company visits

we've been doing a number of company visits in order for students to network and also allow the companies to sell their positions and company atmoshpere to the students. there is normally one in the morning and one in the afternoon. the whole day will go from 9AM until 5 or 6PM. Yesterday however we had a networking event until 10PM. Ugh....i don't like this waking up early business! it's like i'm working again! only it's been a long time since i've had to be in the office before 10AM. heheh....i lucked out.

I've really enjoyed some of the company visits so far. Wednesday we got to talk to the VP of business dev at genentech. Yesterday we saw Apple. We also saw Intel. each of those companies are soooooo different. some places completely are looking for quant jocks from our school and they pride themselves in having a model for everything. being on the tech side of things, i never realized finance qould be so quantitative. engineers types really work well in that role. i however am not one if those engineer types. although i liked tech stuff, i still have a great need to feel effective at influencing people person to person. however there were other things i noticed that companies really valued. one company (i'm keeping names ambiguous so i don't get in trouble) was really interested in people who are passionate - those who can "light up" about something and become really excited. i wasn't going to apply to this company initially, but after seeing the presentation, i think i might really enjoy working there. i definitely see myself as the type of person that gets really excited about the things i enjoy. enjoying my working environment and working with great coworkers is something i really value. so i'll apply and see where it takes me. this will probably be the one and only non-biotech company i apply to. but i'll be applying for the life science department...of course :)

at the networking event, it was a panel for alumns in the biopharma industry. some of the discussion was very interesting, although i admit it was hard to pay attention 100% since i'd woken up at 7AM and was pretty much running around and busy the whole day. by the time i got to the panel i was pretty tired. however i had to "turn it on" and be at my networking best since there were numerous people there i wanted to connect with. i'm very conscious of the difference when i "turn it on" and when "it's off". when i don't make any effort, i can easily just blend into the background. however when i do make the effort, it's pretty easy for me to make connections with people. sometimes deep down, i'm still amazed at myself. in my head, i still see myself as the quiet girl in high school who sits in the far back corner of class. so when i'm at my networking best - this little voice goes off in my head "wow, these people are responding really well to me. are they just pretending?" strange isn't it? and not to say that i feel as if i'm pretending to be someone else. because i don't feel that either. really, i've always had the same personality. only beforehand, i was only outgoing with my close friends. now - i just threw away that little barrier i used to have and i talk to everyone as if they were my close friend.

i also find it humorous when guys play off of the "i'm talking to a pretty lady" routine at networking events. It really doesn't matter if you're pretty or not. i think it's just something guys do to be charming and memorable - to elicit a laugh. but it's always the same. i don't know why but i always feel a little insulted when they try this routine on me - i mean just because i'm a girl doesn't mean i don't have a brain..sheesh. and i shouldn't be a novelty at a networking event just because i'm a girl. at that point i normally start talking work and science stuff to change the topic quickly. also i don't take complements very well so i never know what to say back. =P. "uh...you're lovely too. " anyways..this routine happened with two people i'm trying to network with to find a job. both work at biotechs that i would love to do business development for. and i've been having some trouble breaking in without a PhD or an MD. as i was talking to one person about a potential job, the other person came over and said "you can't steal her from me, we're hiring her." now of course this creates a very difficult situation. I pretty much know that it will be hard to justify me as a busines dev person in either company. but the way these two were going at it, it was like they were fighting to hire me. i could even sense a little seriousness in their jokes. i don't really know what's going on. but i definitely hope their macho competition thing will help me land a bus dev job.

i'm getting a little nervous about the job hunt. i know i shouldn't since it's still very early for the west coast. if i rush it too much, i'll miss out on other good opportunities that will open up later in the game. but i'm seeing more and more classmates have job offers already. i know this is because most of them were looking to stay on the east coast. but it still doesn't help my nervousness. the competitive spirit in me wanted to get the better job first!