Welcome to our blog!
Within the craresources blog you will see industry updates, Job Seeker and Hiring Manager advice. We want you to join us and help create the community you want to be a part of!Welcome to our blog!
Within this craresources blog you will see industry updates, Job Seeker and Hiring Manager advice. We want you to join us and help create the community you want to be a part of!We believe the most important role in this industry is that of a Clinical Research Associate. We ‘pound the pavement’ daily to find the best CRAs…and engage them.
The craresources blog offers advice to CRA job seekers and those who hire them. So buckle up, use the search feature, and if you have questions, give us a shout. We look forward to our collaboration!
Roundtable: Am I Blacklisted From a Company?
Blacklisted From a Company When the applications go out but nothing comes back, the silence can start to feel personal. And then often a worry creeps in... am I blacklisted from a company? Or worse, have I been shut out of the whole industry without knowing it? The...
Presentation Interview Tips for CRAs
Presentation Interview: One of our clients asks every CRA who reaches the second interview to do something a little unexpected. They ask the candidate to create a short presentation and deliver it to the hiring team. For some candidates, that news may bring a wave of...
Roundtable: Your Employment Gap Isn’t the Problem
How to Explain an Employment Gap: A gap sits on your resume, and you feel it there, wondering how much it is costing you. You know that you have years of strong work behind you... But there is one stretch of time you aren't sure how to talk about. Today, we are...
LinkedIn for Job Seekers: Why It Now Decides Whether You Get Found
LinkedIn for Job Seekers: A few weeks ago, a man reached out to me on LinkedIn. His message was earnest... and honestly a little heartbreaking. He had been out of work for months; he was applying everywhere he could, and he asked if I could help him find a job. So I...
How to Explain an Employment Gap (Step by Step)
How to Explain an Employment Gap ...on Your Resume, LinkedIn, and in the Interview A gap in your work history can feel like the loudest thing on the page. It rarely is. A break of a few months or a few years doesn't erase decades of strong work, and most hiring...
Roundtable: Professional Summary for a CRA Resume
CRA Resume: You aren't getting callbacks. The interviews aren't coming... your applications get no response. And unfortunately, you receive silence instead of an explanation. You know the experience behind you is real, so something else is getting in the way before...
Are your CRA Applicants Lying to You? – A Checklist
CRA Applicants: You were trained to run trials, not to run fraud investigations as you search for CRA applicants. And yet, here you are. From what my team sees at intake, roughly 60% of CRA applicants have falsified all or part of their credentials, another 20% are...
Could Your Resume Bullet Points Be Sabotaging Your Interview Chances?
Resume Bullet Points: I am hearing this a lot in my webinars and office hours, and seeing it in my inbox: candidates just don't understand why, in today's job market, they can apply to dozens or hundreds of jobs but get no response. Not a rejection, certainly not a...
Roundtable: Why the Frustrating Job Application Steps?
Job Application Steps: The job application steps in today's hiring process can feel like pure busy work. You submitted your resume, then the application made you retype all of it, one field at a time. Then came a competency assessment before anyone would schedule an...
Signs You Need a Career Change
Career Change: Not every bad week at work means it's time for a career change. Sometimes you are burned out. Sometimes you are bored. And sometimes it is something bigger than either one, and knowing the difference is the whole game. After almost two decades placing...
Roundtable: No References? Here is What To Do
No References: Picture this. You have your LinkedIn buttoned up, your resume is ready, and you find the perfect part-time oncology gig. When you get on the call, everything is going great...until the recruiter asks about your references. And it lands with a thud. You...
No Application Responses? Start With Your Professional Summary
Professional Summary: You have sent out application after application. Maybe dozens. Maybe closer to a hundred. And what comes back is silence. After a while, the silence starts asking its own questions. Is it my age? Is it my experience? Am I overqualified? Let me...
Roundtable: The Confidential Job Search, Done Right
Confidential Job Search: It is Tuesday afternoon... just a normal day at work. Except it isn't. You have been thinking about starting a confidential job search for a while. But your calendar is full, your paycheck is steady, and you have watched enough people on...
Four Reasons a Real Candidate Reads as a Ghost Candidate (and How to Fix Each)
Ghost Candidate: Before my team evaluates whether a candidate is any good, we evaluate whether the candidate is a person or a ghost candidate. That sentence would have sounded absurd in 2015. But it is simply how sourcing works now... at our firm as well as at every...
Roundtable: Negotiate Your Compensation Package Confidently
Compensation Package: You got the offer. Now they are asking what you expect to be paid, and you realize you have no idea what number to say. So you guess. Or you name the figure you made at your last job. Or you take whatever they offer because you are relieved to...
The Best CRAs Aren’t Applying to Your Job Posts. Here Is Why.
Job Hugging: The reason your application pile keeps thinning while the talent you actually want stays exactly where they are. Your last CRA job post pulled in 87 applicants. You called three...but you hired none. The talent shortage is the easy explanation. But it is...
Let’s Stop Saying There Is a CRA Shortage and Start Focusing on the Real Issue
CRA Hiring: Originally published April 28, 2017. Refreshed for 2026 with current data. I wrote this article in 2017 because I was reading too many industry pieces claiming a "concerning global shortage of experienced CRAs." Drug Discovery and Development had reported...
Roundtable: How to Stop Being The Invisible Expert
Invisible Expert: Why the Most Qualified Person in the Room Isn't Getting Called You have 10, 15, or 20+ years of experience, a track record that speaks for itself, and a depth of knowledge that most hiring managers would fight to bring onto their team. So why do you...
Negotiating Salary in Clinical Research
Negotiating Salary: Why the Number Was Never the Whole Conversation When a clinical research professional tells me they are negotiating salary, they almost always mean the same thing. Base pay. They look at the number in the offer letter, decide whether to ask for a...
Roundtable: The Apply Button is Broken
Apply Button: Here is why I am officially declaring the death of the job portal... You sent the application, you checked the portal, and you waited...and then waited some more. Nothing. You aren't imagining it, and you aren't the problem. The apply button is broken....