This is real info - regional is coming to area next week to hold a meeting with cv1 and 2, we were not invited to this. My counterpart read email to me, they will be going over new sales info. No one knows what’s going on but it’s obvious changes are coming and fast.Yada, yada any 'real information?'
If we are being let go, shame on pdi for not letting us know. I am wondering if they know something with all this vacation day nonsense.I suppose it's fair to assume that if we aren't a voice in that conversation, that we are likely one of the topics it? I guess we'll find out soon enough. I wonder if they would drop us prior to the meeting, because if there is still this much mystery swirling around by then, no amount of motivational BS will overcome it.
A question for serious replies only please...what else are we qualified to do outside of pharma? Where do the people who get out go? I would gladly take a pay cut to start something new but unfortunately being a single-parent precludes that. Other than insurance or real-estate, what's next as the musical-chair jobs dwindle down to nothing? I know this is a red meat question for the snarky, crop dusting, bomb throwers on this site. I also know it's a question that has been asked in many ways before. So tired of all of it...any real ideas floating around out there?
Seriously, you are qualified to do anything and everything you want. That pharma experience isn't even considered sales experience anymore so just pick something you always wanted to do and do it. Unfortunately pharma isn't even a good qualification for a college grad anymore because all you are doing is dropping samples, lying about calls and telling your NVS manager what they want to hear. That is not real world at all and is pretty much the definition of a remedial job not made for anyone that has confidence in themselves.
I can tell you many stories about former reps who left the industry and never returned. Almost all the ones I knew initially attempted to return to the industry after being laid off, but over time they became frustrated with not getting offers so they ended up doing something else. Going back to the mid-2000's when Schering did a big layoff, one rep I knew from the field was a former nurse (RN) and she returned to the nursing field. Another went to work for his family business. Another, in California, went into business with several of his friends and started a brewery. One rep I used to work with, also in California, had been laid off twice during the last 3 years he was in the industry and could not get an offer after a year of attempting to get back in. Out of desperation, he took a 1099 position with a company that sold pre-packaged generic pharmaceuticals for dispensing. He didn't make much money, but he learned the business and after a year he quit and started his own pre-packaged generics dispensing business - it's been 7 years since he started that business (his 1-man operation) and he's thriving - he has over 60 accounts and claims that he is making more money than he ever did in Pharma. Another rep I know did the same - he last worked in the industry in 2012 and was laid off from Forest Pharmaceuticals. He started his own business (another 1-man operation) selling lab tests and compounded pain creams. It's 5 years later and he's doing well for himself. All of these people have told me that they would never return to our industry to face all the insecurity and toxic corporate work environments even if it meant more money - they said they couldn't do it again. I know of others doing insurance work, working for American Express, working as realtors. Another former colleague has worked for Healogics and manages one of their wound care centers (he last worked in the industry in 2011 after being caught up in a big lay off at a mid-sized pharma company that he had worked at for 7 years). Another works for "A Place for Mom" where he does sales and marketing for that assisted living company - admits he makes less money than in pharma, but is much happier. Again, the former reps I know feel sorry for those of us still in this industry and have told me they are so happy to be out of it and would never return even if given the opportunity.That's good advice. I feel like I work for Dunder-Mifflin lol. Adapt or die I guess. Do any or you know friends, family etc., that got out of pharma and didn't look back? What did they do? Ultimately our own choices that wil will guide us, but it's nice to hear input from others in the industry. In my experience, anyone outside of pharma just scratches their head when you try to explain it.
Another thing to consider is that our industry is in decline - it's shrinking! There are half as many pharmaceutical reps in the industry today vs 10 years ago. It's all moving toward specialty drugs and rare disease drugs. That's where it's been heading and will continue to go. Large sales forces are not needed for selling specialty and rare disease drugs. Territory geographies are typically quite large. And in selling in these spaces usually requires an "account-based" selling style which is not the typical "metrics-oriented" pharma selling style. In my last job, a specialty position where we did account-based selling, if I met with one or two docs in a day, or a nurse manager, that would be considered a productive day. It was not about how many calls you made per day, it was about "did you advance the sale?". A lot of work was done at home (phone calls, setting up appointments, etc.) and behind the scenes. The reality is that as the industry shrinks there will be less and less rep jobs available - large numbers of reps simply are not needed. And those that remain will have competed for fewer and fewer jobs. And those jobs will more and more be specialty positions that involve account-based selling. And those jobs are not easy to secure - companies can afford to be very selective and they will be (note: currently there is an over-supply of experienced pharma reps in the job market). Contract work will continue, but will remain as unstable as ever. Many reps will be forced out of the industry eventually. Read this recent article I have linked here to gain more insight as to where we are headed as an industry:
https://endpts.com/pharmas-broken-business-model-an-industry-on-the-brink-of-terminal-decline/
