Medpace - current or former employees (Cincinnati, Norwood: apartment, lease, home)

[BennettJ]

I'm considering a job at Medpace. I've been reading reviews online and so many seem to be negative. I'm hoping they're just postings from disgruntled workers and not the work atmosphere in general. The position would be an entry level CRA, so I'd be in training for 4-6 months. I have a few questions/concerns for employees
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1. They didn't mention salary - I have a BS in a science field and approximately 1 year of work as a monitor and regulatory for a hospital on a major study. What salary can I expect to be offered?

2. I read where they make you sign a non compete agreement. Suppose after a year I want to move on, will I be permitted to get a job as a CRA for another company?

3. The interviewer talked about advancement possibilities. About how long would I have to wait for something like that - where I wouldn't need to travel as much? (I have a small pet.)

4. If I should be offered the job, how soon do they expect you to start? I have an apartment/lease in my current hometown and would need at least 6 weeks to find an apartment and move - if I could indeed get out of my lease.

5. Do they really fire as many people as I read in their reviews? Kind of scary!

Any other comments or suggestions would be appreciated. This would be a huge move for me - leaving friends and family - uprooting to a new state. I'm also hoping it would be a great new start towards a wonderful new career.

Thanks!

[blickcd]

Not sure if this is any help at all, but I know that Medpace has expanded their Cincinnati facility a lot in recent years. One of my wife’s co-workers is an RN at an outpatient surgery center, and will be leaving soon to work at Medpace, allegedly for a large increase in pay. Therefore, the potential for advancement and good pay may be there.

Worst case, since you have a BS and experience in the medical field, if the job doesn’t work out, you should have no problem finding another job with similar pay, maybe even not far from where Medpace is located.

[Ansonex]

Much like the other commenter I can't say anything about actually working at MedPace but I do deliver DoorDash there pretty often and the people are usually very nice and the complex they have there is incredibly nice as well. Definitely doesn't seem like a horrible place from the outside looking in.

[BennettJ]

Thanks for the information. I've only been through the first interview, so I don't know what my chances are of actually getting the job.

[wrightflyer]

Not sure what a CRA is, does, or stands for (Clinical Research Associate?), other than it is a medical field position. Medpace gives that much away.

Just be aware, that if there is travel for the job, that means your job expects you to travel.

I worked for a software company that had a NKY presence for many years and now operates in Norwood. When I started with a year of industry experience, we were trained for 2-3 months on the product and process before being expected to travel to customer sites every week, M-F. There was a lot of attrition as to be expected. And quite a bit was people realizing 100% travel means 100% travel. And even 80-90% travel means 100% travel, to be quite honest. So, if you cannot commit yourself for 2-3 years at least to constant travel (I am assuming the role is posting 50%+ in travel requirements), the position may not be the best fit. If it is less than 50%, or better yet, 25% or less, I would say you may be able to find a pet sitter depending on how often you leave and for how long you are gone. Every pet and situation are different, so that would need to be a call you make.

Most of the people I worked with that stayed moved into lighter-travel or non-travel roles in the first 3 to 4 years, including me (though to be honest, I miss the travel - I know I am a glutton for punishment...). Assuming Medpace is like most large corporations when it comes to advancement, plan to be in the role for a minimum of one year before even being allowed to look elsewhere in Medpace. Best case, you could internally move into a different, more experienced role after 2 or 3 years though. But it could be longer.

As mentioned upthread, the campus looks amazing and is pretty new. That part of town really saw a jump in demand when they opened the offices at Red Bank and Madison. If you are worried about a non-compete, be upfront and ask about it, though probably after the third or fourth interviews. Ask the recruiter, not the hiring-manager or the people above or around them. An honest recruiter will at least explain the high-level overview of the non-compete. A lot of skill-based business and corporations do non-competes for obvious reasons, such as retention of proprietary talent and skills. But, if the recruiter or employer representative are not willing to even discuss the nature or more importantly, can confirm or deny its existence, that would be a red flag for me.

Also, while a better question answer and confirmed by a legal professional, most non-competes cannot be enforced if laid off or separated without cause. And with Cincinnati being home to a large and well-respected teaching hospital at UC, three other large hospital groups (Mercy, Tri-Health and Christ), a large VA Hospital, one of the top Children's Hospitals in the country, plenty of other medical offices and practices, plus NKY's practices and hospitals, you should be well positioned to find another job if needed.

[rlw366]

I work in the clinical research industry. I am also in the greater Cincinnati area. I do not work for MedPace but have friends that do though.

MedPace is one of the bigger CROs and like most has a practice of hiring large groups of support staff when big trials are awarded then immediately laying off when the trial wraps up - if there is not other trial in the pipe line. From what I understand, it's a real roller coaster working there. I'm told the company culture is very odd and not employee friendly - but if you get in a good group it's not too bad.

The non-compete is very real and they will go after you if leave and move on to another CRO. I have several friends who found out....

Since this is your first CRO job, make sure you understand what a CRA actually does. Pre-COVID they were road warriors, most spending 3 weeks a month on the road going to sites monitoring. A new(er) role of "In-House" CRA is becoming more common - doing monitoring remotely via electronic data review and zoom calls. Know what role you are interviewing for... Most CRAs work under very tight deadlines and are normally over worked and very stressed. Some love it, most use the position to move into Project Management or Quality Assurance.

There are better CRO's to work for in my opinion and a lot of worse one also... Hope this helps a little.

[BennettJ]

Thank you!