how to get in w/ Quintiles as a CRA

I have previously applied with Quintiles several years ago and never really heard any follow up.

I randomly received an email today regarding CRA positions.

Looking at the qualifications, I meet everything, but the 2 years of clinical monitoring experience is questionable. I have experience running experimental trials in a physiology lab while obtaining a Master's degree. I've done genetic and molecular studies on inflammatory cytokines, mostly dealing with diabetics, obese, and CVD patients.

Is this enough experience to be considered for a CRA position? What would I be getting myself in to? They say 65% travel required, how is that broken down?

Thanks

 

so whats the secret?

 

Are you serious? You can't be an experienced CRA with Quintiles or any other company if you don't meet the main requirement of monitoring experience. Its that simple.
Quintiles however is one of the only CROs that I know of who will hire a group of entry level CRAs, I think they do it 2 or 3 times a year. That is your best shot to break into a CRA role with any CRO. A friend of mine got hired over the summer, she said the training program was really good, last time I talked to her she said she loved working for the Q.

 

I completely agree with you. Some job seekers just don't look at the requirements and automatically think they are a good fit for many jobs because they may have a little bit of experience in the industry. Haven't heard anything about the entry level CRA program at Q but several of my colleagues are Sr. CRAs and they seem to like it.

 

Yes, Quintiles is the only CRO that you know of who does that; what you don't know is that PRA does this as well, as does PPD.

 

INC also hires entry level CRAs.

 

I would try all other options before breaking into monitoring with Quintiles. As a new CRA, you need better training than what Q will give you. My experience with Q has been that CRAs are not well supported at all. The lack of support for monitoring staff is seriously the worst that I have ever seen. Some of this depends on your line manager, but they are probably getting pressured from above, and many of them do not fight back at all for their team; they just push it on down to the CRA and expect them to deal with it. Other CROs are quite a bit better at supporting their teams. Try PPD.

 

Quintiles doesn't support any of their teams. Executive management at Quintiles bleeds greed and is the first to slam their own employees. The employee is always wrong in their eyes. Go away executive management - do everyone a favor and leave.

 

Then why do Q employees rate their company higher than any other CROs on glassdoor.com?

 

The question is "Then why do Q employees rate their company higher than any other CROs on glassdoor.com?" Why don't you ask the Quintiles Corporate Communications team why Glassdoor and this message board contain "rah rah Q" responses to negative opinions? Oh, wait... you don't need to do that since you ARE most likely part of the Quintiles Corporate Communications team!

 

I'm going to type very slowly so you understand, ok? First, Glassdoor does not have message boards, therefore your claim concerning comments there is false, much like the information you and that small band of ex employees spew here. Second, it appears that any post not bashing Quintiles is deemed "rah rah" by you. I've stated many many times that there are issues at Quintiles just like at any other company I've worked at. But that doesn't fit with your agenda. You are not here to share your experience in a helpful manner. You're here to instigate a mega gripe session. So go on and do that, and I will respond accordingly. Have a great day!

 

Nobody is arguing that Glassdoor is a message board, but surely you know that Glassdoor contains company reviews that can be posted by ANYBODY. They do not verify if the supposed employee/past employee has ever really worked there. Hence, ANYBODY can provide a review - positive or negative. I have no delusion that both situations arise - but many people are not so naive as to believe that the flooding of positive reviews on Glassdoor and message boards by a company's organized executive, marketing or corporate commuications groups does not occur. For as many of the "gripe" sessions that are instigated, there are just as many dishonest "rah-rah" reviews and posts instigated by executive management, marketing and corporate communications groups. And those "rah-rah" posts are certainly less authentic and far less helpful to the individuals who are trying to obtain actual information about a company from the average employee. You have a great day too!

 

Well said!

 

Ok so any posting that is not completely and totally critical of the company qualifies as "rah rah"? Ok now I understand

 

Back to the original question- how to get in: Don't. I know you, poster, would like to be a CRA (or would have liked to be a CRA back when you posted the question), I get it. But Quintiles is not the place to be a CRA. I am an experienced CRA. I have worked for a couple of CROs. I accepted a position with Quintiles in first quarter 2013. It has been a very negative experience. If I could put it into one word, it would be "overwork". There is no time to follow up on anything or to put preventative processes into place that may stop the sites from making errors. It is really, really bad. The hints that it was going to be bad were there during the interviewing process, but I wrote them off as my imagination. The expectations for the CRAs are not realistic. You can't be onsite 4 or 5 days a week and do all of your visit reports and follow up on everything and complete all of the administrative tasks that they are asking you to complete. It's simple math. x hours in a day. If you have 3 site visits a week, that is a lot. Think about it. There is a lot of paperwork and processing and discussion involved with each visit. CRAs need more office time than Quintiles is willing or able to give. Is that specific enough? I'm through with staying up til the wee hours writing reports. Through. I am getting my life back at the earliest opportunity. See ya, quintiles. Management- get a clue.

 

Why do you refer to "ex employees" making claims? Current employees hate working at Quintiles.

 

I, for one, did not read that post the same way you did. The individual clearly stated that "anybody can provide a review - positive or negative. I have no delusion that both situations arise." He/she never said that "any" posting that is not completely and totally critical of the company qualifies as "rah rah." You are the one who seems to have selective intrepretation of what the others are posting - you appear to be biased in supporting only positive postings, while completely discounting any reviews that you determine to negatively reflect on Quintiles.

 

I have said often that there are issues at Quintiles like at any company, but you just don't want to see that. Some of you are actually naive enough to think that leadership would take the time to comment on your rantings. Well here is a clue genius: they don't care!!! They are busy counting their earnings from the IPO. <---is that 'rah rah' ? Nope that's the fact Jack! So you and your other two troll friends should go crawl back under the rocks you came out from under and never come back. And if you're going to use big words or phrases, use spell check!

 

I have never been on this site before, but heard about it from some guys while at DIA this week, and thought I would check it out to find out what is being said about Q. As a current Q employee who has experienced both good and bad in my 5+ years, I am embarrassed that you are representing yourself as a champion of my company. Not sure if you are an employee, but the name calling is immature and you are definitely not someone I would want representing me or Q.

 

Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view. (It's a thankless job, but I've got a lot of Karma to burn off.)