Over 50 with 20 Years in Pharma

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anonymous

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With all this going on here at Novartis, if you've been in the industry at or around 20 years with a salary at or probably above $110K or higher, you will be lucky to land contract work in the low to mid $80's. Good luck at this point since age-ism is real in our once glamorous industry. The "30 somethings" are here and willing to do what we did for anything in the $70K range. Oh and the hiring managers and HR folks with Pharma companies know it as well. The call it "training monkeys"......
 




anonymous said:
With all this going on here at Novartis, if you've been in the industry at or around 20 years with a salary at or probably above $110K or higher, you will be lucky to land contract work in the low to mid $80's. Good luck at this point since age-ism is real in our once glamorous industry. The "30 somethings" are here and willing to do what we did for anything in the $70K range. Oh and the hiring managers and HR folks with Pharma companies know it as well. The call it "training monkeys"......
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Great story bro
 




Sadly the trend to hire pretty boys and girls with no brains and willingness to follow whatever their leaders tell them has been the trend for 15 years. All they have to do is play that video, or read that brochure. Never any discussion of disease state or pharmacology because they have no idea what either entail.
 




anonymous said:
With all this going on here at Novartis, if you've been in the industry at or around 20 years with a salary at or probably above $110K or higher, you will be lucky to land contract work in the low to mid $80's. Good luck at this point since age-ism is real in our once glamorous industry. The "30 somethings" are here and willing to do what we did for anything in the $70K range. Oh and the hiring managers and HR folks with Pharma companies know it as well. The call it "training monkeys"......
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You honestly think 30 something’s will work for $70k. Guess what? With less than 2 years experience, a college grad can make that in salary pretty easily in a sales job outside of Pharma. I have 2 children who went to average state universities and are both making that much. Many of their friends are as well. These are mid twenty something’s, not 30 something’s.

You are majorly out of touch with what today’s market offers…..

QUOTE="anonymous, post: 6695979"]With all this going on here at Novartis, if you've been in the industry at or around 20 years with a salary at or probably above $110K or higher, you will be lucky to land contract work in the low to mid $80's. Good luck at this point since age-ism is real in our once glamorous industry. The "30 somethings" are here and willing to do what we did for anything in the $70K range. Oh and the hiring managers and HR folks with Pharma companies know it as well. The call it "training monkeys"......[/QUOTE]
 




anonymous said:
[


You honestly think 30 something’s will work for $70k. Guess what? With less than 2 years experience, a college grad can make that in salary pretty easily in a sales job outside of Pharma. I have 2 children who went to average state universities and are both making that much. Many of their friends are as well. These are mid twenty something’s, not 30 something’s.

You are majorly out of touch with what today’s market offers…..

QUOTE="anonymous, post: 6695979"]With all this going on here at Novartis, if you've been in the industry at or around 20 years with a salary at or probably above $110K or higher, you will be lucky to land contract work in the low to mid $80's. Good luck at this point since age-ism is real in our once glamorous industry. The "30 somethings" are here and willing to do what we did for anything in the $70K range. Oh and the hiring managers and HR folks with Pharma companies know it as well. The call it "training monkeys"......
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[/QUOTE]

100% agreed. If you have 20+ years of experience and MD/PHD you are still in extreme demand and you are making director level salary at $200k-$300k depending on the company.

$70k is exactly what you said, 2+ year of college comp level.
 




anonymous said:
With all this going on here at Novartis, if you've been in the industry at or around 20 years with a salary at or probably above $110K or higher, you will be lucky to land contract work in the low to mid $80's. Good luck at this point since age-ism is real in our once glamorous industry. The "30 somethings" are here and willing to do what we did for anything in the $70K range. Oh and the hiring managers and HR folks with Pharma companies know it as well. The call it "training monkeys"......
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You are DUMB. I’m in Oncology. I socialize with some of my customers outside of work and have many of their personal cell phone numbers giving me access when I need it. Things younger reps will NEVER have. If Novartis decides to cut cut me I will goto DIRECT competitors to our current drugs and make EVEN MORE money for 3-5 more years and then retire in style. Nice try though PLAYER.
 




anonymous said:
You are DUMB. I’m in Oncology. I socialize with some of my customers outside of work and have many of their personal cell phone numbers giving me access when I need it. Things younger reps will NEVER have. If Novartis decides to cut cut me I will goto DIRECT competitors to our current drugs and make EVEN MORE money for 3-5 more years and then retire in style. Nice try though PLAYER.
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I wasn't sure if I should believe you, then I saw the way you used all-caps for emphasis. Only the true mensa scholars go all caps to illustrate a point. Now we know that you're not only being forthright, but you're brilliant as well!
Love your contributions - thanks for sharing.
 




anonymous said:
I wasn't sure if I should believe you, then I saw the way you used all-caps for emphasis. Only the true mensa scholars go all caps to illustrate a point. Now we know that you're not only being forthright, but you're brilliant as well!
Love your contributions - thanks for sharing.
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YOU’RE WELCOME
 




Those under 40 in true specialty sales are definitely the minority. If all you can get is cheap contract work, then the problem is your networking and interviewing skills, not your age. Stop making excuses.
 




I started with Marion Labs in 1983 for $12,500/yr. Plus $3-4,000 a year bonus. Lived in Fl.
Then moved to Virginia in 1994, and when Marion Merrell Dow got bought out in 1996 I sold for Parke-Davis at $58K/yr plus $6-15K year bonus. Then they got bought by Pfizer Pjerks, and went to work for AZ, salary of $75K a year plus $10-15K year bonus. Made a lot of money the last 15 years with AZ.
 




I think the point to all this as well as what the original OP was trying to convey was, make as much money as you can before the age of 50, invest wisely, maximize your 401K the best you can and don't appear to be a job hopper every 2-3 years. If a layoff happens while in your 50's as opposed to being in your young 30's / early 40's, interviewing against younger lesser compensated talent always goes against the 20 year pharma veteran who is seen as an over priced career rep with nothing left in the tank. It's all about perception.
 




















anonymous said:
Biotech companies want older seasoned reps . Manages wants reps to hit the pavement running without babysitting. 50 is not old for most biotech companies .
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Hilarious how people keep throwing the term out "Biotech" around. Hell there are companies out there that sell CGRPs, monoclonal antibodies, basic injectables and other products that were once novel and now relegate their sales forces to call on primary care. Monkeys can do this job!
 




anonymous said:
I started with Marion Labs in 1983 for $12,500/yr. Plus $3-4,000 a year bonus. Lived in Fl.
Then moved to Virginia in 1994, and when Marion Merrell Dow got bought out in 1996 I sold for Parke-Davis at $58K/yr plus $6-15K year bonus. Then they got bought by Pfizer Pjerks, and went to work for AZ, salary of $75K a year plus $10-15K year bonus. Made a lot of money the last 15 years with AZ.
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You are all idiots…

I got hired out of college at 23 w/ a bio degree at $50k/year on a contract role…
Played that for 1.5 years, then landed a direct job at $65k/year…
Won a Chairman’s award there and bailed on them to get additional biologic experience on a contract role for $72k/year…
Got rolled over into direct hire at $85k/year…
Got raised from $85k to $100k then $120k in consecutive years… won another award while at that company…
And now I played that into a specialty rare disease job making $175k/year…
I now regularly get offers from many start-up & rare disease recruiters offering to pay me up to $200k & over while I’m waiting for the right opportunity…

hello, I am 30 years old and I have >7 years of experience in Pharma/“Biotech”

do your job well and you will be rewarded, simply put… be a blood sucking leech and provide nothing to your organization in terms of sales & ideas, you will be treated as disposable garbage like many of the “50-something’s” I have worked with… it’s about quality, not quantity in this industry… 20 years of experience doing jack gets you jack for respect…
 




anonymous said:
You are all idiots…

I got hired out of college at 23 w/ a bio degree at $50k/year on a contract role…
Played that for 1.5 years, then landed a direct job at $65k/year…
Won a Chairman’s award there and bailed on them to get additional biologic experience on a contract role for $72k/year…
Got rolled over into direct hire at $85k/year…
Got raised from $85k to $100k then $120k in consecutive years… won another award while at that company…
And now I played that into a specialty rare disease job making $175k/year…
I now regularly get offers from many start-up & rare disease recruiters offering to pay me up to $200k & over while I’m waiting for the right opportunity…

hello, I am 30 years old and I have >7 years of experience in Pharma/“Biotech”

do your job well and you will be rewarded, simply put… be a blood sucking leech and provide nothing to your organization in terms of sales & ideas, you will be treated as disposable garbage like many of the “50-something’s” I have worked with… it’s about quality, not quantity in this industry… 20 years of experience doing jack gets you jack for respect…
Click to expand...

Congrats on all your success. Many companies would be honored to have your work ethic and drive, but you are still 30.. Check back here in 20 years if you are in the unfortunate situation of being displaced in a layoff. Oh I know, you're only planning on doing this Pharma gig a few more years and will move on or retire at 40 something.
 




anonymous said:
You are all idiots…

I got hired out of college at 23 w/ a bio degree at $50k/year on a contract role…
Played that for 1.5 years, then landed a direct job at $65k/year…
Won a Chairman’s award there and bailed on them to get additional biologic experience on a contract role for $72k/year…
Got rolled over into direct hire at $85k/year…
Got raised from $85k to $100k then $120k in consecutive years… won another award while at that company…
And now I played that into a specialty rare disease job making $175k/year…
I now regularly get offers from many start-up & rare disease recruiters offering to pay me up to $200k & over while I’m waiting for the right opportunity…

hello, I am 30 years old and I have >7 years of experience in Pharma/“Biotech”

do your job well and you will be rewarded, simply put… be a blood sucking leech and provide nothing to your organization in terms of sales & ideas, you will be treated as disposable garbage like many of the “50-something’s” I have worked with… it’s about quality, not quantity in this industry… 20 years of experience doing jack gets you jack for respect…
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your outstanding achievements with us. It was extremely impressive indeed. You must have had good managers who have truly valued you hence were able to get acknowledged for your work over the years. Let's face it! There are a lot of bad managers in Novartis who would misuse their power by setting one to fail unless you brown nose and prioritise their agenda and keep silent about their hidden motives because they know their peers at HR/P&O, management/leadership team will defend them blindly.
 




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