sci, especially in research, is quite dead in Singapore.

Another alternative is to find a company/government org to sponsor ur phd and get bonded.

You are asking too much 2.8k-3k for research? The average pay for nus research assistant is only 2.6k for good honors. There are tons of FT willing to work in research for life-sci asking these pay. Lower your pay expectation and treat it as a stepping stone for your PHDs.

Yes. Research assistant pay to around that range. My fren from NTU with First class honors is working as a research assistant and is paid around 2.7K. You have to have strong recommendation/referral from your prof to land a job in the research industry as a fresh grad.

For your info, the number of Singaporean working in research in life-science related field is super low.

pard
 

What university u graduated from? Do you have any good publication to speak about?Is your university does not belong to the top 50 in the world, you can forget about working in A*star.