Biotech Career Coach

Hosted by Carina Clingman

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Oct 2026

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The Biotech Career Coach Podcast helps scientists and biotech professionals take control of their careers. Hosted by Carina Clingman, PhD, a veteran recruiter in the biotech industry, the show turns the confusing parts of the job search into clear, practical steps. Carina has recruited for biotech and medical device companies, run outplacement for teams hit by layoffs, and coached scientists across the industry into the roles they wanted. She brings that recruiter's eye to every episode. Some weeks are solo deep dives job search and career strategy. Others are chats with biotech leaders and scientists who share how they built their careers. Either way, you leave with something you can use this week. This is for you if you are a scientist trying to break into industry, a biotech professional navigating a layoff, or someone ready for the next move and tired of guessing what recruiters actually want. Want more than the podcast? Join the Biotech Career Coach Skool community, where Carina works on your resume, cover letter, and job search with you, plus tools built to get you hired. Start here: https://www.skool.com/biotech-career-coach/about

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October 23, 202635 min

Best AI for Resume and Cover Letter (Part 2): 24 More Models Tested

What is the best AI for your resume and cover letter? This is the second run of my resume scoring model bake-off. I did two things this time. First, a catch-up run of 18 models that are still widely used, including versions a step or two back that are often cheaper to use on a free plan or a $20 a month plan, plus more open weight models. Second, a head-to-head of brand new, state-of-the-art, expensive models that dropped in the last week or so. Every model got the same prompt and the same inputs for our test candidate, Alex Clearwater, a PhD and postdoc moving into industry pharmacology, applying to a fake job at a fake company. I scored each resume and cover letter on the headline, highlights, formatting and organization, tailoring, and the cover letter. Then two AI judges (Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-5.6 Sol) scored accuracy, checking every bullet against the template resume for anything made up or overstated, and Jev checked 13 yes or no rules. The AI models tested (30 in total across both parts): Catch-up run, 18 older models: • OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.5, GPT-5.4 • Anthropic (Claude): Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Opus 4.8, Claude Sonnet 4.6 • Google: Gemini 3.7 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview • xAI: Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5 • Open models: DeepSeek V4 Flash, DeepSeek V3.2, Llama 4 Maverick (Meta), Qwen 3.8 Max Prime, Kimi K3 (Moonshot), GLM 5.3 (Z.ai) New run, 6 new models: • OpenAI: GPT-6.1 Sol • Google: Gemini 4 Argon • Meta: Muse Wonder • Mistral: Mistral Large 4 • Qwen (Alibaba): Qwen 3.8 Max • DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash From Part 1, shown for comparison: • GPT-6 Sol, Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Sonnet 5.5, Gemini 3.8 Flash, Grok 4.7, DeepSeek V4 Pro In this episode you'll learn: • How older, cheaper, and open weight models compare to the newest AI models for resumes and cover letters • Why a resume can look great and still have major accuracy problems • Why some models write well but aren't accurate, and vice versa • When it might be worth using a different model for your cover letter • The cover letter habits I flag: telling the company what it wants, language that sounds like a weakness, passive closers, and very long sentences • Whether newer models are better at following instructions See every output side by side, plus the job, the template resume, and the example tailored resume and cover letter, at models.biotechcareercoach.com. It also has a guide to which model to use if you're a Claude user, a ChatGPT user, or want an open weight model. https://models.biotechcareercoach.com/ Missed Part 1? Watch it first to see how I set up the whole model bake-off test: Best AI for Resume and Cover Letter, Which Model Wins? [LINK] Want my help with your resume and cover letter? Join our Biotech Career Coach Skool community and work with me directly. It is $9 a month with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about the Collaboratory Career Hub community and access our free resources: Join our Skool Community Take the Free 7-day Interview Sprint Challenge Check out our sister podcast: Building Biotechs Send Carina a connection request on LinkedIn! Stay connected with us: 🌐 Website 📱 Facebook 📷 Instagram 💼 LinkedIn Chapters 00:00 Best AI for resume and cover letter, Part 2 01:03 How the AI resume test works 01:39 How I score the resume headline, highlights, and tailoring 02:56 Catch-up run, 18 older and open weight AI models 09:30 AI cover letter mistakes that sound arrogant or weak 11:27 What a strong AI cover letter opener looks like 16:05 Why long sentences hurt your cover letter 18:03 The reveal for the catch-up run 18:43 AI judges check resume accuracy and hallucinations 19:49 Jev rule checks for instruction following 22:16 Why a great looking AI resume can still be inaccurate 24:15 Older AI models vs last week's frontier models 25:29 Newest AI models head to head 30:23 The reveal for the newest models 32:15 Human scores vs AI judges on the new models 33:28 Compare AI resume outputs side by side 34:46 Should you combine AI models for resume and cover letter

October 16, 202640 min

Best AI for Resume and Cover Letter (I Tested 6 Models Blind)

What is the best AI for your resume and cover letter? I tested 6 AI models blind, one from each major model family plus an open weight model, to see which one tailors a resume to a job description the way a recruiter wants to see it. I get asked every week which AI to use for resume tailoring: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Grok? Free or paid? So I ran an experiment. Every model got the same template resume, the same job description, the same example tailored resume and cover letter, and the same prompt. I scored each output blind, then compared my scores with two AI judges (Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-5.6 Sol) and Jev, a yes or no decision API that checks rules like headline format and a one-page cover letter. The AI models tested: Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic) Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic) Gemini 3.8 Flash (Google) GPT-6 Sol (OpenAI, ChatGPT) Grok (xAI) An open weight model I also share what each one costs and how fast it runs, so you can decide if paying for AI is worth it. In this episode you'll learn: Which AI model is best for tailoring a resume to a job description ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini vs Grok for resumes and cover letters Whether free AI models are good enough for job applications or worth paying for What a strong resume headline and highlights section look like to a recruiter The AI writing habits that make a cover letter unusable Why my human scores disagreed with the AI judges See every output side by side, plus the template resume, job description, and example inputs, in the Model Bake-Off on the Biotech Career Coach website under Learn. https://biotechcareercoach.com/ Want help tailoring your biotech resume and cover letter? Join our Biotech Career Coach Skool community for the portal, resume reviews, and interview prep. It is $9 a month with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about the Collaboratory Career Hub community and access our free resources: Join our Skool Community Take the Free 7-day Interview Sprint Challenge Check out our sister podcast: Building Biotechs Send Carina a connection request on LinkedIn! Stay connected with us: 🌐 Website 📱 Facebook 📷 Instagram 💼 LinkedIn 00:00 Which AI should you use to tailor your resume 01:15 How the blind AI resume test works 03:45 Inside the Model Bake-Off app and answer key 07:00 Scoring the resume headline and highlights 15:35 The AI cover letter I would submit with no edits 21:35 AI cover letter mistakes that fail the vibe check 26:50 Human scores vs AI judges and Jev rule checks 29:50 The reveal, which AI model wins 32:45 Free vs paid AI models for job applications 34:35 Compare AI resume outputs side by side

October 9, 202619 min

How to Follow Up After a Job Interview and When to Stop

Wondering how to follow up after a job interview when all you hear is silence? In this episode, I answer the questions I get most about following up after an interview, from my one-on-one clients, outplacement clients, Skool community, and the people I give feedback to in my portal. I'm a biotech recruiter and career coach. A typical scientist or senior scientist role used to bring in 100 to 150 applicants. Now I see 500 to 700. Recruiters are stretched thin, and the silence after your interview might not be about you at all. In this episode: - Do you need to send a thank-you note after an interview, and who actually reads it - Why the hiring manager cares more about your thank-you note than HR or the recruiter - When a thank-you note can tip the scales between two equal candidates, and why it won't rescue a bad interview - How often to follow up after a job interview: one thank-you note, two follow-ups 7 to 10 days apart, then stop - What it means when the recruiter said you'd hear back by Friday and you didn't - Why some companies keep backup candidates warm for weeks, and how biotech hiring is different - Ghost jobs and roles posted for internal candidates, and why together they can add up to about half of job postings - Why being ghosted after a real conversation is a sign of a disorganized hiring process - Why you should treat every application and interview as if you didn't get the job, and keep your job search moving Mentioned in this episode: - How to Stop Overthinking and Start Making Career Moves: https://podcast.collaboratorycareerhub.com/podcast/how-to-stop-overthinking-and-start-making-career-moves-in-five-easy-steps-c7b050f2-7012-48b7-98a4-19 Waiting to hear back and starting to spiral? Join our Biotech Career Coach Skool community. You'll be surrounded by people working on their job searches, get direct access to me, and get personalized feedback on your application materials in our portal. Learn more about the Collaboratory Career Hub community and access our free resources: Join our Skool Community Take the Free 7-day Interview Sprint Challenge Check out our sister podcast: Building Biotechs Send Carina a connection request on LinkedIn! Stay connected with us: 🌐 Website 📱 Facebook 📷 Instagram 💼 LinkedIn

October 2, 20267 min

PhD to Industry Advice From a Biotech Recruiter

Can you go straight from PhD to industry? The answer is yes, but you need to learn to market yourself. If you have heard how hard the job market is and wonder whether you should stay in academia until it gets better, this episode is for you. Biotech recruiter and career coach Carina Clingman shares the story of a community member who finished her PhD in Germany, moved to the US with her partner without a job, and worried her visa situation would make her unhireable. She networked hard, stayed motivated, got interview prep for every interview, and reviewed her interview transcripts question by question. She just accepted a scientist role at a biotech. In this episode you will learn: When a postdoc is a valid path, and when going straight to industry makes sense Why saying "we" about your research hides your unique contribution from hiring managers How STAR storytelling (situation, task, action, result) helps you answer interview questions with confidence Why a CV is not a resume, and why your resume needs to read like a marketing document Why most certificates do not impress hiring managers, and how to get hands-on experience instead How many publications you actually need for most industry roles Why to start applying about 90 days before you can start working Why to start networking six months or more before your graduation date Carina also suggests checking your grant funding, since some grants have career development built in and you may have unused funds. Ready to practice interviews, get feedback on your interview transcripts, and build industry connections alongside other scientists? Join the Biotech Career Coach community on Skool. Start with the networking challenge, which is introvert-friendly and created by scientists for scientists. You can try it with a 7-day free trial. Join the Biotech Career Coach Skool Community Learn more about the Collaboratory Career Hub community and access our free resources: Join our Skool Community Take the Free 7-day Interview Sprint Challenge Check out our sister podcast: Building Biotechs Send Carina a connection request on LinkedIn! Stay connected with us: 🌐 Website 📱 Facebook 📷 Instagram 💼 LinkedIn Chapters: 00:00 Can you go straight from PhD to industry 00:25 Postdoc or industry job for international PhD students facing visa sponsorship 00:55 How a PhD graduate landed a biotech scientist role with interview post-mortems 02:05 Why saying we in interviews hides your individual contribution 02:55 STAR storytelling for PhD interview answers 03:30 A CV is not a resume for industry jobs 04:00 Do certificates or more publications help you get an industry job 04:40 Volunteer in a lab or early-stage company to gain hands-on experience 05:25 When to start applying for industry jobs before your PhD defense 06:00 Network six months before graduation to find hidden job leads

July 17, 202623 min

Your Job Search Is a Marketing Campaign for You

Your job search is a marketing campaign, and you are the product. In this episode, biotech career coach Carina Clingman shows you how to build a resume and cover letter that get past the software and win the six second scan. This is seminar one of a three part series Carina teaches for her outplacement career transition clients. She takes you inside a recruiter's applicant tracking system, where a single biotech role can draw 400 applicants, and shows how she narrows that pile down to the ten people worth a conversation. You will see why tailoring and keyword mirroring decide whether a human ever reads your resume at all. What you will learn: Why a resume is a marketing document, not a career archive or a CV The four things every resume needs to survive the six second scan How recruiters use Boolean and reverse keyword searches to cut applicants How to mirror a job description so a recruiter reads you as one of us The five professional highlights that work like a movie trailer for your experience Where to place degrees, publications, and skills for the most impact The T style cover letter hiring managers love and the three questions it must answer By the end you will treat every resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn message as a marketing message with one job, to make a hiring manager care about you. Watch for parts two and three, on LinkedIn and interviews, in the coming weeks. Want Carina to build your resume and cover letter with you? Join the Biotech Career Coach Skool community and get access to the brand new Biotech Career Coach app. Join here: Learn more about the Collaboratory Career Hub community and access our free resources: Join our Skool Community Take the Free 7-day Interview Sprint Challenge Check out our sister podcast: Building Biotechs Send Carina a connection request on LinkedIn! Stay connected with us: 🌐 Website 📱 Facebook 📷 Instagram 💼 LinkedIn 00:00 You are the Chief Marketing Officer of your own job search 04:25 Inside a recruiter's inbox with 400 applicants 06:30 How Boolean and reverse keyword searches cut your resume 07:30 Build your resume like a persuasive essay 09:02 The above the fold rule and mirroring the job description 11:30 Five professional highlights that work like a movie trailer 13:26 Where to put degrees, publications, and skills 16:39 The T style cover letter and the three questions it answers 19:00 Opening a cover letter with a personal story 22:19 What is coming in parts two and three

May 22, 202644 min

From Pipettes to Python: How to Break Into Computational Biology

Most bench scientists think breaking into computational biology means going back to school. Dean Lee proves otherwise. Dean went from neuroscience PhD student at Harvard to Principal Computational Biologist at Novartis by teaching himself to analyze scRNA-seq data in stolen scraps of time alongside his bench job, and now he helps thousands of scientists make the same move through his online community Dean's List. In this episode, Dean and Carina break down exactly what it takes to build real computational biology credibility without another degree, without quitting your job, and without waiting for someone to hand you permission. You'll learn: Why Coursera certificates don't move hiring managers and what actually does How to find public biological data and build your first comp bio project this week The reproducibility strategy: why re-analyzing a published Nature paper is an industry skill and your best portfolio move at the same time How to pitch yourself as a funded intern through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to break into small biotech startups The state of entry-level comp bio hiring in 2026 and where the openings actually are How to frame volunteer work and self-directed projects on your resume so hiring managers take them seriously Whether you've been thinking about this pivot for years or you're just starting to wonder if it's possible, this conversation gives you the roadmap. RNA-Seq and ScRNA-Seq Courses How to become a computational biologist in a year The Big Challenge... With Dean Lee Dean's List Link In with Dean! Learn more about the Collaboratory Career Hub community and access our free resources: Join our Skool Community Take the Free 7-day Interview Sprint Challenge Check out our sister podcast: Building Biotechs Send Carina a connection request on LinkedIn! Stay connected with us: 🌐 Website 📱 Facebook 📷 Instagram 💼 LinkedIn 00:00 Dean Lee's path from Harvard neuroscience to computational biologist at Novartis 04:00 The volunteer scRNA-seq project that launched Dean's career pivot 07:30 Why hiring managers ignore certificates and look only for project work 12:00 How reproducing published research builds irrefutable portfolio proof 21:30 The MLSC funded intern hack for breaking into biotech startups 26:30 The 2026 comp bio job market and where entry-level roles actually exist 30:00 How to transition into computational biology within your current company 33:00 Operational AI vs scientific AI and what it means for your comp bio career

April 17, 202641 min

AI Agents vs Skills vs Automations: What Every Bench Scientist Needs to Know

AI agents, skills, and automations. You keep hearing these terms, but nobody has clearly explained what they mean for someone actually working in biotech. In this episode, Carina sits down with Stu Angus, founder of Scriptome.AI and an AI consultant who works with small biotech companies every day, to break down exactly what each of these tools is, when to use one over another, and why getting this wrong leads to a lot of wasted time. Stu has 15 years of experience in biotech R&D and business development. He now helps small biotechs bridge the AI adoption gap that has opened up between them and big pharma, and he built Pavlov GPS, a free searchable database of 500+ AI tools for biotech R&D. If you have felt pressure to add AI to your workflow but had no idea where to start, this episode is the clearest, most practical answer you will find. What you will learn in this episode: The real difference between an AI skill, an agent, and an automation, and when to use each Why small biotechs are getting left behind on AI adoption and what that means for your career How to tell if your workflow is a good candidate for an agent or if a simple skill would do the job The “AI Slop cannon” problem and how to avoid automating your way into a mess How a team of five agents can wake you up every morning with tailored job applications already drafted Why Whisper Flow is the most underrated AI tool for bench scientists right now How Stu built Pavlov GPS starting from a spreadsheet, and how you can do the same with your own data Stu also weighs in on Copilot vs Claude, shares a spicy take on the most overhyped AI tool in biotech today, and tells us what he thinks every biotech professional will need to know how to do within five years. stu@scriptdo.ai Meet your AI team | Notion Wispr Flow 2026 Biotech AI Report | Benchling The Fast and the Curious — AI Upskilling for Biotech Scientists Pavlov-GPS | AI Tools Navigator for Biotech R&D Scriptome.AI Learn more about the Collaboratory Career Hub community and access our free resources: Join our Skool Community Take the Free 7-day Interview Sprint Challenge Check out our sister podcast: Building Biotechs Send Carina a connection request on LinkedIn! Stay connected with us: 🌐 Website 📱 Facebook 📷 Instagram 💼 LinkedIn 00:00 What the AI adoption gap in biotech actually means for your career 03:00 How small biotech companies are navigating board-level AI pressure with no roadmap 06:00 Big pharma vs small biotech and why the AI strategy divide is widening 07:30 Copilot vs Claude and how to advocate for the AI tools you need at work 12:00 How to develop a builder mindset and spot workflows worth automating 13:30 How a five-agent job search system handles company research and resume tailoring automatically 15:00 Agents vs skills vs automations defined for bench scientists with real examples 21:30 The slop cannon trap and how to avoid automating your way into low-quality output 27:00 What the Benchling 2026 AI report reveals about where AI is actually working in biotech R&D 29:30 How to build an AI tool from a spreadsheet using Pavlov GPS as a model

April 3, 202648 min

Win Over Every Interviewer (Even the Skeptics)

Are you walking into biotech panel interviews and talking to every person the same way? That approach can cost you the offer, even if your science is solid. In this episode, Carina Clingman and returning guest Stacey Tannenbaum, PhD break down how to build rapport with each type of interviewer you'll meet on a panel day, from the VP who hasn't read your CV to the peer scientist who feels threatened by what you bring to the table. In this episode, you'll learn how to: Talk to senior leaders about strategic impact instead of getting stuck in technical details Show hiring managers you want this specific role, not just any job, and why that distinction is the number one thing they evaluate Recognize the three reasons peer interviewers become skeptics: fear of change, territorial expertise, and feeling intimidated by what they don't understand Use empathy, curiosity, and "I need your help" to turn resistant colleagues into allies Frame your science in terms that matter to cross-functional interviewers from other departments Ask better questions at every stage to make interviews feel like a two-way conversation Leverage your hiring manager as an ally to get intel on difficult personalities before you walk in the room Use presentation techniques like reading facial expressions, spotting "thought bubbles," and asking for feedback to build real connection during job talks Stacey has spent 20+ years leading teams in pharmacometrics at companies including Astellas, Metrum Research Group, and Novartis. She's sat on both sides of the interview table and now coaches scientists and technical professionals on communication and leadership through her consultancy, SJTPharm LLC. Whether you're preparing for your first biotech panel interview or your tenth, this episode gives you a practical playbook for winning over every person in the room. Connect with Stacey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacey-tannenbaum-phd-fisop/ Learn more about the Collaboratory Career Hub community and access our free resources: Join our Skool Community Take the Free 7-day Interview Sprint Challenge Check out our sister podcast: Building Biotechs Send Carina a connection request on LinkedIn! Stay connected with us: 🌐 Website 📱 Facebook 📷 Instagram 💼 LinkedIn 00:00 How to build rapport with different interviewer types in biotech 01:30 Why panel interviews require you to context switch between personalities 02:30 Talking to senior leaders without getting stuck in the technical weeds 05:00 Showing strategic impact when you're two or three levels below the VP 06:00 Using the job description as your North Star for every interview conversation 08:00 How to stand out when every early career CV looks the same 09:00 Building rapport with the hiring manager from the first screening call 11:00 Why telling your career story beats reading your CV out loud 13:30 The number one reason hiring managers reject candidates after screening calls 16:30 Why interviews are like dates and how to interview the company back 19:30 Why peer scientists are actually the scariest people on the interview panel 21:00 Three reasons peer interviewers become skeptics in your interview 24:00 Using empathy and "I need your help" to break down resistance 28:00 The "I thought that too" technique for handling pushback without getting defensive 31:00 Leveraging your hiring manager as an ally and getting intel before interview day 33:00 Planting questions and finding allies during your job talk 35:30 Reading the room and calling out thought bubbles in small group presentations 37:00 How to ask for feedback after a presentation the right way (Adam Grant method) 39:00 Building rapport with cross-functional and culture carrier interviewers 43:30 Translating your science into language that matters to other disciplines

March 13, 202647 min

How Bench Scientists Are Getting Ahead With AI

You keep hearing about AI, but nobody is telling you how it actually fits into a biotech career or a job search. That changes today. In this episode, Carina sits down with Heather Karner, a bench scientist with a background in RNA biology who works alongside machine learning researchers in the Bay Area. Heather is actively job searching and has quietly become the go-to AI resource for her lab and her network, not because she is a tech expert, but because she started experimenting and never stopped. Together they share the exact AI use cases they are running right now: a personalized daily brief that flagged Gilead and Eli Lilly RNA acquisitions before they hit LinkedIn, a literature review workflow built for scientists, how to use AI as a tireless teacher for coding and lab protocols, AI note taking that surfaced 10 action items from a 10-minute meeting, and how to turn a rambling brain dump into a clear, professional message. 🤖 Use Cases Covered in This Episode Heather's Use Cases: Personalized Daily Brief: Build a morning brief agent in Notion (using Claude Sonnet) that scans for job search signals: funding announcements, acquisitions, clinical trial updates, and new papers in your area of interest. Heather's brief flagged Gilead and Eli Lilly RNA-related acquisitions and a new AlphaFold Nature paper before it hit LinkedIn. Literature Review & Knowledge Management: Tools like Cheiron can do literature reviews, rank journals, and summarize papers in a clean interface built for biotech. Pair with Notion or NotebookLM for ongoing knowledge management. AI as a Tireless Teacher: Use your LLM to learn new things (coding, GitHub, lab protocols) without frustrating a real colleague. Ask it to do a session handoff when the context window gets long. Just ask your LLM to write a handoff prompt, paste it into a new chat, and keep going. AI Note Taking: Heather uses Notion's built-in AI note taker. After a 10-minute meeting, it surfaced 10 action items she had forgotten. Game changer for staying present and accountable. Brainstorming & Communication Clarity: Have your LLM critique your writing, don't just ask if it's good. Prompt it to assess from a specific perspective (e.g., "You are an editor at Cell ..."). Great for cross-functional communication and helping scientists write for non-science audiences. Carina's Use Cases: Business Development / Job Search Brief: Similar to Heather's daily brief, but built on OpenClaw (advanced setup) to track funding announcements and generate LinkedIn networking target lists. Easily adaptable for job seekers tracking companies and building connections before roles are posted. PDF & Document Knowledge Base: Store all your protocols, papers, and references in Notion or NotebookLM (free with a Google account). Query across everything, generate slide decks, outlines, and even a podcast-style audio conversation about your documents. Use AI to Learn AI: Grab a YouTube transcript (free Chrome extensions can do this), paste it into your LLM, and ask it to teach you anything mentioned in the episode. Start with what you don't know. It'll find resources, explain concepts, and meet you at your level. Diplomatic Reply Drafting: Voice dump your real (snarky) frustration using Wispr Flow, then ask your LLM to translate it into a professional, diplomatic reply. Therapeutic and practical. Clarifying Your Own Story: If you're flustered, anxious, or telling a tangled story (career situation, job search frustration), brain dump via Wispr Flow and ask your LLM to help you find the clear, linear through-line before bringing it to coaching or a conversation. Grammarly: Free AI Writing Assistance - Free (and paid) writing assistant. Non-negotiable for job seekers. Every communication is part of your interview. Fathom AI Notetaker - Never Take Notes Again - Robust free AI note taker for Zoom, Meet, and Teams meetings. NotebookLM - Free Google tool for uploading PDFs, websites, and documents; query across them, generate podcasts, outlines, and slide decks. cheiron - AI-powered literature review and science knowledge platform built for biotech. Meet your AI team | Notion - All-in-one workspace with built-in AI, agents, and note taking. Try a free Business trial (includes Notion AI). ~$24/month after trial. Wispr Flow - Dictation tool that works in any text box, anywhere on your computer. Formats, corrects, and organizes as you speak. Life-changing. Learn more about the Collaboratory Career Hub community and access our free resources: Join our Skool Community Take the Free 7-day Interview Sprint Challenge Check out our sister podcast: Building Biotechs Send Carina a connection request on LinkedIn! Stay connected with us: 🌐 Website 📱 Facebook 📷 Instagram 💼 LinkedIn 00:00 Why scientists resist AI and what happens when they finally try it 02:30 How Heather became the go-to AI resource for her lab and her network 05:00 Notion as your AI home base: one subscription, every major LLM 07:00 Building a daily brief that tracks job search signals before they hit LinkedIn 11:00 How funding announcements predict hiring and who to network with next 15:00 Literature review and knowledge management tools built for scientists 21:30 Using AI as a tireless teacher and the session handoff trick 27:00 AI note taking: how a 10-minute meeting surfaced 10 forgotten action items 33:30 Staying present in interviews and using transcripts to become a better communicator 38:00 Turning a frustrated voice dump into a diplomatic, professional reply

February 26, 202625 min

How Versatility Made Her the Scientist Every Team Wants | with Heer Shah, Gene Therapy Scientist

Are you holding yourself back from biotech roles because you don't check every box on the job description? You're not alone, and it's costing you opportunities. In this career chat, Carina sits down with Heer Shah , a Scientist in cell and gene therapy at Ensoma , a Boston-based biotech developing precision gene therapies using synthetic viral vectors and gene editing technologies. Heer has over seven years of biotech experience spanning vaccines, AAV, lentiviral vectors, VLPs, and LNPs, with roles at Merck, Intellia Therapeutics, Ring Therapeutics, and Sana Biotechnology. Heer holds a Master's in Biotechnology from Northeastern University, where the co-op program launched a career built on hands-on industry experience from day one. Today, Heer does vector engineering and gene editing optimization for programs targeting sickle cell disease and immuno-oncology. Heer shares how foundational lab skills and a big-picture mindset opened doors at every stage, and what it really takes to build a long-term biotech career across multiple modalities. Key takeaways from this episode: Why job descriptions are wish lists, not checklists, and why hiring managers value learning ability over a perfect resume match How to position diverse experience across biotech modalities as a competitive advantage The difference between specialists and integrators, and why companies need both What it's like surviving multiple rounds of biotech layoffs and how to build career resilience How the Northeastern co-op program helped Heer explore different company sizes and career paths before committing Why behavioral interview questions often matter more than technical ones How international scientists can navigate visa pathways, including the National Interest Waiver The career advice Heer wishes someone gave earlier: tell your story sooner Whether you're early in your biotech journey or navigating a career transition, this conversation is packed with practical advice on building transferable skills, staying adaptable, and landing roles you're excited about. Want scripts, practice drills, and feedback from peers in biotech? Join our Biotech Career Coach Skool community: https://www.skool.com/biotech-career-coach/about Connect with Heer on LinkedIn Learn more about the Collaboratory Career Hub community and access our free resources: Join our Skool Community Take the Free 7-day Interview Sprint Challenge Check out our sister podcast: Building Biotechs Send Carina a connection request on LinkedIn! Stay connected with us: 🌐 Website 📱 Facebook 📷 Instagram 💼 LinkedIn 00:00 Meet Heer Shah, Scientist in cell and gene therapy at Ensoma 01:30 Why the Northeastern co-op program is a biotech career accelerator 03:00 How co-ops at Merck and small biotechs shaped early career decisions 04:30 Building transferable skills across vaccines, AAV, lentiviral, VLP, and LNP 06:30 Specialist versus integrator, two paths in biotech and why both matter 08:00 Why job descriptions are wish lists and you should stop self eliminating 09:00 What recruiters and hiring managers actually look for beyond the resume 12:00 A day in the life of a cell and gene therapy scientist 14:00 Staying motivated through long drug development timelines 15:30 How international scientists can plan careers around visa considerations 18:00 The National Interest Waiver, a green card path most people don't know about 21:30 Lightning round, best career decision, biggest regret, and advice for grad students