Candidates are often confused with the difference between their digital footprint and personal brand. More often than not, candidates believe they are the same thing. They are not the same. Neither a digital footprint nor a personal brand happens overnight. This means every professional should be aware of these concepts. And if you are currently a …

I just saw another article giving horrible job search advice. It is plentiful…and I have found that jobseekers often find it difficult to sort through good versus bad advice. But one thing is certain, following the wrong advice will cost you when it comes to landing your next position. Today we have a very special podcast for our audience. I was ho…

The act of crafting a personal brand prior to starting a job search can actually shape your career trajectory. This is important because identifying your career path will help you plan what types of work situations will best fit your current goals. Meaning, that as you analyze your true passion, what you represent or want to represent, and how you …

I feel most of our clients undervalue the importance of job descriptions. Most hiring managers view them as an advertisement…and since it takes a lot of effort to craft one, why invest the time? Especially since there are no state or federal requirements to provide job descriptions for most positions. While a clear and detailed employment post can …

Job search anxiety is very common. There are typically three reasons why employers don’t respond to a candidate who applies for an open position: The candidate isn’t qualified (or isn’t as qualified as others), The candidate is overqualified and doesn’t explain why they are applying, or The candidate didn’t move quickly enough to be considered. In …

Today’s roundtable is about how to work with a recruiter. And while we speak about working with a recruiter to obtain a new position, we also discuss how to continue working with your recruiter to transition into your role (if a perm position) or as you work out your assignment (if contract). A primary focus of this roundtable is how to work with a…

Many hiring managers feel employment verification and background checks are a waste of time and money. Alternatively, other clinical operations managers feel an employment check protects them from candidate fraudulence. Our firm feels performing a background check is necessary for certain roles. We also believe you should always verify a candidate'…

Today’s roundtable is about how professional networking can create a Small World Phenomenon for you. And no, I am not talking about Disney World’s Small World ride. I am talking about the principle that Wikipedia describes where short chains of acquaintances, often no more than a handful of individuals, connect any two people on the planet. This co…

It is standard practice for interviewers to open up the discussion with a question like “tell me about yourself” or “walk me through your resume.” I like starting an interview this way because it typically puts the candidate at ease while giving me an idea of what he/she is looking for. While there are certain key points you want to make when answe…

The topic of this week’s roundtable is self-defeating beliefs and how they may be keeping you unemployed or unhappily employed. I refer to self-defeating habit patterns as Blockers. Blockers are those habit patterns that may have helped you survive in the past but are no longer beneficial to you. For example, as a baby, you cried when you were hung…

Do you think that bosses can have friends at work? It is a complicated question…and if your answer is no, then I am certainly guilty. I love my team members. Each and every one of them are more than just colleagues to me. But as the boss, fostering close relationships with team members can sometimes lead to firing a friend. The irony is that most f…

Some of our listeners may argue that no one should be declining a job offer in today’s economy. I find that many candidates decide to accept or decline a position based only on compensation. But aren’t there other factors important to you? And while I agree that money shouldn’t be the primary driver in making career decisions, isn’t financial secur…

Have you ever considered how getting a job is directly related to your mindset as a job seeker? Before you craft your resume, update your LinkedIn profile, or start applying for positions, consider whether your mindset may be turning off potential hiring managers. For example, let’s say that you apply for a position that is a bit over your experien…

Several years ago Lou Adler wrote an article that described what recruiters and talent leaders felt were challenges to hiring the right person. He boiled their feedback into two primary categories: Teams aren’t seeing enough quality candidates, and Hiring managers are the problem, not the solution. Hiring the right person can certainly be a challen…

In the last 24 hours, one of our clients just received 667 applicants for an open CRA position. I just received 272 applicants for an administrative position (and they are still pouring in). The rub? Many of those candidates were seriously overqualified for these roles. Some people may feel that such an outpouring of interest is a positive thing. B…

Unplanned absences are going to happen. Kiddos get sick. Parents become ill and need to be cared for. Car accidents happen. Unplanned absences from the workplace are inevitable. We teamed up with one of our favorite Hiring Managers to discuss how both management and team members can (and should) proactively plan for unplanned absences. Part of our …

Folks break into a clinical research career via many different pathways. And when it comes to a clinical research professional’s foundations as a CRA, we typically see one of two approaches. Many sponsors and CROs would say that obtaining foundational experience through “classical training” is the preferred approach. However, while we are seeing mo…

This podcast tackles the topic of how job seekers should be pickier when selecting a recruiter to work with. In this ‘How to Recruit Your Recruiter’ discussion, you will see how easy it is to fall prey to a recruiter who may not have your best interest in mind. Years ago, an executive search firm reached out to me, offering to represent me if I pai…

About twenty years ago I had a mentor who told me that interviewing was the worse way to identify talent. I thought he had lost his mind. But with the rise of the fake interview, I see some wisdom to his point. Now I am not going to go on record stating that we should throw out the interview. But I will state that an effective vetting process start…

From a CRA staffing perspective, I believe all of us can agree that we have some work in front of us to clarify the barrier to entry into the role. We also need to define the CRA role more consistently. Wouldn't it be nice if all sponsors and CROs were in agreement on titles and the qualifications of CRAs at various levels? With all of that in mind…

I had someone ask me once: Do you wear the same clothes to a phone interview as you do to a face-to-face interview? Wow…I sure hope not. But since you would certainly consider the interview venue when planning what to wear, shouldn’t you also consider your interview audience when planning what to say? As an example, what topics do you feel are appr…

She wore a wig in her video interview. Not that wearing a wig is a bad thing in itself...my Mom wore a wig after her chemo. But the reason for the wig became apparent later. It all had to do with her faking her interview. You have heard us talk about various ways that candidates falsify their way through the interview process, but we want you to he…

What the Heck is Brand Storytelling? You have heard me say it before: I want to hear your career story. Your unique story. I want to see what your passion is as well as the qualities you bring to my table. In a nutshell, you need to be versed in the art of brand storytelling. So how do you tell that story? Well, you start by clarifying your persona…

This week's roundtable theme is simple and can be described in one word: Responsiveness. It is interesting to me how many candidates miss out on great opportunities...not because they aren't qualified, but because they aren't responsive. I've been so busy I do want to note that when we speak of candidates being responsive, we are talking about cand…

We hear this all the time: “My current full-time job is very slow, so I thought I would pick up a contract to supplement my hours”. Or “I want to shift into contracting, but I don’t want to leave my permanent position until I am secure. Therefore, I am seeking a part-time contract while still at my current employer.” So, let me ask – is simultaneou…

Most people approach the job interview as if it were a dog and pony show. After all, isn’t it tempting to ‘perform’ as the person you think the hiring manager is looking for? We have seen it cited that up to 90% of job candidates engage in faking their behavior at an interview. But being authentic in the job interview is important. We teamed up wit…

Did you know that hiring managers hate interviews as much as job seekers do? Interviews can be mundane. In most cases, I ask the same old questions, and the candidate answers with the same old answers. And for those candidates who have a hard time connecting with their interviewer or properly communicating their experience…well, I can usually tell …

One of my mentors has a favorite saying: If you don’t know what you want, any road will take you there. We speak a lot about setting career goals. After all, how are you going to find the right job for you if you don't have them? It has been my experience that talented individuals set goals because they want to advance. Out of sheer motivation, dri…

It is rare for a company to not check candidate references before moving into a final offer. In some instances, recruitment companies may not even reveal their openings without the successful completion of references. In an effort to help candidates be successful, our team got together to discuss the top mistakes we see folks make when going throug…

With over 950 million members, LinkedIn can be a powerful platform when it comes to searching for a new position or attempting to expand your career. However, given the large number of members on LinkedIn, it isn’t good enough to have a simple profile. So if you are using LinkedIn to find a job, there are certain things you should know. Using Linke…

You just got fired…and now you are scratching your head. In some ways you may be relieved…you didn’t like that job anyway. In other ways you may be frightened…after all, the mortgage still needs to be paid. And a third side of you may be angry while a smaller sliver of yourself feels embarrassed. As shock and emotions course through your body, you …

Our primary niche is in the placement of Contract CRAs. And by the nature of the contract ‘beast’, often those assignments will be short. Even though our firm understands that this is often how contract positions work, we will still ask CRAs the reason for leaving their last assignment (or position if perm). So this begs the question – what answer …

“Why do I keep failing interviews?” she asked. I felt bad for her because she was an excellent CRA. But the reality is that she wasn’t failing her interviews because she lacked experience or competency within the role. Actually, it has been our experience that interview fails rarely have anything to do with your qualifications. It is also not typic…

Candidates need them. Businesses need them...Recruitment Agencies are a critical part of any industry. But how do you recruit a recruitment agency? How do you evaluate recruitment agencies that are ethical as well as good at what they do? And how do you define a 'good' recruitment agency? After all, recruitment agencies can have some pretty horribl…

When your candidate pool is too large, you are at risk of missing the highest-quality candidates. I was speaking to an HR manager at a mid-sized CRO and she was in tears. Her operations team desperately needed CRAs for an upcoming project, but for each position she posted, she received over one hundred applicants. She couldn't get through all of th…

Last week someone reached out to me with a simple question: Do you place Contract CRAs? This was definitely not the best LinkedIn connection request message to send me. Why? If this potential candidate had spent even a brief amount of time on my profile, he would have known that placing CRAs is a specialty of mine. My partner and I built a business…

This past week I had an individual contact me through LinkedIn asking to be considered for some of our open Clinical Research Associate positions. His foundations were terrific but he met none of the qualifications of our industry CRA positions. The rub...he didn't understand that he was extremely underqualified. Are our Clinical Research Associate…

You have heard us say it before – Competent CRAs are great public speakers! But being an effective public speaker isn’t magical. We have addressed overcoming the fear of public speaking and why you should seek public speaking opportunities. Now we dig into how to engage your audience. We sat down with one of our favorite people, Elizabeth Weeks-Row…

Many job seekers take the flawed approach of focusing on the formatting of their resume instead of their resume content. While we certainly don't want to go on record stating that resume formatting isn't important, the content is the point. What content should I include on my resume? There always seems to be confusion about what to include. This po…

Applying for multiple jobs at the same company may seem like a smart approach. And maybe in certain circumstances it does make sense to apply for more than one position at any single company. However, you have to be very careful in how you go about it. One of my favorite colleagues has narrated one of our exceptionally popular blog posts on this to…

Let's just start out by stating that a gap in resume is normal. Everyone has them. But when it comes to providing an employment gap explanation...Well, everyone doesn't have those. Gracefully providing employment gap reasons is an incredibly useful skill. In this podcast edition we break down the various reasons for employment and career gaps. The …

For professionals at all level, the ‘How Far Back Should a Resume Go?” question is one that is important to consider. For the senior level professionals, be aware that unfortunately Age Discrimination in the workplace is real. For the junior level professionals, understanding what to include in order to show a desired path is critical. So how do yo…

There are several resume mistakes candidates make that fall outside of the obvious spelling and grammar issues we often see. This podcast covers the 'not so obvious' resume mistakes such as: Adding meaningless statements: Of course you will provide references upon request! Save the space on your resume to reinforce your skills, qualities, achieveme…

When outsourcing your clinical studies, should you consider establishing an oversight monitoring plan? We work with some outstanding Sponsors who did not…and the results were disastrous. So when do you need an oversight monitoring program? In this recording of one of our most popular articles on the topic, we discuss a specific case study which wil…

You should know that the simple act of creating a resume doesn't mean it will be read. According to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, it only takes around seven seconds for a recruiter to decide if you might be right for a job. Seven seconds. One thing is for sure, creating a resume that gets read is more than just documenting your w…

"What is the best thing I can do to advance my career?" she asked. It is a common question for us here at craresources and my answer may surprise you. While we may be tempted to tell you that learning the hard skills associated to monitoring clinical studies is critical, my real answer for what is most important is this: Get comfortable with public…

Looking for a CRA Career? Or perhaps you want to progress within your current CRA role? Before you start your CRA career search, let's discuss a 'tried and true' strategy that will enable you to effectively outline a plan to land you that perfect position. Join us in a discussion on identifying your why, your what, as well as how to assess the area…

And before you say that you don't make job search mistakes, let me be the first to correct you. You do. Everyone does. And many of them are avoidable! It surprises me how often an experienced professional will miss out on an opportunity because of committing silly (and avoidable) mistakes. I hope you find this podcast beneficial!…

Many companies are not clear on what types of charges are standard. Unfortunately the practice of Sneaky Billing is real. Let’s talk a little about what you should expect as well as the pitfalls and sneaky billing practices that can put your company (and your budget) in jeopardy.By craresources

Let us help you figure out what causes it...and more importantly, how to avoid it. I have learned that there is always a reason why job seekers don't receive a response to their job applications. Actually there are several, so let's take a look as to why you may be getting ghosted by recruiters and hiring managers.…