The Art of Resume Crafting: A Headhunter’s Guide

Are paper resume’s still relevant?

Today, with the many digital tools and social media platforms to brand your professional expertise is a paper resume still relevant? Absolutely! It remains your gateway to getting the introductory call from a company. As such, it warrants thoughtful crafting, masterful attention to detail and some creativity to set you apart from the masses.

A few words on formatting?  

Just like needing to dress the part, the layout or design of your resume should be reflective of the field you are pursuing. More commercial focused roles should be laden with awards and sales numbers so using flashier formats here can draw the reader’s attention through use of schematics, graphics and icons. 

As for Medical and R&D type roles, which are heavy in science/research it can be a bit more challenging to get away from the text without losing critical content. Selectively incorporating some creative elements with line breaks, shaded boxes, selectively using hints of color and bolding of key terms will break up the text. There are many outstanding free templates which can be downloaded, check out https://blog.kickresume.com/. 

Simple creative elements can add just the right pop to give your resume a splash of personality. 

Other formatting considerations…

·      Adding a footer with your last name and email can be a nice detail showcasing attention to detail

·      To include or not to include a physical address? For MSL roles, if you are in metro area for that therapeutic area it can help, if adjacent with a regional airport it can be an expense for companies as flights are more $$$ If the company is expanding, may want to leave off your address as you may not be the strongest for one location however a possible fit for another geography. Is the geographic area highly academic or challenging access-wise? Your level of experience and location can matter here…

·      Move your education string to the end

·      Pubs in a separate addendum or place at the very end

Thoughtfully crafting?  

One resume does not and should not fit all. Tailor your resume specifically to align with the short and long term “needs” of the role...these critical pieces of intel can be gleaned predominately through due diligence on the company, leadership= culture and products as well as the careful dissection of the job details.  

Once you have a solid handle on the scope of the role lose the objective section by replacing with an elegantly scripted professional summary that aligns with the core skills the role you aspire towards is seeking…

Highly motivated Medical Affairs leader with 17+ years in field medical affairs/commercial roles within a matrix organization. Developed key priorities and medical strategy for MSL team in preparation for product launches. Led efforts surrounding KOL mapping and MSL territory alignment. Recruited, hired and trained MSL teams in 3 therapeutic areas that spanned movement disorders, neurology, psychiatry and emergency medicine. Facilitated communication while bridging relationships between cross-functional teams. Proven track record of leadership and communication to establish collaborative relationships, develop teams and MSL managers. 

Notice the DESCRIPTORS and buzz words that paints the picture of the broad scope of this field role which highlights leadership over field MSL’s, project work, cross-functional relationships and field medical strategy. 

Cliff note your “Professional Highlights”:

The first half of your resume is valuable real estate, word economy and selection of key terms will entice the reader to dig in to the details to learn more. Use the space wisely, no FLUFF!

Highlights denotes that it is not all encompassing, these are your most relevant and significant contributions tailored to the role. 

Since all MSL roles are not created equally. The functions and roles vary based on size of the company, where they are with the lifecycle of the product and so on… Some MSL roles are focused on field work and others more hybrid with project work, research support, pub planning and so on….

Relationship Management: regional/national? community and academic centers? Centers of Excellence providing comprehensive care? If so, did you work with other specialists outside of traditional KOL’s

Presentation Skills: conducted XXX disease state presentations, facilitated national medical advisory board, XXX sales training, scientific delivery for speaker training…

Project Leadership: what were the biggest contributions you provided internally or for the team…did you develop a training curriculum? Mentor/train new MSL? Lead fellow MSL’s at major medical conferences? 

Product Launches: include pre/post field medical efforts for CNS XYZ therapeutic area

Cross Functional Collaborations: did you work along side the medical director providing clinical input on trial design? Scientific feedback on pubs? Develop SRL’s? 

Attention to the details…

The best version of you should not be sloppy and have grammatical errors, use the same words over and over. MSL’s and field medical affairs folks are typically highly meticulous. The best MSL’s typically are scientifically curious, articulate, personably dynamic with superpowers in organizing complexities…your resume is their first taste.

·      Word smith your content, utilize colorful descriptors in PLAIN language

·      Industry vs bench science jargon

·      Bullet points should not have periods, they are not sentences

·      Grammatical errors are sloppy

Your words, creative elements and thoughtful compilation in a condensed easy reader will land you one step closer to a discussion.