Well shoot...I guess I shouldn't do anything then. I mean, if you see it this way it must be true...and not one single former Pharma rep will ever get an equivalent or better job again...
APRIL BLOODBATH TO BE MASSIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Well shoot...I guess I shouldn't do anything then. I mean, if you see it this way it must be true...and not one single former Pharma rep will ever get an equivalent or better job again...
WOW I can't believe there's 76,000 of you morons left !
with DM's to boot ! It's like a plague on healthcare
xoxo
Moses
Depends 100% on where you live. There will always be a higher demand for reps in certain regions of the country. There will probably be a lot more contract jobs in the future. Larger territories and less benefits but there will be opportunities. Just have to decide if they are what you want to do.
I hear that the amount of reps looking for pharma work resembles the tv show "Walking Dead".
Laid off three years ago..now in a different industry..It has been a very rough three years..made my mind up to not go back in pharma cuz it will never be how it was...you are fooling yourself if you think you will be ok...pharma has a very poor perception in the outsid world and you will battle that in every interview...good luck, it will be very rough the next few months but you will make it..
I think you are wrong to blame Med D, or the Sunshine act. The problem is the loss of blockbusters to generics. When you take the lipid market that was worth roughly 20 billion, and they go generic that is going to hurt. Add to that generic hypertension and PPI meds and the industry has lost a ton of $ that Med D is not to blame
Totallty agree with this poster. WHat was 10-15 years ago is no more and with all the companies padding their sales forces this was bound to happen.
Im sure Med D etc don't help but the loss of the blockbuster, the drugs that fuel these companies is what has destroyed what we have come to know
8 interviews with different companies in healthcare and can't get invited to the second round. Competition is fierce!! You must be a friend with the hiring manager- all the the crap on your resume and in your brag book just gets you in the door.
Dont be so cocky, theres a 90% chance that if your cut youll never work in this industry again. The combined with the fact that the lunch serving, signature grabbing pharma rep gathers zero marketable skills, means that you will likely be starting youre career all over again at the very bottom. This means that you will be lucky to make even 30-40% of what you are currently making, and that would be hard to find. If you dont live in a top 5 city, it will be much worse.
No, you could be one of the lucky 10% whom lands back in pharma, but if you dont, the chances of landing a better job, or any job paying equivalent is low. First off, very few industries pay as well as the pharma industry, other health field like medical devices etc are very, very, very, averse to hiring sales reps, since pharma "sales" is not really sales. Just do a google search on "pharma reps need not apply"
Of course you should try hard, and turn over every stone, but part of turning over stone is dealing with the real reality that you will likely have to start all over again, in your career. Perhaps get yourself a year or two of real sales experience in copiers, enterprise car rental, AFLAC, life insurance companies, etc. The companies all hiring tons, because the turnover is massive. The turnover is massive because the jobs are grueling. Most drug reps would even have a difficult time working 8 hours in an office; they have been conditioned to working the 6Ts (Tues Thru Thursday Ten To Two).
Well you will likely have to get yourself some experience at these companies, then trade it in after a couple of years. Think about this question, and answer it honestly. What skills do you actually develop as a drug rep? How many ads have you seen, outside of pharma stating "5 years of pharma sales desired?
So yes, some will just move forward; some will luckily find another dying rep job in a few weeks; some will get the hookup in another industry, even medical devices. But the undeniable fact is that there were 100,000 drug rep positions in 2005, and only 70,000 in 2012. Thats 36,000 people with no place to go, and applying for the same jobs that you will be. For every rep that spouts off about how great things are since they have a friend of a friend with ten offers for double the money, there will be ten that would say that they have been unemployed for six months or more, or had to except basically an entry level job at half the pay or less.
So yes you should try hard to be part of the lucky 10%, but mentally you need to be prepared for what the overwhelming majority of you will face, that is thatyour financial life as you know will likely change forever.
Doesnt matter, those areas with higher demand will also have a higher supply of unemployed reps. The bottom line is that the getting another rep job will be like hitting the lottery, no matter where you live. The numbers simply do not lie!
There will be "opportunities" all over the country, the point of the OP (and he is definitely correct) is that for every "opportunity" there will be hundreds of applicants! This pure fact! The no way to "Kool Aid" ones self out of it. You should feel blessed even to get a screening call, let alone an interview!
You are 100% correct! I am shocked at how so many people put the heads in the sand, and want to blame the govt somehow for this. The bottomline line is there were too many reps in the first place; waaaaayyyy to many! Anything more than one rep selling a drug to a single doctor is pure waste. The chickens have simply come home to roost.
Lot more than 36,000 pharma jobs lost in 5 years--read
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/01...ar-for-pharmaceutical-jobs-will-2011-be-bett/
If you put aside the government and nonprofit organizations, the pharmaceutical sector had the dubious honor of topping all others when it came to U.S. job cuts in 2010. Outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas reports that, of the roughly 530,000 jobs eliminated in this country last year, nearly 54,000 were at pharmaceutical firms. Another 28,000 were announced in the health care/products sector.
That may sound rough, but things were even worse in 2009. Pharmaceutical companies were responsible for about 61,000 of the 1.29 million layoffs announced that year.
And if your over 50 you'll never find a job in any industry, that's a fact I've even had an old manager say be prepared to never work again, real nice. True though I've been out 15 months.
Let go on last round. 53 Years old. Got job in five months. Love my new job.
took about 11-12% pay cut. Benefits slightly better at pharma but not much. Not wondering if I'll have a job in 6 months is priceless though.
Also let go last time around at 61. I had a job by January, not in the industry. Pay a wash, benefits better, bonus structure much better. I also am secure in knowing I will have a job as long as I want to work, I don't have to sit by the phone waiting to be let go. I also was thrilled with the payout last year, nice investment in another business so I can continue to prosper when I retire.
I can't stand how Novartis is treating us. This is so wrong!!