Drugs are discovered by a community of researchers, not individuals. It takes a village to make a drug! Whether you work at a small biotech, a large drug company, an investment firm, or even academia, you'll need to work with other individuals to make great things happen. While individuals are often celebrated as heroes in the media, everybody in the industry knows that every great drug is the result of teamwork, teamwork, teamwork.

It's impossible for anybody to know everything about anything nowadays. In order to succeed in an area as technically complex as drug discovery, you need a team of people who are all experts and who work well together. If you want to become a drug hunter, you have to be somebody that others want on their team. That means being somebody who offers to help others, being somebody who is honest and candid, being somebody who is positive and passionate about their work, and just being somebody who's pleasant to be around!

Drug discovery is incredibly technically complex, so each person on a drug discovery team has to carry their weight in at least one area of expertise. Nobody can know everything about anything, but you should prove that you can become an expert in at least one thing. Olympic athletes often find success later in their careers because they've learned how to get really really good at something. If you demonstrate that you can be a world leader in any super niche topic, whether it's how to make single enantiomers of molecules, or how to run one particular biological assay that nobody else understands, that's a great start!

Obviously, the more relevant your field of expertise is to pharmaceutical drug development, the better! Organic synthesis, biochemistry, chemical biology, medicinal chemistry, and pharmacology have all traditionally been important fields to the industry, though the industry is becoming more flexible in what kinds of backgrounds are sought out initially.

The easiest way to flunk an interview is to look bored. People want to work with people who want to be on their team! When applying for a role, it's great to already have in mind what you want out of it and why you're applying. Nobody likes to hear that you “just need a job.” Your future team members want to know why you think they're special, and why when you join their team you're going to be an equally happy camper. If you love what you do and you can't wait to join a company, it will radiate!

Study the companies that you're applying to, be selective with the teams you interview with, and really focus on areas that you think you'll really shine in. It'll set the tone from the moment you walk into the door and everybody will be able to tell.

Many of the same principles that apply in finding a job to begin with also apply and building and growing a satisfying career in drug discovery research and development. Initially, growing your career is about growing technical expertise and building relationships. You'll need to develop your knowledge not just of your specialized area, but also of adjacent areas, such as pharmacology, pharmaceutics, and clinical development, to understand how to best serve your teammates.

Building relationships cannot be understated. In order to affectively serve your team and to serve patients, you'll need to be able to draw on the strengths and talents of people who aren't directly on your team. You'll need to be the type of person who can reach out to clinical key opinion leaders to figure out what drugs you should be working on, who can push and pull on other departments internally to advance projects, and who can find external partners like CROs, CMOs, and suppliers who can support your company's work.

An easy way to start growing your knowledge just by exploring our sites resources! You can find conferences and events to learn from and network with other professionals here as well, and grow your knowledge a little every day by reading our science-based newsletter.

We wish you the best of luck on your drug discovery journey, and hope to meet you in person someday!