I make about 160k a year but I can't take it anymore. What else can I do? I don't really have any skills. I'm still somewhat young (37)
Any ideas.
Any ideas.
Please help me. I want out. This industry is so unfulfilling
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If you really make $160k, then I highly recommend living a modest home, pay it off early and max out your 401k so you can retire when you get laid off at 55.
You can't make that kind of money out there. Be happy with what you have. It can't be that bad....
Get involved in other satisfying things in life. You will feel much better! Do things in the evening. Take classes. Join Toastmasters to network and improve your public speaking skills. When you vary you activities you will be strong and feel a very fulfilling life. I used to write and rehearse my speeches for Toastmasters when I was waiting to see docs or had some other down time in territory. You will look forward to the downtime and max out the options this job provides you. And yes as the previous poster wrote, save a lot of money. I am in the post 55 year group with many years invested and saved quite a bit and have also been downsized. But I don't have those financial worries. Good luck and enjoy! You have a lot to be thankful for.
I was at 130 k and in the industry for 20 years. I hated waking up in the morning. When it got to the point were the frustration and anxiety was so deep, I would lie awake all night dreading the next day.
I sat down with my family and explored our options. We down sized everything including house and expenditures. I got a job with State for 63 k a year.
It took about two years to complete my goal. I have been out for about a year now. I should have made the move 6 years ago. Today, I sleep like a baby.
I sat down with my family and explored our options. We down sized everything including house and expenditures. I got a job with State for 63 k a year.
It took about two years to complete my goal. I have been out for about a year now. I should have made the move 6 years ago. Today, I sleep like a baby.
Drug Dumper
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- Drug Dumper Aug 09, 2014 at 05:40: PM
Drug Dumper
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You're a baby. Pull up your big kid panties and go out there and look for another job.
It's that friggin' simple.
Tens of thousands of us have done it.
So quit whining....
I think this is a bullshit post FYI
Op here, it's not a bs post. I'm depressed and anxious and unfulfilled but i don't really have any other skills. Especially where I can make this kind if money. I know I'm lucky to make 160, but I hate the job. Hate it. I mean who real likes this job. It's horrible.
Meanwhile in Thailand an underage girl is prostituting herself to avoid starving to death.
Drug Dumper
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- Drug Dumper Aug 10, 2014 at 10:32: AM
Drug Dumper
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This is going to sound really mean, but if you haven't been able to save any of that $160K/year, then you've already proven you are not good at thinking on your own.
I highly suggest you go back to school at night where someone can tell you every day what to do.
I highly suggest you go back to school at night where someone can tell you every day what to do.
A job is a job why do you(and many like you) need to derive fulfillment from it? Are your personal lives that boring? A job is a means to an end. Play the game to the job they pay you to do and derive fulfillment from your life rather than searching for it through work. I can't imagine on most days you work more than 5 hours. Take that extra free time and do something that brings you enjoyment.
Exactly! Do you think most people in most jobs get 'fulfillment' out if it. Probably not. Do you think the lady who packages things at Amazon is expecting to be fulfilled from her job? A generation or so ago do you think the guy putting lug nuts on GM cars for 8 hours a day was 'fulfilled'. Probably not. He was fulfilled that he could out a roof over his family's head and food in the table. I'm really miffed as to when the shift from a job being a paycheck to being the definition of who we are and how we gain fulfillment. Very odd. It's hard to believe but people used to find fulfillment in playing in an afterwork softball league or coaching their kids sports teams, or going to the library to read. Now it's all about defining yourself through your what you do for a living. Those who fall into that category must be very boring people.
Use dictionary jackass it also means annoyed.
Like it or not, America is a work-obsessed culture, where we are defined by what we
do. Especially men. I know all these folks mean well when they tell the poster to find things outside of work to bring fulfillment, but it really doesn't work that way people...Pharma sales, for whatever reason, can make you as crazy as a loon...I mean, the job can really send you off the deep end...Probably, because so much of it is made up, false, and simply has no logic or reality attached to it. It messes with your head in that way...
Sorry, but all your suggestions won't help the guy, no matter how well intentioned...I was making similar money, and quit pharma sales because it was making me nuts...I now make about a quarter of what I made in pharma, working about 5 times harder...
Still, I just had to let the whole thing go...the money was not worth my sanity.
Op- I was in the same boat and thought the same as you. All reps agree that this job is unfulfilling and most of us have to put up with a micromanaging pharma drone. But the money and benefits are good so we all stay.
My guess is that you are worried that you won't be able to find another job making $160,000. You're probably right, but so what. If you really make $160,00, you should be able to save enough cash to cover living expenses for a few months. Once you do this, you have enough cash to know that you'll be fine for a few months. This reduces anxiety about losing your job. Don't quit though. Most pharma companies have excellent severance packages (if u work for a company that pays $160,000, then they probably have a great severance program).
The pharma rep job is void of creative thinking and the longer you're in, the dumber you get. That's why you think you don't have skills. Once you leave pharma and start thinking again, you'll start thinking of different career options.
Quit whining about your situation and do something about it.
My guess is that you are worried that you won't be able to find another job making $160,000. You're probably right, but so what. If you really make $160,00, you should be able to save enough cash to cover living expenses for a few months. Once you do this, you have enough cash to know that you'll be fine for a few months. This reduces anxiety about losing your job. Don't quit though. Most pharma companies have excellent severance packages (if u work for a company that pays $160,000, then they probably have a great severance program).
The pharma rep job is void of creative thinking and the longer you're in, the dumber you get. That's why you think you don't have skills. Once you leave pharma and start thinking again, you'll start thinking of different career options.
Quit whining about your situation and do something about it.
I'm not saying that America is not a work obsessed culture but you can chosoe to not be a part of the obsession or not. Lot's of people are obsessed with lots of things in this country, Justin Beiber, the Kardashians, Honey Booboo, you name, but I, as I'm sure most of you, avoid those obsessions. It's about changing your outlook not just the job. Sure this job is not for everyone and there are lot of things broken especially at the primary care, mass marketed, big pharmas. The comedian George Carlin has a great quote that goes something like this..."Oh you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar". I share this because people in all jobs have always hated them. That's why they call it work and not 'fun'.
Here is the advice I have, if you are in primary care or a job that samples drugs get out. Work hard to transition to a speciality and/or a company that you have an interest in and have heard good things about. This means looking outside the top 50 to 100 big pharmas. There are plenty of small start up biotech's out there. Do some work and look. What you will find is an entirely different operating model. Big Pharma sales is broken and smart companies know that. I haven't had call reporting in 15 years for example. Next do the job, no matter what between 9-5 or 8-4 whatever works for you. Do not do admin on the weekends, or after work hours. Finally on those days you get done early do something for yourself. Take a walk, do an activity or simple run some personal errands. You are not 'cheating' in doing so. I've worked both in the home office and the field and I can tell you this from 20 years of experience, that in most home office settings there is no hard start or finish time unless you have a meeting. Plenty of people roll in at 9:30 do their work and take their kids to the dentist. We in the field have this made up notion that these people are in the office 8-5...I've been inside with 4 different company large and small and they all operated the same...including one of the biggest. So don't feel guilty when you finish you day at three and go grocery shopping. Today's corporate is more about results than hours logged.
Give the above a shot and see if you viewed your job and the industry differently. I have plenty of friends in a variety of industries, some that would even be called glamorous and others that you would assume would be very fulfilling, others where they are the owner and what I have found is they are all still jobs all with their own unique set of problems...where they all find their happiness and fulfillment is outside of work...the way it should be.
if you are still truly miserable, identify your passion and figure out a way to make a living out of it.
Good luck and I hope this helps.
I totally get it. I empathize with you. I am in my early 40s now, but I was in a similar situation to you a few years back. I live in the Midwest where the 130K I make is above average. I am the breadwinner of our family, and my husband has grown VERY accustomed to our lifestyle. I told him I cannot do this for the next 20 years...I will go crazy. People who work in other industries don't understand the madness that goes on in pharma. So we went back and forth, had many talks, and over time he at least understood that with Obamacare the pharma gravy train wasn't going to last forever.
So we planned for the end; we quadrupled our mortgage payments for the last 2 years. We paid everything off! I am now in the position that I can walk away at anytime. Hopefully I will get a package in the next 6-12 months when the company I work for downsizes.
Start planning today and tomorrow will look a lot brighter!
So we planned for the end; we quadrupled our mortgage payments for the last 2 years. We paid everything off! I am now in the position that I can walk away at anytime. Hopefully I will get a package in the next 6-12 months when the company I work for downsizes.
Start planning today and tomorrow will look a lot brighter!
Smart move. Out of curiosity why do you think their is any more 'madness' is this industry versus others?
Yes, pay off debt, downsize, live off of half your income and BE HAPPY. It's possible. Better on your limits than theirs. You are a minute away from 40. Save now and make a plan it will give you purpose. Go write a book, start an LLC helping others do something you love, get a hobby. There's your purpose. Working to live, not living to work. Then GET OUT.
Im in advertising sales. Talk about madness and insanity and just a downright shitty job!!! I would do anything to get into medical sales or pharma but I have heard so much bad stuff about pharma don't think that's the right move. I've seen many people move out of advertising sales into medical so I am thinking there is hope. I'm to the point all think all sales jobs simply suck At least you people make GOOD MONEY for not working that hard. I have to bust my ass to make what you people make and it's not fun. Suck it up and start a business or something but at least be happy you make good money. 160k I'd be thrilled.
Nobody making 160k in pharma. is complaining. OP is a liar.