Today, I had to head into the office early again. I left my house around 7:30 and got to Bavarian Nordic at 7:50. I got there a little early so I could get my ducks in a row before the impending interview. I met Ms. Handelsman and Kaitlin in the break room where we debriefed our interview questions. Ms. Handelsman tasked us with coming up with one interview question before today. Mine was “talk about a time where you made a mistake, the measures you took to fix it, and what you learned.” I think that would be a tricky one! Ms. Handelsman liked it too.
During the interview, Kaitlin and I got to ask our questions. This made me feel very grown up! After the interview, which was very similar to last week’s, Janelle, Kaitlin, Erika, and I debriefed. Once again, it was very helpful to be on the other side of the interviewing process before I have to actually interview for jobs and colleges. We talked a lot about how the candidate’s weakness could be an issue since they said they are not the best at delegating. I learned that you have to be careful of what you admit to as your weakness. This question is very hard to get right because you don’t want to seem inhuman with no weakness but you also don’t want to make it seem like you have a critical flaw. Janelle pointed this out to me because she was having hesitations based off of the weaknesses that the candidates confessed to in the interview.
After our quick debriefing, Janelle, Erika, Kaitlin, Stephanie and I all went to the safety meeting for the Brachyury trial. This meeting was held through Skype since the other people were in Germany. It was a very quick meeting because there are only a few patients in the study. It was very cool to listen to, though! It is reassuring that there are people that genuinely care about the safety and efficacy of all the drugs and medicine on today’s market. Once the meeting concluded, Erika and I had to reprogram our data tables and visuals from the Brachyury trial because it mysteriously vanished from SAS. It was a pain to do all over, but it ultimately helped me become more proficient in SAS. Midway through our work session, Estelle came over to speak to us.
Estelle works in data management. Her job pertains to a lot of organization in the company. Without data management, clinical trials would not be possible. She noted that everyone thinks that they are the most important part of the operation, but without data, there would be nothing. She walked us through the website where various sites conducting clinical trials can enter data about their patients. I also noticed that everyone loves their jobs so much. Estelle has a real passion for data. I can only hope to find my passion like they did.
Once Estelle had finished her presentation, it was time for lunch. One of my coworkers makes really good homemade bread. She brought in 2 HUGE loaves (see photo). They were so good! After we had all filled our stomachs with bread, Kaitlin and I got back to work on our project. After our PowerPoints were all assembled, we practiced presenting our data tables to each other. Tomorrow, we will be presenting it in front of a group! Towards the end of the day, Dorian was free enough to talk to us. Dorian is the Pharmacovigilance Manager. This means she is in charge of keeping patients safe and investigating adverse events. Like Estelle, Dorian loves what she does. However, she started out as a nurse. Just like Stephanie, it is possible to find your dream career at any time! After learning about all the different jobs Dorian does, it was time to head home. Tomorrow is my last day of work experience. Just thinking about saying goodbye to all the friends I have made in these two weeks makes me sad. However, I will try my best to cherish the time I have left with them tomorrow!
