What Exactly is Pharmaceutical Sales Careers?
Careers in pharmaceutical sales mean two simple things:
1) A person works for pharmaceutical company
2) That person does something related to sales
But if I just tell you these I believe you are going to ask me more questions because those two statements barely explain anything. With my 12 years of experience in Pharmaceutical Industry, let me explain what exactly pharmaceutical sales careers are, using my experience as a point of reference.
Working For A Pharmaceutical Company
I started my career as a Product Specialist for one European pharmaceutical company. I promote a wide range of products from antibiotics to antidepressants, and I cover both market segments; the Government and Private.
I spent 5 years there.
My friend, let's just call me Zachary, also joined almost the same time as me, and he covers the General Practitioner (GP) and Retail Pharmacy (RP) market. After about 3 years working, one day the General Manager (GM) made a visit across the country and we got the chance to meet him. In that meeting, the GM thinks that Zachary suits marketing better than sales portfolio. The next thing we know, our friend was transferred to Head Quarters as a Product Manager, and he has been managing quite a number of product portfolios ever since.
Zachary started out just like the rest of us - as Product Specialist and built his career in pharmaceutical product marketing within the same company.
If you thought of building a career in pharmaceutical sales, this is one of the ways to go. But there are others options.
Working For More Than One Pharmaceutical Company
And I do not mean working for all the companies at the same time!
What I mean is making 'strategic' career change. Why you want to do this? In my personal opinion, this is the best way to build pharmaceutical sales careers, and I will explain why.
I made my first career move after 5 years of working with the European pharmaceutical company I told you about earlier. I move to one of the biggest Pharmaceutical Companies at that time - Pfizer. I grabbed the opportunity that was presented before me in the GP and RP sectors available back then.
I never had any experience in that sectors but I moved on. And that proved to be one of the best career moves I made. My basic salary sees a double digits percent jump almost immediately which is something I can only get if I worked another 20 years in the current company!
And good things keep rolling in.
When my Area Business Manager resigned due to personal reason, my colleague and I applied for the post, and guess who got it? I was chosen because of my experience in Hospital selling which my colleague did not have.
That is why planning a strategic career move is desirable to build careers in pharmaceutical sales. I hope I have made it clear with my personal example.
Sales Force Is Not The Only Career Opportunities
The example I have given you somewhat related to sales - Field force and Sales Manager. But the fact is, there are more.
First, like Zachary which I mentioned earlier, he moved to Marketing or Product Management. That is one possible area to expand your careers.
Second, if you are a registered Pharmacist, you have the option in the Regulatory Department; provided the pharmaceutical company you work for have one. Your role will be to facilitate a drug registration process, whether to bring it in, to change level of prescription, etc.
So you see, careers in pharmaceutical sales come in many form and at different levels. You can start in a company as a field force and move up to management level or you can plan strategic moves and grab the opportunity in other companies. You can also start in different department and build a solid career as long as that department related to sales. That is exactly what pharmaceutical sales careers mean.
