News

Skills³ Master Class, a successful story! Next one in April at the Biomedica Summit in Eindhoven!

The Skills3 team has just closed the registrations for the Master Class scheduled on November 24 in Liège, with more than 50 participants! The Master Class is a nice opportunity for students and job applicants to meet recruiters in the Life Sciences sector.

The next one will be a Master Class Special Edition organized in the frame of the Biomedica Summit, on April 7-8, 2011, in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
If you will soon finish your studies, if you are looking for new career challenges or if you are an employer looking for new motivated candidates, don't miss this event. All participants will get their free entrance to Biomedica. Block the date in your agenda and send us an email to masterclass@skills3.eu to be kept informed.


Networking via social network sites pays off

Finding a job is easier if you have a large number of contacts on Social Networking Sites (SNS), more specifically, on professional networks. According to a study by Maastricht University, people with many online contacts are most frequently offered job-related information via their online network.

According to the study, it pays to have a large number of contacts on SNS, even so if these involve ‘weak’ contacts (lack of intensive contact, e.g. with former colleagues or fellow students). This particularly applies to professionals (non-managers). Managers can derive greater benefit from the strong contacts on their online networks. The study showed that the respondents with the largest number of contacts received the most job-related information. Source: Maastricht University

A Vividlinks.eu Story

Needless to say that talented people are essential in the current knowledge industry. A real challenge for many companies to find, to develop and to keep their human capital. Gunther Koch, Vice President Human Resources, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals and Jan Van der Vurst, specialist in leadership development, Kenaz did us the honour of sharing their experience and vision on these key strategic topics.

Questions to ask …
If you were in search of a team leader in a research project, who would you choose? Would you go for the smartest and most talented researcher or would you choose a people manager with excellent soft skills³. Other question: do you need a life sciences background to work in top positions in a world leading life sciences company? Questions that are asked within GSK and which can lead to hours of discussions. And did you realize that research as such is more important for a researcher than his monthly salary, an insight that is of high importance to keep your staff motivated ? Gunther Koch took us through an interesting lecture.

Dynamics behind retention
Jan Van der Vurst focused on retention. His energetic approach opened our eyes on the dynamics behind retention. Ever heard of learned helplessness? It’s the situation in which you stop looking for solutions because you experienced that there were never solutions. Why would you spend more energy if you are convinced that it is helpless? And what do you do when your staff faces tremendous challenges? We saw an example of a pianist who, in front of a full audience, came to the conclusion that she had studied the wrong play... It was amazing to see how the conductor guided her and put his trust in her. But even more interesting was the motivation receipt, the ABC: Autonomy, Belongingness, and Competence. Three ingredients that feed your employees’ motivation. To have a really good understanding we certainly recommend Jan Van der Vurst's expertise!

And next ...
In our next seminar we have the ambition to lift the seminar to a strategic level. Based on a central question we will construct scenarios to face the future in an interactive workshop with a limited number of participants. Interested? Contact us via hrseminar@skills3.eu.

Job in the picture

Proteomics Product Manager (m/f) at Eurogentec (Belgium)

Eurogentec is a worldwide supplier of products and services to scientists involved in Life Science Research, Molecular Diagnostic and Therapeutic development and commercialisation. As experts in oligonucleotides, Real-Time qPCR, peptides, proteins and antibodies we can transition your R&D to product launch and commercialisation.

Eurogentec has developed a broad platform of enabling technologies. Our company also delivers research, development and production services for cGMP clinical batch manufacturing.

For our Genomics & Proteomics Business Unit, we are currently looking for a Proteomics Product Manager to lead Eurogentec's Proteomic product portfolio and promote its dynamic growth and to analyze the global trend of the Proteomics market and establish a product portfolio and marketing strategy accordingly.

For more information about this position click here.

Facts & Figures

RWTH Aachen – an international university of impressive scale
With more than 32.000 students, the RWTH Aachen University is one of the biggest technology oriented universities in Germany. It is also the biggest in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine with approximately 450 professors offering 111 different courses, 6.000 new students enrolled and 3.000 graduated in 2009. The recent budget was 658 million Euros. Regarding external funding from companies and other third parties, the RWTH University is the top university in Germany.

Very interesting for the field of Life Sciences are the faculties 1 (Mathematics, Computer Science and Natural Sciences) and 10 (Medicine) offering a wide range of studies such as biology, chemistry, biotechnology, molecular biotechnology, logopaedics, biomedical engineering, dentistry and many more. One third of RWTH´s students are allocated in the field of natural sciences and medicine/dentistry.

Not only students from Germany are gaining knowledge in Aachen. 16.6% of the students at RWTH university are from all over the world, including China, India, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Belgium and many other countries. Source: RWTH Aachen University

Events Calendar

Vividlinks.eu keeps you up to date about the main Life Sciences events in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine. Find upcoming events of next season.

Information meeting for the 7th BioWin project call
23.11.2010 | Point Centre, Gosselies – Belgium
All the information useful for the elaboration and the selection of the Research & Development projects and Collective Infrastructures projects will be communicated during this session. The competent administrations will also be present to answer your questions. Deadline for registration is November 18. More info and registration: click here.

Skills³ Master Class
24.11.2010 | Interface Entreprises-Université de Liège, Belgium (registration closed)
Challenging International Workshop for students in Life Sciences. Skills³ seeks motivated senior students and graduates who want to meet top innovative companies and enforce their curriculum and presentation skills. More info and registration: www.skills3.eu

BioWin Day
08.12.2010 | Aula Magna, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
Science for Business, the 2010 BioWin Day, aims as ever, at building bridges and connecting expertise with renowned speakers, expertise sharing workshops, scientific posters and trade exhibition. The topic will be: Open innovation, the new model to innovate in health. More info and registration: click here.

Symposium Zorgidee: Innovaties in de zorg
13.12.2010 | Universiteit Hasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium
A symposium on the innovations in the Healthcare sector. More info and registration: click here.

Found @ Vividlinks.eu

Romy Kremers is enrolled in the Cardiovascular Biology and Medicine Master, a research master of the Cardiovascular Research Institute of Maastricht University (CARIM). She recently started her senior internship in the field of coagulation and expects to finish her master thesis in June 2011. She has ambitions to pursue her career as a PhD student.

How did you discover Vividlinks.eu?
“I learned about Vividlinks.eu at Biomedica 2010 in Aachen were I participated in the Skills³ Master Class. I browsed through Vividlinks.eu and noticed that it is a great tool for getting to know all the companies in our sector. Although I’m not actively looking for a job yet, the vacancies show me the potential for a future career. I decided to create a profile at the community to come into contact with other students and professionals.”

What do you expect from Vividlinks.eu?
“I expect that Vividlinks.eu provides interesting information and an overview of all the career opportunities, the companies, the people in the Life Sciences sector and the events. If I can come into contact with other researchers conducting cardiovascular research, it would be interesting to exchange knowledge, findings and ideas. I know I can be found by employers at Vividlinks.eu, but I do not expect to be contacted for the perfect job right away. From my point of view you need to be active in the process of finding job. Obviously, it would be great if an employer contacts me for a job!”

Are you interested in a Euregional career?
“Looking for a PhD position is quite difficult at universities across the border because of a lack of the right information. It would be great to hear more about research lines of other universities, so you can have access to opportunities there as well. I would not doubt to accept a job across the border that I find very interesting. Travelling is not an issue and even the local language can be learned. English is the common language on the job anyway.”

Would you recommend Vividlinks.eu to others?
“Definitely! It’s like Facebook or LinkedIn specifically for biomedical people. It’s mainly interesting if you would like to pursue a career in this region. Just to have the overview of all the companies in the EMR in the Life Sciences sector is already a big advantage for me. If Vividlinks.eu would not exist, my search would begin by contacting the companies I know top of mind. These are mainly the bigger and well-known organizations. I believe SMEs can offer even better career opportunities because of the broad scope of tasks. By working in these firms, you can become truly competent.”