When we think of social networking and job searching in the same context, LinkedIn immediately comes to mind. While LinkedIn is the number one professional networking site, there are several others that can be very useful for job seekers. In this blog, I would like to introduce you to two new networking sites for life scientists. Both of them were founded by Clifford Mintz, a life scientist himself, who is also a former Professor (University Of Miami School Of Medicine) and industry Research Scientist.
The first site is BioJobBlog (http://www.biojobblog.com/), which focuses on training and career development issues that are facing scientists and other bioprofessionals. The blog offers career development ideas and advice for bioprofessionals and also provides insights into hot topics and debates taking place in the life sciences industry. Clifford started the blog because of the career difficulties he faced while making the transition from an academic scientist to freelance science writer. Cliff hopes that by sharing his experiences with others they may be able to more easily navigate their own career paths which is often difficult, frustrating and emotionally- draining!
Clifford created a second site, with co-founder Vincent Racaniello, called BioCrowd (http://www.biocrowd.com/), which is online networking site for scientists and other life sciences professionals. Built on a flexible and highly interactive social networking platform, BioCrowd was designed to foster scientific and business relationships between its members. While science is the main driver of their community, it takes a host of other bioprofessionals in addition to scientists to create successful life sciences ventures. To that end, BioCrowd provides its members with immediate access to world class academic researchers, industrial scientists, consultants, recruiters, venture capitalists and other life sciences professionals. The goal is BioCrows is to provide a socially-interactive “one-stop-shopping” solution for bioprofessionals who are interested in advancing their careers or seeking new business opportunities in the life sciences industry.
If you decide to try either one of these sites (or have tried them already), we would love to have your feedback. Simply leave a comment below.