I’m hiring two entry-level CTAs this quarter, and the candidates who stand out show they can run a clean action log and flag blockers early. In your first 90 days, prioritize learning the protocol, keeping a tight screening log, and owning one recurring touchpoint (I use a 15-minute Monday stand-up and a RAID tracker in Excel). If you’re trying to break in, what’s one project you led where you coordinated 3+ stakeholders to a deadline?
I got my first CTA offer after I built a simple ‘RAID tracker’ in Excel from the protocol and ran a 15-minute Monday stand-up where every risk had a next-48h owner, then emailed a one-slide weekly rollup. If you’re breaking in, do the same on a mock study and attach the tracker + cadence plan to your application; I now prefer Google Sheets for live updates, but Excel works fine.
It’s all about being proactive! In my first few months, I started a weekly risk assessment meeting that saved us time and kept everyone aligned. Plus, it felt a bit like being the conductor of an orchestra — everyone had their part to play.