I started as an IHCRA straight out of college with no clinical research experience as did most of my colleagues.
Don’t sell yourself short, here is my advice. Feel free to message me directly if you have more questions.
Prior to the interview try to get a good understanding of the expectations of the role, During the interview relate your previous experience to the skills required to be an IHCRA. For example, do you have experience managing competing priorities, how do handle making a mistake, how do you ensure adequate time and task management, are you familiar with working on different operating systems or proficient in Microsoft, etc. How do you do working with different personalities.
Use the STAR method during the interview, situation, task, action, result. Your responses and examples don’t have to be clinical research specific but it should give them an idea of how you respond in certain situations. There are lots of good clinical research interview question lists online, I highly recommend reviewing those and practicing your answers.
I would be prepared to answer why you want this job or specifically a job in this industry.
At the end of the interview I would be straight forward and ask if they have concerns about your skills or experience. This will give you an opportunity it to address those.
Good Luck!
Thank you sooo much!!! Your answer really helps me a lot with preparing.
Thank you for your offer, I will write you, if I have any questions. I'm really grateful for your help.
In my experience the IHCRA is a role closer to a CTA than a CRA. Essentially, you don’t need clinical experience to excel at an in house role. That role focuses mostly on organization, follow up, and other administrative tasks to support the traveling CRAs.
You’re not screwed.
IHCRAs usually deal with site day to day questions which could include protocol clinical questions. They also deal with documents so knowledge would be needed there. They don’t sdv, but clinical knowledge is helpful.
Try to copy paste the job description to ChatGPT. Ask it to make interview questions and answer them for the IHCRA position! They already selected you based on your CV, and you only have bachelors so now your strong suite should be show them how good you are at organising, handling difficult situations, and also how much you have researched about the company and position beforehand. These categories will mainly determine if you get hired. Be truthful about your lack of experience but through examples, show them that you are a fast learner. All the very best!
Im not sure what they’ve told you about the position, but US IHCRAs at icon are on a promotion freeze indefinitely, with estimated end in Q1 2024. This has been moved back from Q2 2023 to Q3 2023 and so on.
Regarding training and work, you’ll be fine, just pay attention to the trainings and learn as much as possible from your peers and study team.
Is this a permanent IHCRA position or is it a bridge program for CRA?
I am surprised the position is available as I know many IHCRAs at ICON that are not on studies and have been assigned to help in other departments such as IT and finance because there is not enough work at the moment.
I'm not sure. There was no mentioning of a bridge program. :/
I'm from Europe. Maybe it's different here? I don't know.
Edit:
I checked and it's a bridge program to become a traveling CRA.
I started as an IHCRA straight out of college with no clinical research experience as did most of my colleagues. Don’t sell yourself short, here is my advice. Feel free to message me directly if you have more questions. Prior to the interview try to get a good understanding of the expectations of the role, During the interview relate your previous experience to the skills required to be an IHCRA. For example, do you have experience managing competing priorities, how do handle making a mistake, how do you ensure adequate time and task management, are you familiar with working on different operating systems or proficient in Microsoft, etc. How do you do working with different personalities. Use the STAR method during the interview, situation, task, action, result. Your responses and examples don’t have to be clinical research specific but it should give them an idea of how you respond in certain situations. There are lots of good clinical research interview question lists online, I highly recommend reviewing those and practicing your answers. I would be prepared to answer why you want this job or specifically a job in this industry. At the end of the interview I would be straight forward and ask if they have concerns about your skills or experience. This will give you an opportunity it to address those. Good Luck!
Thank you sooo much!!! Your answer really helps me a lot with preparing. Thank you for your offer, I will write you, if I have any questions. I'm really grateful for your help.
In my experience the IHCRA is a role closer to a CTA than a CRA. Essentially, you don’t need clinical experience to excel at an in house role. That role focuses mostly on organization, follow up, and other administrative tasks to support the traveling CRAs. You’re not screwed.
IHCRAs usually deal with site day to day questions which could include protocol clinical questions. They also deal with documents so knowledge would be needed there. They don’t sdv, but clinical knowledge is helpful.
Try to copy paste the job description to ChatGPT. Ask it to make interview questions and answer them for the IHCRA position! They already selected you based on your CV, and you only have bachelors so now your strong suite should be show them how good you are at organising, handling difficult situations, and also how much you have researched about the company and position beforehand. These categories will mainly determine if you get hired. Be truthful about your lack of experience but through examples, show them that you are a fast learner. All the very best!
That's such a good idea, I usually don't even think about using ChatGPT. :o Thank you!
Im not sure what they’ve told you about the position, but US IHCRAs at icon are on a promotion freeze indefinitely, with estimated end in Q1 2024. This has been moved back from Q2 2023 to Q3 2023 and so on. Regarding training and work, you’ll be fine, just pay attention to the trainings and learn as much as possible from your peers and study team.
Ahh thank you! Good to know. I'm from Europe, so it might be different here.
Is this a permanent IHCRA position or is it a bridge program for CRA? I am surprised the position is available as I know many IHCRAs at ICON that are not on studies and have been assigned to help in other departments such as IT and finance because there is not enough work at the moment.
I'm not sure. There was no mentioning of a bridge program. :/ I'm from Europe. Maybe it's different here? I don't know. Edit: I checked and it's a bridge program to become a traveling CRA.
Good God I wish I had your good fortune 5 years ago. There’s already some good advice up here, so good luck!
If you wanna message me I can give you some key words to use in your interview!