As you know, in 2019 I became a Clinical Data Manager, after following a course at the mibeg_Medicine Institut in Cologne, Germany. Since then, many have asked me how to become a clinical data manager and if there are universities to directly become a clinical data manager. In this article I will tell you how I became a clinical data manager and I will answer some of your questions!
How can I become a Clinical Data Manager in Germany?
Well, the career as Clinical Data Manager in Germany is not driven by a typical university degree. There are several ways to become a Clinical Data Manager.
If you want to become a Clinical Data Manager in Germany, you must have a suitable educational background, such as health informatics, statistics or a relevant area. You could consider obtaining certifications such as the “Certified Clinical Data Manager (CCDM)” from DKM e.V., German Association for Clinical Data Management, which shows off your expertise and makes it easier for you to find employment.
It is also useful to have experience in healthcare or research settings and familiarity with data management software and systems.
What is a Weiterbuildung at mibeg Medizin Institut /Medicine Institute?
Weiterbildung is the German word for continuing education or professional development.
It typically refers to courses or programs that help individuals gain additional skills or knowledge in a specific field or profession.
MIBEG Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology offers a program in “Clinical Data Management (Medizinisches Informationsmanagement)” which is a Weiterbildung program.
This program is designed to provide individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to work as a Clinical Data Manager in the healthcare industry.
The program covers topics such as data management in clinical trials, regulatory requirements, and the use of data management systems.
It is likely that this program is designed for professionals who already have a background in healthcare or a related field and are looking to specialize in clinical data management.
Which is the level of German I need to have to become a Clinical Data Manager and work in a clinical study?
Well, that’s a very GOOD question. Theoretically, you need a B2, but I would answer: “it depends”.
I mean a B2 is enough to understand the lessons and talk with the other colleagues but sometimes it becomes hard to follow all the lessons until the end.
To become a Clinical Data Manager and work in a clinical study in Germany, it is generally recommended to have a C1 level of German language proficiency.
The German language is widely used in the healthcare and research industries, and many clinical studies are conducted in German.
You will likely need to be able to understand and communicate effectively with colleagues, physicians, and other professionals in German, as well as read and understand German regulations and guidelines related to clinical data management and clinical research.
If you are interested in a specific program or employer, you should check the requirements as they may have specific language requirements.
Is the Weiterbuildung paid by the Arbeitsagentur in Germany?
The answer is yes, if you have been working at least one year in Germany with a full time contract.
The Arbeitsagentur, also known as the Federal Employment Agency, is a government agency in Germany that provides various services to job seekers and employers. One of these services is the funding of Weiterbildung (continuing education or professional development) courses.
In Germany, the Arbeitsagentur provides funding for Weiterbildung courses to individuals who are unemployed and actively seeking employment. The funding can be used to cover the costs of the course, such as tuition, materials, and travel expenses.
To be eligible for funding, individuals must meet certain criteria, such as being unemployed and registered with the Arbeitsagentur, and the course must be relevant to the individual’s job prospects and be recognized as a Weiterbildung course by the Arbeitsagentur. The Weiterbildung must also be taken during the period of unemployment.
It is recommended to check the specific regulations and requirements of the Arbeitsagentur in your area, and consult with an Arbeitsagentur representative for more information.
For many people, the idea of starting their own business is a dream come true. But what if you’re 50 years old or older and think it’s too late?
“For everything, there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven”, says a verse from the Old Testament, but it does not say exactly in which moment the “right moment” is placed.
Since the perception of time is extremely subjective, we can say that if you feel that the right time to start a new career has arrived for you, then it is better for you to start.
And I’m not talking about selling everything and opening a bar in Puerto Rico or escaping to the Bahamas but drawing up a very specific plan of what you want to do.
Often at a certain age, you already have very useful previous experiences, and you can identify skills that can be very useful even in the new career.
The first thing to do is to clarify your ideas, here is a list of questions to start defining your career change plan or new beginning:
- What do you want to do? What career or position do you want to fill?
- How long does it take to get to that new job or position?
- Do you have the financial resources to cover the period from your previous job to the new one?
- What skills from your previous job can be useful?
- What new skills do you need to develop and where can you acquire them?
How to overcome the age barrier
It’s never too late to start a new career: this sentence is both true and false at the same time.
Indeed, it is never too late if you have clear ideas, know what you want, and have the resources to achieve it.
It is true if the new goal you are setting yourself is within the range of possibilities offered by your life path up to this moment. For example, if you have been a researcher in research institutes and decide to enter a pharmaceutical company as a clinical data manager or as a medical writer at 45 or even 50 years old, it is completely fine.
If you decide to pursue a career as a dancer at 50 and you have never danced in your life, perhaps it is better not to think about a career change. If you want to leave your permanent position to open a restaurant and you don’t know what it means to manage the staff, work hard hours, and prepare menus, perhaps it is better if you keep your permanent position.
I want to invite you to be honest with your real chances.
Having said that, if you decide that you still want to change your course, then go all out!
Give it your all and don’t stop until, even after several falls, you have achieved what you were looking for.
Isn’t it too late? Save time with these six points
Everyone is entitled to a change of career, maybe you are no longer satisfied with your workplace, or you want to move or have a hobby that has almost become an activity. The reasons can be manifold, and nobody can judge your motivations.
The truth is that at 50 you must have a concrete plan and then … and then … launch yourself because the reality is always much more complex than we have imagined it.
The real situations, contacts, and offers we can receive will be very different, and often much more beautiful than what we had hoped for.
Build your plan in six steps:
- Be honest with yourself, observe your path up to the present moment, and identify your strengths and weaknesses regarding your character, and your professional attitude. Online there are many sites where it is possible to take a test of your personality, we are often not very aware of our personality, and a test could give you surprising answers. Be honest, don’t be rude to yourself, and try to see your blind spots, aspects of yourself that are hard for you to admit. Make a list that helps you see both your character and your professional skills. You are not just a job, you are a person who makes a job. If you change your career, you will have to adapt to the new environment. You better understand if you might be suitable for the new environment. The fact that you like the idea of your new career is not enough, you also have to learn how to do it and you have to be persistent enough to hold on until you have earned your new job.
- Do active brainstorming: if you are not yet clear about what you could do, start asking yourself what you could do by crossing your skills with your personal characteristics. Choose something sustainable over time both economically and humanly for you. Some works are extremely complex for some people while for other people those jobs are stress-free and not too complex. Take the management of clinical data, for example, for some people it is very difficult and boring to find errors in the data, replace quotes with points, and check whether a value is plausible or not, while for others the same activity makes fun.
- Once you understand where you want to go, build yourself a map to get there. Sometimes a career change requires only a small adjustment of the required skills. It is sufficient to update your CV and perhaps re-write your skills using the vocabulary of the new area you want to enter. Each sector has its own words and keywords. Knowing how to use those words in a resume means that we are part of the new tribe and that we understand how the inhabitants of the branch we aspire to be part of, express themselves. But in many cases, a career change involves a series of steps that require time and effort, so the career change must be well planned and built step by step.
- Don’t be afraid of long rides: If you want to become a medical writer for example but you have no experience in the medical-pharmaceutical field or in clinical studies, you first need to find a way to enter these fields in a compatible role such clinical data manager o project manager or vice versa. After that, you have to understand what kind of skills are needed in the profession, you would like to do. So first you need to enter the field and then you have to start taking the necessary steps to get to the profession you want. A process of this type can take up to three or five years, just like starting a new business. The journey will be long, your plan in this case must be feasible in the long term.
- Begin when you’re not ready yet. If you want to change your career and wait until you have defined your plan in detail, you risk ending to plan your future steps for years, and the opportunity to drive a change will never pop up. Plan the first six to eight months of your journey and then start right away. If you are 45 or 50, you don’t have time to leave a dream behind.
- Use creative hopelessness in your favour: a career change or career growth in your 50s is tough. Sooner or later along your path, there will come the time I call creative hopelessness. Good! Know that if you want to create your new career, you have to go through creative hopelessness. It is inevitable and painful. Anyone who says a career change at 50 is easy is lying to you.
Three reasons to start your new career now
There are several reasons why you should begin your journey now, even if you’re older than average. Here are three reasons why starting a new career is a great idea at any age:
- You can still learn and grow
I know people in their 30s who are stunted and unimaginative, others over 50 full of life and new ideas. The desire to learn and the spirit of initiative are not measured with age. Typically, a 20 or 30-year-old is expected to be lively and bright, oops! It is wrong! Not all 50-year-olds have reached the end and not all 30-year-olds are ready to make an amazing career. No matter how old you are, there’s always room for growth and learning. If you’re passionate about something, there’s no limit to the amount of knowledge you can acquire and improve upon. And when you have a new career to focus on, it becomes that much easier to stay motivated and focused.
- New opportunities always exist
There’s no telling what the future may hold – whether it’s in the field you currently know nothing about or somewhere completely new. The world is always changing, which means that opportunities for success always exist. If you’re willing to take the risk and go for it, there’s no telling where your journey will take you.
- It can be fun and rewarding
Starting a new career is difficult but remaining blocked where you are now can be much more painful.
Conclusion
It can be tough to make a change in your career, especially if you’re at the point where you feel like your current job is holding you back. However, there are always reasons why it’s never too late to start a new career. In this article, we have highlighted some of the main reasons why starting a new career might be a good decision for you. By taking the time to read through these reasons and weighing them against what is currently occupying your time and energy, you should be able to come up with a solid plan of action that will help you take the first steps towards an exciting future.
If you’re feeling frustrated with your new job, don’t worry – there is always a way to go back to your old one. This article will teach you how to do just that, using tips and advice from people who have successfully made the switch.
Job changes are common in the medical and pharmaceutical fields. In this branch for some positions as clinical data manager (CDM) or clinical research associate (CRA), there are often few candidates with the required requisites, and job changing is relatively simple but it is just as easy not to find the conditions that were expected to be found. Sometimes the new environment turns out to be hostile or the economic benefits do not justify the effort required to make this change.
The reasons why a job change does not always prove to be to our advantage are many. Sometimes the distance in km, which we thought we could cover, turns out to be a real obstacle race. After a few months, the new schedule required to catch a train or the new motorway junction clogged with cars make clear to us that leaving our previous job was a serious mistake. We underestimated the stress of commuting to our new job.
The truth is that often at the job interview they do not tell us the real conditions in which both, the company and the team, find themselves. Many situations, even in medium-large companies are often very fluid and it happens that our reference person, with whom we had the job interview, changes job or takes a sabbatical after a few days we joined the company. Sometimes we discover that the company has been acquired and that a management change is underway and we find ourselves in the middle of this meat grinder.
It is clear that these situations are extremely destabilizing, especially for those who are just starting. Whatever the reason you are regretting your old job, what you feel is completely normal, do not feel guilty: realizing that the new job is not the right one for you can happen.
It is important to restore calm. Make peace with your pride if you are thinking of taking a step back and going back to your old job.
Five common reasons why the new job is not for you
The main reasons why you are unable to fit into the new environment are the following and they happen very frequently:
- You don’t like the tasks and the daily routine
- The work doesn’t fit with your lifestyle or values
- The company is going through a difficult time and your position is in jeopardy
- You don’t feel connected to the team or the culture
- The commute is too long
I am considering whether to return to my old job
At some point in the probationary period, usually after the first two or three months, we realize that this place is not for us. When you find out that your new job doesn’t quite fit the mould you were hoping for, it can be tempting to give up and go back to your old job. But before you do anything, it’s important to understand what going “back to your old job” means.
Take a pen and a piece of paper, and answer three crucial questions :
- Am I idealizing my old job?
- What did I do in my old job?
- Would I like to do the daily tasks I did before?
Generally speaking, going back to your old job means returning to the position you held before you got the new one. This means, that if you left your old job for a new one, going back would mean returning to the same job title, pay level, and other benefits (if applicable). Are you ready for that?
There are pros and cons to returning to your old job, depending on the situation. If you’re happy with your old job and feel like you can still do good work there, then by all means stick with it. At first, the mixture of anxiety and disappointment is very bitter to drink, but if, almost immediately, you understand that your exit strategy consists in returning to your previous job one fundamental question need to be answered:
Did you have a good relationship with your previous employer?
If you miss your previous job and if you are thinking of going back it is likely that you have broken up on good terms and that the dialogue is still open. Are you afraid to take the first step? Well! You need to get active and talk to your ex-boss in your previous job. It is legitimate to retrace one’s steps if the relationship with the previous employer was based on mutual respect and mutual trust.
Perhaps the situation you are experiencing in the new job makes you forget the reasons you left your previous job. If you left your previous job because you didn’t find any growth incentives, now the time to speak out has arrived!
If you decide to go back, make sure you have a clear plan of what you want to achieve. Returning to a job that you left can be frustrating and difficult, so make sure you have set realistic goals for yourself. Also, be honest with your boss about why you’re returning and ask for their help in finding a new position that better suits your skills and interests.
It can be tough to leave an existing job, but it can also be a sign of confidence and strength.
If returning to your old job doesn’t feel like an option because your old company has shut down or you’ve since moved on, there are other options. You could try contacting your former supervisor and see if they might be interested in having you come back as a consultant or contractor. You could also look for similar positions online or through networking opportunities. Whatever route you choose, keep in mind that going back to your old job doesn’t always mean giving up on the new one – sometimes it just takes a little more time to find the right fit.Remember that no matter what choice you make, it’s always possible to find another great career opportunity.
Four good reasons to return to your former employer
There are a lot of good reasons to come back to your former employer if the new job doesn’t fit. Here are four of the top reasons:
1. The company culture. If you enjoyed working at your old company, you’ll likely feel right at home again. The company may have changed since you left, but chances are your former colleagues will still be there. You might also find that returning to a familiar environment can help boost your morale and productivity.
2. The compensation package. If the salary and benefits offered at the new job don’t match up, it might be worth considering coming back to your old employer for a better deal. Many companies offer bonus opportunities and other perks that can make a big difference in terms of pay and lifestyle.
3. The opportunity for advancement. Most employers want their employees to stay with them for as long as possible, so returning may give you a chance to move up within the company. The new job may be a stepping stone to bigger and better things down the line.
4. The familiarity factor. A lot can change in five years, and it’s always nice to return to an organization where you feel like you know everyone and everything is routine. This feeling of security can help boost your confidence and productivity.
Best way to ask your company to re-join
If you are asking a company to re-join your old job, there are a few things you should keep in mind.
First, be polite and professional. This is not something you want to come across as demanding or hostile.
Second, be honest with the company about why you want to re-join. Try to be upfront and let them know what you can bring to the table.
Demonstrate that you have taken the time to improve since leaving your previous job. Show that you have spent time learning about the company and its goals and that you have put in extra effort to find new opportunities.
Be prepared to invest time in your re-application process. This means preparing an updated resume, writing a cover letter, and arranging for interviews. Be persistent, but also realistic about your chances of being rehired.
Finally, make sure that you are prepared to offer a good deal on your resume and references. You don’t want to come across as desperate, but you also don’t want to undersell yourself either.
Conclusion
About a third of new hires do not pass the probationary period, the research, published by the recruitment-tech firm, Worksome, says.
This means that more than thirty new hires out of a hundred do not exceed the first six months: the process of entry and continuation in a company has very high failure rates.
If you don’t feel comfortable in your new job, don’t blame yourself.
If you wish to return to your old job, don’t feel weird or guilty. Start outlining your plan right away to get back to your old job.
Source Link: https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/news/third-of-newly-hired-employees-fail-to-pass-probation-costing-uk-businesses-tens-of-thousands-each-year
