<p>Hi</p>
<p>I'm working on my personal statement and have run into a bit of an issue. Virtually all of my research experience has been with a major biopharmaceutical company. I ended up having to sign a pretty generic confidentiality waiver when I left that said something along the lines of "don't talk about what you worked on here..."</p>
<p>So how do I write about my research or assuming I make it to interviews how will I talk about it if I'm not sure I'm legally aloud to.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>NDA/Non-compete contracts usually expire a year after leaving a company, so double check that. Do you still have contacts at the company? If so email and ask them to provide you with the contacts for legal. Contact legal and mention your situation, they are the best to judge and will educate you on the do’s and dont’s. They might even ask you to forward the personal statement for their approval.</p>
<p>If, however, you prefer the short cut by using your own personal judgment, think in terms of what would hurt the company. If you mentioned your research was on X working on thinks like Y then make sure these are not confidential. I can imagine, formulas, source code, etc… being confidential. As a software engineer, I could talk about working on a certain component and mention certain challenges I faced but reciting or listing source code is a big no. Discussing future releases (feature and et al.) or dates is also breaking confidentiality. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>This is actually an issue many people have to deal with, as it’s not wise to run around blabbing the intimate details of unpublished research to faculty members in your field, even if if they smile really nicely and are friendly. (My boss says, “There are lots of fish out there in the sea, and not all of them are friendly tuna. Some of them are sharks!”)</p>
<p>It’s considered perfectly okay in an interview to give a general overview of the research you did, even potentially without naming gene names or chemicals, and to politely state that the research is unpublished or that the company had you sign a confidentiality agreement. In a personal statement, you can be even more vague, since even a major research experience might only warrant a paragraph or two. </p>
<p>You might consider emailing the people you worked with at the company to see if they can offer any guidance as to what you should and shouldn’t say.</p>