I hope that eventually I will get out..something will come along. I have applied to a lot of positions at hospitals and at the medical school hospital where I live. I would love to do research or monitor trials. I think my resume is getting passed over because they see what I do now and do not think I would be happy making less money. Ya know everyone who is not in pharma or never has been thinks having a pharma sales job is like the holy grail or something and why would you want to leave. If I can actually ever get in front of someone I am sure I can "sale" then on why I want to leave....!!!
Embarrassed to be in pharma
- Thread starter Anonymous
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You mean "sell"? Actually, put that you are willing to start at entry level pay in your cover letter.
I was so excited to get my first Pharma job. Then I realized it wasnt all that great and there was a lot of corruption. I was shocked that when I started to look into other jobs like medical/surgical sales that no one wanted to have anything to do with a drug rep. i had several interviews flat out tell me that they hate the industry and they dont believe it is truely a sales job. I feel very lucky to have gotten out. I am in med sales now and it is a totally different world
what kind of med sales....I am dying to get out. You are very right. Pharm reps are kind of laughing stock to some.
Look, people can knock pharma as long as they want. Let the media, your doctors, and your friends make fun of you and this position. At the end of the day, we get the last laugh. We make more money per hour than anyone who makes fun of us besides maybe leno on the tonight show. WHO CARES?!?! The economy sucks and most of us (if we have half a brain) will have enough money for retirement, which is more than I can say for most of America.
You are right. FYI to those thinking about med sales...you work twice as hard for the same dough, four times as hard for twice...kiss your family and your life goodbye, or quit bitching and do your job.
You are correct, sales and marketing hucksters have given this once very respected industry a black eye. It was bad enough when ignorant management began hiring unqualified reps to parrott the company lies. It went furthur into the sewer when those pill hustling ads went on TV then sunk to its present bottom with the ED (your so called "4-hr erection" )ads.
Can it/will it ever recover?
I doubt it. From what I see (a couple years out of the busness), the folks running the pharmaceutical companies in America couldn't sell ice water to folks on the equator without hiring 5000 ex-cheerleaders, setting up "pod" sales teams and spending eighty-eight trillion on some computer program to identify "high target" water drinkers.
They've gotten away from what made this business successful for years.
Yeah, they'll still make money, but sooner-or-later, they won't be able to replace those "blockbusters" and "me-toos" that have been making money ... and then the politicians (looking for an easy bogie man) will lower the boom.
The big shots will, of course, take their money and move on. The poor slobs like us in the field will be the ones left high and dry.
What's more embarrassing? Saying you are in pharma sales or that you are unemployed! Time for a reality check!
What the hell is wrong with you people. If you are ashamed of what you do GET OUT!. The products today are eons ahead of those 15 years ago. Blood pressure was controlled by reserpine, and alphablockers, along with CNS products. They had horrific side effects. Same with diabetes. Today, people live with these disease states without the side effect profile that made their lives miserable. The industry researched, developed, and yes---marketed superior products. If you are so ashamed, be a lawyer. You can take money from one pocket and put it in another (tremendous benefit to society).
I don't like the television adds, but I like a lot less on TV in general. The job is what you make it. I assure you there are many physicians who like some of the reps (not all of them) that call on them. Selling copiers? Selling cars? Selling Lab Equipment? Sales is sales. The most unfulfilled reps are the simple sample droppers.
Selling products that benefit our community? What a downer.
Finally- an intelligent post on this moronic board.
Wow - your friend declared bankruptcy after making that kind of cash? Did he blow it all and not save a dime?
As a doc who occasionally visits this board, you all should not be as as ashamed of yourselves as your companies. I just got "detailed" by the Imitrex rep about their "new and improved" drug which is much, much, more expensive and has Imitrex AND naprosyn combined! WOW! I had trouble controlling myself!
This has got to be humiliating for the reps! I felt sorry for them.
Have the companies no shame what-so-ever?
(And I know I will soon be seeing patients referred to me who are now taking this GREAT new and expensive drug!)
For shame, on the company and the stupid doctors! But not on you guys, but what are you going to do.
This has got to be humiliating for the reps! I felt sorry for them.
Have the companies no shame what-so-ever?
(And I know I will soon be seeing patients referred to me who are now taking this GREAT new and expensive drug!)
For shame, on the company and the stupid doctors! But not on you guys, but what are you going to do.
I am a transition success story! So it's possible but it is a serious challenge.
In 2005 I left a Specialty Position which provided me with an income of about $120,000 per year. I was sick of not being able to advance, not being respected. I was one of those types that was very clinical and tried to sell to the correct patient type.
I left the industry-period-I had no job and I dedicated myself to finding a new job. I was headed towards Medical Equipment (where I actually started my career). No one would even consider me and it sucked, especially since my first job was with Smith and Nephew! I got all the same negative responses that have been stated in previous posts.
My plan had been to stay at the same pay range which after 3 months of interviewing and no hard offer on the table became obsolete.
As concern turned to despair I went to work for an organization that was affiliated with the FDA. My job was as a telemarketer that bought in $48,000 per year. Yes that's right-I thought my pharma job sucked
! I hadn't made this little since I graduated college 15 years prior. Plus I had not had an income for 5 months during my job search.
Let me tell you folk, I held a second job on the side in a retail store just to keep my house; I took public transportation everywhere because I didn't have a car. Every luxury I knew left my life. I worked 24/7.
For those of you who know the politics of trying to get noticed or promoted in pharma and for those of you who actually did learn how to sell in Pharma training-this is where luck and hard work will kick in. About 3 months into my new job, my boss, as well as everyone up to the CEO of the organization was thrilled with my success in my telemarketing role. I was called in to meet with the CEO and I was promoted to an outside sales position the next month where the base salary was now $65,000 plus some perks (Thank god at least I was on my way).
Over the next year I called on every skill set I ever learned in the past. Today (I have been with the organization almost 2 years), I am the Director of Sales and I am being groomed to become the new VP of Sales and Marketing. I have surpassed my original income level and I know that I can now work for any company.
As you can tell by the length of this post the journey was anything but easy. It was humiliating and hard but it proves that you can move on. Hopefully my post brings attention to the pitfalls as well as the rewards of changing your pharma career path and hopefully my story gave you a good laugh on the way.
In 2005 I left a Specialty Position which provided me with an income of about $120,000 per year. I was sick of not being able to advance, not being respected. I was one of those types that was very clinical and tried to sell to the correct patient type.
I left the industry-period-I had no job and I dedicated myself to finding a new job. I was headed towards Medical Equipment (where I actually started my career). No one would even consider me and it sucked, especially since my first job was with Smith and Nephew! I got all the same negative responses that have been stated in previous posts.
My plan had been to stay at the same pay range which after 3 months of interviewing and no hard offer on the table became obsolete.
As concern turned to despair I went to work for an organization that was affiliated with the FDA. My job was as a telemarketer that bought in $48,000 per year. Yes that's right-I thought my pharma job sucked
! I hadn't made this little since I graduated college 15 years prior. Plus I had not had an income for 5 months during my job search.Let me tell you folk, I held a second job on the side in a retail store just to keep my house; I took public transportation everywhere because I didn't have a car. Every luxury I knew left my life. I worked 24/7.
For those of you who know the politics of trying to get noticed or promoted in pharma and for those of you who actually did learn how to sell in Pharma training-this is where luck and hard work will kick in. About 3 months into my new job, my boss, as well as everyone up to the CEO of the organization was thrilled with my success in my telemarketing role. I was called in to meet with the CEO and I was promoted to an outside sales position the next month where the base salary was now $65,000 plus some perks (Thank god at least I was on my way).
Over the next year I called on every skill set I ever learned in the past. Today (I have been with the organization almost 2 years), I am the Director of Sales and I am being groomed to become the new VP of Sales and Marketing. I have surpassed my original income level and I know that I can now work for any company.
As you can tell by the length of this post the journey was anything but easy. It was humiliating and hard but it proves that you can move on. Hopefully my post brings attention to the pitfalls as well as the rewards of changing your pharma career path and hopefully my story gave you a good laugh on the way.
That is the theme here doc, the huckster sales folks hire anyone but someone with a science background so they can be programmed to lie through their teeth about a new "wonder drug' i.e, "me too drug".
I'm so embarassed to be in this industry that when faced with the inevitable, "So what are you doing for a living these days?" question at my recent high school reunion, I said "Sales and Real Estate". I'm a landlord on the side, and pharma makes up about 90% of my income, but I would only elaborate on the real estate. I probably earn more than 80% of my graduating class, but I keep this gig on the down low.
I hear you loud and clear...have my reunion coming up and am dreading the question...i guess i am gonna just say "medical sales" and pray that it goes no further than that...the problem is i have been in pharma sales so long that i can't really get out...(Although i will probably be pushed out soon cuz I am pushing 50, and have been in this game too long.) not sure how the hell i am going to make a living after this? Quiznos may be my only option...or some other dopey franchise "job-in-a-box."