When you’re pursuing clinical research associate jobs, perfecting your resume will significantly increase your chances of reaching the interview stage. It will benefit you to know what employers look out for in candidates, which we’ve included recommendations for in this article.
You can continue to refine your resume with valuable skills and experience as you become more experienced in your profession. Doing this allows you to bring your most relevant achievements to the attention of employers, showcasing the best of your work and highlighting your accomplishments as they develop.
Whatever stage you’re at in your career, we’ve outlined seven tips for what to include on your clinical research associate resume.
7 clinical research associate resume tips
If you’re wondering how to get a job as a clinical research associate, there are tried and tested ways to make your resume appealing to employers in this industry.
We’ve compiled seven tips for creating a resume that is optimized for clinical research associate jobs.
Include important information in your introduction
To impress employers at the first instance, there should be a professional summary at the top of every resume. The key aspects of a clinical research resume can evolve, according to your previous roles and future goals. So we advise you to always bring your top qualifications and unique strengths to employers’ attention in this introduction, before they read anything else. Keep the length to a maximum of around three sentences.
A clinical research associate resume sample introduction can include:
- Number of years in the industry
- Specific area/s of expertise
- Biggest career achievement/s to date
- Summary of experience with clinical trials
- Particular passions/your goals for your next career steps
Show that you are experienced in compliance
It is crucial to let employers know that you understand regulatory compliance, which is one of the most important aspects of clinical trials.
Examples of specific areas you could mention include:
- Having a thorough understanding of the ethics involved in clinical trials
- On-the-job experience in ensuring trials are compliant with:
- Good Clinical Practice (GCP) regulations
- International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) regulations
Incorporate top industry keywords into your skills
When employers look through clinical research associate resumes, they often search databases for relevant terms that quickly indicate candidates’ suitability for the role. You can weave these keywords throughout the different sections, expanding on why they are relevant and how they have featured in your past roles.
Here are some examples of keywords to include in your resume:
- Clinical monitoring
- Clinical trials
- Serious Adverse Effects (SAE) reporting
- Experimental design
- Clinical data management
- Clinical trials
- Protocol
Highlight your specialisms:
It will give you an advantage to show the specific settings you have experience in, or types of trials you’ve worked on. If you are looking to work in a niche where you haven’t yet gained experience, you can mention other branches of clinical work that have allowed you to pick up valuable transferable skills.
If you want to work in a role that specializes in diabetes products, for example, you can talk about related experience, such as any work around insulin. If you don’t have any direct experience in diabetes research, you can reference how you developed other related skills, such as organization, data collection and analysis.
Feature your past KPIs:
When you progress along the clinical research associate career path, you’ll work to a number of different key performance indicators (KPIs). You might have met these in a past role or numerous roles, potentially for various employers. This will allow you to get specific about how you’ve risen to challenges and supported business aims. Including some of these in your resume will show how you’ve been successful in achieving business goals.
Examples of KPIs might be playing a key role in documentation review protocols, resulting in reduced delays with compliance; or working on patient recruitment strategies, leading to an uplift in patient retention.
Show your reporting experience:
It will be important to show experience with reporting on trial outcomes, demonstrating your confidence with understanding and communicating this kind of information. This can encompass everything from compiling reports to presenting findings to stakeholders, collaborating with other professionals (such as Principal Investigators) to working with software management systems.
An example of this might be showing experience in SAE reporting. In terms of notable achievements, you could name a specific time when you identified errors in reports from clinical trials.
Include your certifications:
You should also include details of any credentials attained in clinical research, to show your formal qualifications for this kind of work.
You can include the most relevant certifications for roles you’re applying for. You’ll need to mention the certifying body/institution you were certified from, which will give you increased credibility. List the most recent certifications first.
An example certification would be a SOCRA Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP).
Clinical research resume writing guide:
There are ways to format your clinical research resume so that it feels enjoyable to read and removes any guesswork. Keep the tone balanced between friendly and professional. For example, you can write in a conversational manner, which shows enthusiasm for your profession, when discussing your experience in full sentences, such as in your summary profile. However, be as polite as you would in an interview. Also, you can include hobbies and interests at the end of your resume, but think about which ones best relate to the roles you’re applying for and might help you stand out from other candidates positively.
Make your resume concise, rather than trying to fit in too much information. Employers won’t typically take a lot of time to read each resume when they’re shortlisting multiple candidates. So don’t include anything that isn’t essential, otherwise you risk letting important details around your suitability go unnoticed.
Ensure that your resume is easy to understand. While you may want to convey that you can interpret complex information in your line of work, don’t leave any room for misinterpretation or alienation by over-complicating the language. You can summarize your own work history and skills in a straightforward manner, which will be coherent to anyone that reads it.
Include key academic information in your education section, while also thinking strategically about which aspects of your education and training you want to be most prominent. List any degrees or qualifications that relate to aspects of clinical research roles first.
Clinical research associate jobs with R&D Partners:
Whether you’re looking for entry-level or senior clinical research associate jobs, R&D Partners can help you to find your perfect role. Our experienced, passionate team have over 200 years of industry experience between us, working with leading firms in science, clinical research and engineering.
We have regional clinical research associate jobs in a large number of locations. With our teams based in several offices on both the west and east coast, you’ll always speak to the most relevant consultant for your needs.
As clinical research associate recruiters working with the best professionals in the industry, we know what it takes to help you nurture a long and successful career. We take the time to get to know you and connect you with exciting opportunities that match your unique requirements and ambitions.
Get in touch today to learn more about our current jobs in clinical research.
