Working as a medical writer/editor. Difficulty level: No undergrad

October 28, 2015 7:10 AM

I want to explore a career as a medical writer/editor. I've worked in the healthcare field for 18 years and I feel I have a lot of things going for me, however I don't have the undergraduate degree that most employers list as required. More details below the jump.

I have worked as a allied healthcare provider for the last 18 years. I love what I do, however, as my body, matures I am starting to realize that I need to start thinking about the next step. The particular discipline I work in is physically demanding and it is not inconceivable that an injury could render me unable to work. I have always enjoyed writing from an academic standpoint (think your typical upper level research paper) so I feel like it's something I should explore.

Now the hard part: how do I market myself in such a way that someone might be willing to give me a chance, especially given that I don't have an undergrad degree? I do have significant experience writing in a medical capacity, e.g., narratives documenting care a patient received (which isn't quite the same, I know) . My medical terminology is excellent, I know APA pretty well. For what it's worth, I'm ¾ of the way done with my undergrad.

Is this even a realistic possibility given my special snowflake situation? I don't think this is something that anyone can just pick up and do. I know it will be difficult and I may really suck at it but I won't know unless I'm given the opportunity. My main concern is that potential employers won't see how current career A could make me qualified to do desired job B. Is a combination resume and T style cover letter the best way to address this?

Thanks for any input.

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (6 answers total)

I can't tell from your question if you're working on finishing your undergraduate degree or not. In general with writing, I'm more interested in candidates with writing experience than degrees. However, I'm trying to think of employers who would hire a medical writer/editor and most of them skew academic so I think most of them will place a higher value on degrees. Do you have clips? A blog? Can you freelance? You need to somehow convince would-be employers that hiring you is not a risky idea but a smart idea. It sounds like you have subject matter expertise. Subject matter expertise plus either a degree or writing samples make you a safer bet. But having all three would be ideal.

Side note: In general, I am not a fan of T-style cover letters but I really don't think that they would serve you well as a potential job applicant. A cover letter is a writing sample, plus when someone asks for a cover letter, I think they want an actual letter, not a list of bullet points. But for you in particular, a cover letter is your opportunity to explain why you're not the traditional candidate for a position but you're still the best candidate. Odds are that your skills and experience are not going to align perfectly with what they are looking for (or more likely, what they think they are looking for). A cover letter format that highlights what you lack without drawing attention to your potential and your experience is not the best choice for you, in my opinion.
posted by kat518 at 7:26 AM on October 28, 2015

Response by poster: There are a lot of guides out there about medical writing. Here is one from the NIH. Your lack of degree will be a major issue for most new clients; experience in the healthcare setting does not necessarily translate to an ability to review studies to write up papers or communicate concepts in technical language. Many companies prefer to hire people with a master's or even a doctorate. Do you know anyone personally in the field who could give you some guidance and perhaps a lead? Networking will probably be your best bet here.
posted by Anonymous at 9:04 AM on October 28, 2015

I'm a medical copy editor, and I think it will be very hard to get hired without an undergraduate degree. You could try explaining the situation in your cover letter. The main thing I'd say is that your cover letter has to be perfect in terms of writing, grammar, and spelling, but I would not get my hopes up. Many people want to do this, and a lot of places require advanced degrees in the sciences. I would check out the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) and the Council of Science Editors for further information. I believe AMWA has classes and programs for certification. That might help.
Another thing you could try is applying for a lower level position at a journal. Look for something like "publication assistant." Some people start there and eventually are trained as editors. I have been in the position of hiring freelancers, but I'm not as familiar with that market. If you do get hired as a freelancer, it's important to do great work. You'd be amazed at how many freelancers turn in work that is full of errors.

If you do get an interview for an editing job, you will almost certainly have to take a test. Doing well on the test is crucial. I've seen people with great credentials do poorly when their skills are actually tested. Get a Chicago Manual of Style and make sure that you know all the punctuation rules. Look for things like double spacing and bold periods - those are errors. Expect at least one error in every single sentence.
posted by FencingGal at 9:36 AM on October 28, 2015 [5 favorites]

Although I am now a software developer (for a biotech/medical services company, FWIW), I previously worked as a technical writer for a commercial software company. In my experience as a technical writer -- which included interviewing a number of individuals for writing positions on our team -- we gave significant weight to undergraduate and graduate degrees. It was a requirement we expected every viable candidate to meet. In fact, I cannot recall anyone without a B.A. advancing to our interview stage, and most of our candidates also had one or more post graduate degrees. Our job descriptions stated explicitly that a B.A. was required, and these were just vanilla TW jobs to write user guides and help systems for plain ol' end user software, work that had no real requirement for specialized academic knowledge or terminology. So...I don't want to be a wet blanket, but based on my own experience in a related field, I believe your lack of a college degree really does hurt your employment prospects in this context. Sorry.
posted by mosk at 10:52 AM on October 28, 2015

I work for a biotech company in clinical affairs and am part of a project that is actively hiring medical writers. Most companies require at least 3 years of medical writing experience and a bachelors degree. It's unlikely, but not impossible, that we'd hire someone with >7 years experience and no degree that came highly recommended to us... but yeah, quite unlikely. I have a doctorate and three years of post-doctoral research and back when I wanted to get a foot in the door as a medical writer, I kept getting turned down because I didn't have specific medical writing experience. Medical writing hiring managers are picky, and having been in a related field for a few years now, I understand why: the audiences for your written pieces are generally federal agencies that either review product development submissions or grants, academic review boards, and medical professionals who need critical interpretation of data, logical conclusions, and other specific criteria fulfilled.

As someone who has hired candidates to a few different positions, I've found that even people whose verbal communication skills are excellent have trouble writing coherent technical summaries, clinical summaries, etc. In addition, and I'm well aware there are exceptions, people who have completed undergrad and graduate degrees demonstrate increased verbal and writing communication skills across the board - you can usually tell the difference between someone that's done some sort of advanced schooling vs. someone that hasn't. Unfortunately, employers will look for the former, and in your choice of a possible career (medical writing), educational credentials are mandatory as is the right experience.
posted by Everydayville at 3:56 PM on October 28, 2015

I'm here to give you some shreds of hope and advice. First: finish your undergrad. In the meantime (or at the same time), join the American Medical Writers Association and take their professional development courses. Then pass the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences exam. If you can show that you've put some work into developing the new skillset that the discipline of medical writing and editing requires, and if you can work your network, you could get hired at an entry level in a pharma or pharma consulting firm without a Bachelor's, with the clinical background you bring. Smaller places will be better, and be prepared to take a paycut if necessary!

NOTE: Do not pursue medical writing if you have any ethical issues with ghostwriting, because that's a very common practice. Also note: most pharma/medical publications are written in some flavor of AMA style, not APA, so if you want to write or edit medical content, I'd recommend you find yourself a copy of the manual -- it has a lot of quirks.

I say all this as someone who dropped out of college at 19 and did other stuff for awhile, then started in the healthcare field as a temp at age 27, worked my way up to receptionist and admin without a bachelor's, finally landed a job that had tuition reimbursement, worked full-time while going to school online part-time to finish my bachelor's, and then did the things above. I ended up working part-time as a medical editor and full-time as a medical writer while I got my master's in public health.

It's not to late to make this move - you can do it! Good luck, and feel free to PM me if you want more specific advice. I no longer work as a writer/editor (I do research now), but I think the field can be pretty rewarding if you are suited to it.
posted by acridrabbit at 4:06 PM on October 28, 2015