Learn about making the most of interview feedback, navigating bonus clawbacks and networking for niche roles.
Welcome to Career Coach, a column for job seekers and employees navigating the ins and outs of finding, landing and succeeding in jobs in the biotech industry. Each month, Carina Clingman, founder of The Collaboratory Career Hub and host of the “Biotech Career Coach” podcast, has answered questions from the community. This will be her last column as she focuses on leading talent acquisition for small, growing biotechs. You can reach out to Carina at info@recruitomics.com for advice and candidate resources.
This month, we’ll discuss how to make the most of interview feedback (even when it stings), dealing with signing bonus clawbacks and effective networking when your job function is rare.
Q: After an interview, I received feedback that I didn’t answer questions concisely. I thought I did OK, but now I’m worried about my communication skills. How do I fix this?
CC: Receiving constructive interview feedback is rare, so congratulations! This is a gift and a fantastic opportunity to refine your approach. Here are three ways the best communicators provide concise, impactful answers to questions during interviews and beyond.
No. 1: Lead with the key point for direct questions. Don’t build up to your main answer if you’re asked a direct technical question. Instead, state the answer first, then provide supporting details if needed. For example:
Q: “What is your experience developing cell-based assays?”
A: “I have three years of industry experience developing cell-based assays for immunotherapy applications, plus an additional five years of academic experience developing cell-based assays to study immunomodulation using primary and immortalized cell lines. I’m happy to discuss any of this experience in greater detail if you’re interested.”
Why this works: Depending on your interviewer, they might simply need to confirm your experience in certain areas. If you go on a five-minute detailed explanation of your past experience down to the nitty-gritty details, it might be much more than they actually want or need to know. If they’re not a technical expert, they might not be capable of understanding that level of detail. This is particularly true for your first round with a recruiter or HR professional.
No. 2: Use structured responses for behavioral questions. If you get a question that starts with a scenario like “Tell me about a time when…” or “Describe a situation where…”, the interviewer is trying to elicit a story. This is called a behavioral-based interview question. Interviewers trained in this method will be listening for the type of story you tell, the language you use, how positive or negative you sound and whether you overuse specific words like “I” and “we.”
When you encounter a question like this, try the STAR method (situation, task, action, result), but trim unnecessary details to keep your answers focused. The No. 1 mistake we hear when candidates are answering these questions is tangents or off-topic anecdotes. If you feel there is more to tell in the story, you can leave a hint for your interviewer, such as “I won’t go into detail here, but we noticed a fascinating thing while troubleshooting. I’m happy to tell you more about it if you’re interested.”
No. 3: Practice answers out loud and with a timer. Now that you understand the structure of the two types of answers you’ll be giving, it’s time to practice. Practicing out loud is extremely important. Candidates often think that rehearsing responses in their head is sufficient, but when they say things out loud, the answers are not as well formed or concise as they imagined. Set a timer for two minutes, and keep your answers to that timeframe. For bonus points, you can record your answers and listen to them to improve faster. You’ll definitely cringe the first time you do it. It’s not a comfortable process. But, it will vastly improve your interview skills in the shortest possible time.
Q: I started my current job over a year ago, but it hasn’t been what I expected. If I leave before my two-year mark, I have to repay my signing bonus. I feel trapped. Do I have any options?
CC: A signing bonus clawback clause is essentially a financial handcuff that companies use to discourage early departures. When you sign that contract, you agree that if you leave before a certain period (often one to two years), you’ll have to pay back some or all of that bonus. If you’re now reconsidering your position, the first step is to go back and carefully review the exact terms of your agreement. Some contracts decrease the repayment amount over time, and others apply only if you resign voluntarily.
Options to consider:
- Check for exceptions: If your company is restructuring or undergoing changes, you may not be obligated to repay the full amount.
- Seek legal advice: An employment attorney can help clarify your contract and explore potential loopholes. If you’re negotiating an offer with a new company, sometimes the internal legal team for that company will agree to review your employment contract to provide an opinion.
- Tough it out: If you’re close to fulfilling the time requirement, staying a little longer might be the easiest solution while you plan your next step. Use that time to build skills and beef up your resume.
- Negotiate a new signing bonus: If you have a potential new employer that wants you to join badly enough, they may agree to provide a signing bonus to cover or offset the clawback amount. Just be aware that this new bonus might also come with a clawback clause.
- Pay it back: Sometimes, a career move may make it worthwhile to repay a previous signing bonus. Ultimately, the decision to pay back that bonus is yours. Consider whether the new position offers higher pay, improved quality of life, career advancement or other tangible or intangible reasons that justify the repayment.
Q: I’m looking for a nonlab-based biotech role, but companies don’t have many positions like this. How can I network effectively when there aren’t many peers in my field?
CC: In most cases, I recommend that job seekers concentrate on connecting with individuals who hold the same position as they do, or one level above or below, within the company they are applying to. However, this approach may not be practical when your job function is more specialized. Suppose you’re applying to commercialization or hybrid science-business roles, for example. In that case, there may only be one or two people in that position at a given company—or none at all if they’re hiring their first person for the job.
Here’s how to approach networking differently:
- Search by skills, not just titles. Use LinkedIn to look for professionals with relevant skill sets rather than focusing only on job titles. Because specialized roles have variable titles depending on the company, this might be a better approach to finding people who are doing the job you want to be doing. Reach out to those individuals to see if they’d be willing to tell you about their career paths and to make valuable connections in that space. While they might not have connections to the company you’re applying to, they might have other recommendations. They’ll certainly be good connections to have for your future networking needs.
- Think about who might be peers. Connect with individuals in adjacent roles who collaborate with someone in your job function, such as regulatory specialists or business development professionals. No biotech jobs are done in complete isolation, so all you need to do is identify the people you’ll likely interact with within the company and begin networking with them. If you’ve been interacting with folks with relevant skill sets (see tip No. 1 above), ask who they routinely collaborate and work with.
- Reach out with curiosity. Instead of immediately requesting a referral, ask people about their career paths and industry insights. Authentic conversations lead to more opportunities. For a deep dive into this (plus templates), please review our networking icebreakers from the February Career Coach column.
Building a strong network for niche roles doesn’t happen overnight and often takes a mix of creativity and persistence. This proactive approach (with a heavy focus on meaningful conversations) will give you the best chance of making lifelong connections and learning about new opportunities, sometimes even before they’re posted.
