A Sincere Letter to those considering pharma sales as a "career"

you are correct, I have not been, thankfully. I do know people who have been targeted, but I can tell you that they absolutely deserved it, and they didn't get managed out, they just more closely managed. In fact, I see some of my co-workers treat managers like shit and I don't support that at all - I am actually shocked at how much shit I see managers eating from some reps ( I am not a manager but I have had significant work experience in other industries so I do have a sense of how good we have it if we don't fuck around and make our managers life miserable, chances are they won't make our life miserable) . I have had good managers and 1 really bad manager so I understand how it affects your life - but that aside, think about it - unless you own your own business, someone is always going to be "managing" you. You can make it easy on yourself or you can make it difficult on yourself. Barring working for a complete asshole (and there are a few but I don't think most managers are at their core assholes, I think they are trying to do the same thing we are only at a different level - which is do a decent job and keep out of the next levels sights) bottom line I guess, where ever you work, there is a certain amount of game playing. WE happen to work in a contracting industry - I fully expect to get laid off in the next 5 years .

I would be interested to know when you were harrassed by your manager, what exactly did they do to you?

 

Most employed in USA work 9-5PM. You are going above and beyond.....the point.

 

I worked in office at another company for years. No one started work before 9AM unless we had an 8:30AM meeting. It was a rare day for anyone to take home work. Sometimes we would walk out at 6:00 if we were on a project but that hardly ever happened.....I'm a rep now and my days are way longer than any day in the office. The advantage as a rep is I dont deal with the gossip crap and I like to run my territory...I used to do that but not so much any more. The down side is I'm very overworked.

 

The job's a joke. Those of you that say otherwise are full of shit.

 

Dont agree. Its not a joke when it comes to all the hours we put in. Way more than any office job. Like to ignore the kids, and do work at night and on the weekends? Be a rep.

 

What job is not a joke when it comes down to it? They are all pattern oriented. HR, finance, lab technicians, QA, QC, production, marketing, R&D and sales. They all have their good and bad sides. None if those positions are better or worse than the other. They all have pro's and con's to them. It call comes down to what you make of it. You can slam any position and make a strong case for it. If you really think you are that important as an individual you are a fool.

 

Dead on! It can be a GREAT opportunity; all you have to do is do the work:life balance thing, and not waste the "life" time on the "work" time. I have been doing it for over 30 years now, and still at it. Would rather do nothing else; almost every office are friends that I am seeing, if I want to see them in the office; we could meet up at the club or party. This is a great gig.

 

You sound like you're a perfect fit for doing pharma sales. Keep up the good work! Your last sentence isn't true, however. I'd simply say that if you can't survive and thrive in pharma sales, the job is not a good fit for you and your skills, abilities, and talents should be put to use in some other field. That simple. Not everyone is cut out for pharma sales I can assure you.

 

What job is not a joke? Easy - try any job not full of phony, make-believe, contrived BULLSHIT! As hard as it may be for you to believe, they do exist. I happily left pharma sales for what I term a "real" job as a nurse anesthetist. Zero BS of the kind encountered in my old rep position.

 

I certainly can agree that your hours are no joke. That said, those hours don't take away from the fact that much of what pharma reps do still is....a joke.

 

Most jobs are a joke....how about teachers (work half time for big time pay, pension and bennies for life), office workers at break time around the cloc, chats on the tele, big honcho in corps (deals over the meal...)....

 

Pharma sales as a career? OK, how's that college recruiting initiative going or is it being done? Given the job market, I'm sure there are college grads without specific training or skills that would eagerly jump at a pharma sales job offer.

 

Not only that, but there is now a certificate course taught at many accredited state universities that is a Certificate for being a Professional Pharmaceutical Rep!!

What a scam that is...Talk about taking advantage, (and taking money from) young naive people...

Yes, you too can be certified to be a professional pharma rep....

what a joke...

 

Really? please name some, and what the salaries are. How many openings. I assure your, there are not of govt jobs that pay 30% more than pharma reps, on average.. That would mean that your avg govt employee makes well over 100k. Stop spouting BS and give us facts, please! The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of those fired will never get another job as a rep (at least 85-90%), the vast majority of us will take a year or more to find another job. Due to the lack of transferrable skills in this position, those that do land jobs will earn a small fraction of what they make now, and will be entry level. Bottomline, more than 80% of us will have to start our careers all over again. The picture is not rosey at all. Dont let anyone blow smoke up your butts. Those that lived high on the hog, with those fat salaries, and housewives, the chickens are about to come home to roost big time. Those that save alot will take a step back, but have a cushipn top use for forward movement.

 

You are so right, I used to work for Merck with a good salary. I now am working harder for almost 1/2 the pay. I feel fortunate just to have a job.

 

That's been a huge problem for our society where education has been given carte blanche recognition as the solution to all our ills and where there is never enough money given to support education. Bull shit. Certainly there are programs of great merit. But then we have far too many little "for profit" scams, taking advantage of government support programs, and turning out programs of little value to the student. It's a sickening scam. To a lesser degree, we have all of these "MBA" programs that are nothing more than money generators for mostly no-name schools, too. Yeah, sign me up for that pharma rep certificate. I'm sure there is a school somewhere that actually offers (or at least used to offer) a bachelor's degree in pharmacuetical sales and marketing. What a scam.

 

Interesting thread from the past. Has anything changed or are we just comfortably numb?

 

things have gotten worse…the Soetoro economy has resulted in people being even
more handcuffed to their pharma sales jobs, because there are so few, high paying
white collar jobs out there anymore…

the lying, cheating and fabricating has become part of the DNA of pharma sales, and
accepted in the culture…

The executives and middle managers are (for the most part) scammers and cheats…

And R&D (at Merck anyway) has pretty much run bone dry…

Horrible job and terrible industry…the money is nice, but the toll it takes on a person
is brutal.

 

Your last statement is so profound. I think humans have an inherent need to be of value. In today's regulated market, what value can we bring?

 

great point…little to no value I am afraid…the job of drug rep defies gravity year after year and is propped up by the middle and senior managers who need the drug reps to justify their jobs, and convince stockholders that they are aggressively marking the company's products.

Anyone who has been a rep, and quite a few current reps know what a complete joke the job is and what a charade the industry has become.

Ethical pharmaceuticals? Yeah right...