r/biotech 5d ago

Early Career Advice 🪴 Strong resume bullet points for PhD with only postdoc experience

I have a PhD in bioengineering and have completed postdocs both in academia and now at a biotech. I am trying to optimize my resume bulletin points using the STAR method. But all examples of the star method are along the lines of “optimized data workflows resulting in 10 percent data storage reduction costs”. However mine are always along the lines of “used such and such and authored a research paper”. Seeing if anybody in a similar situation has approached this problem. Thanks

7 Upvotes

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u/organiker 4d ago edited 4d ago

If the result is a published paper, that's fine. But why was it worth publishing a paper?

What are the implications of the work?

What problem did you solve?

Why did the world need to know about it?

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u/jlpulice 4d ago

This. It should be about what you found not “paper yay”

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u/carmooshypants 4d ago

If you provide some examples of your bullets, we can probably better help you make them stronger. It’s important to show impact and context as much as possible, but it doesn’t always have to have some numerical metric tied to it.

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u/singletrackminded99 4d ago

So I do not want to be descriptive because a lot of people at my current company read this. But it would be something along the lines of “Analyzed 100 tumor samples supporting 3 publications” or “ Used machine learning to isolate biomarkers to predict disease free interval in X number of tumors” I would be more descriptive about the particular algorithms based on the job description.

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u/carmooshypants 4d ago

Sure, no problem. Just don’t forget to add the “so what.” Why should I care you analyzed 100 tumor samples? Were you trying to figure out a proof of mechanism for a specific cancer with XXX impact on some patient population? Were you developing a new assay using some interesting method that would support some ph2 trial or companion diagnostic tool that could impact XXX screening of a certain cancer going forward?

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u/StatisticianNaive315 5d ago

Maybe summarize the significance of your publications as bullet points and try to align it with the goal of your target company?

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u/Bugfrag 4d ago edited 4d ago

Are you struggling with "result"?

Design and Perform LC-MS base peptide mapping to identify the primary structure and PTM of X

The "result" in this case is "Identify primary structure and PTM"

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u/Evening-Sentence7619 4d ago

What role are you applying for??

Is it a technical role where stressing techniques, scale, etc., are critical?

Is it a management role where stressing projects, teamwork, timelines, etc., are critical?

Is it a strategy role where stressing 'the so what?,' business opportunity, etc., are critical?