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Since 2001 many major pharmaceutical companies have been restructuring their sales forces and laying off reps to reduce redundancies, improve efficiencies and cut costs. This downsizing, which likely peaked about a year ago, is mainly in response to the projected loss of sales revenue as many blockbuster drugs lose patent protection over the next three years or so. For example, products like Lipitor, Plavix and Zyprexa that currently generate more than $142 billion in sales are expected to face stiff generic competition in the very near future.

Nevertheless, while many pharma companies are restructuring their sales forces, there is a growing demand for new reps at speciality pharma, biotechnology and generic drug companies. Unlike their pharma counterparts, the new reps are more specialized and require additional training to better understand how to maximize sales of increasingly complex products in both developed and emerging life sciences markets.  

One organization, National Association of Pharmaceutical Representatives (NAPRx), a trade organization that provides continuing education, certifications and career development for its members is helping to usher in the era of pharmaceutical and biotechnology sales reps. To that end, NAPRx has embarked on an aggressive advertising campaign to help to recruit and match sales representative with drug companies who are hiring. Many sales jobs are open throughout the US. Jobs are available in small cities like Littlerock, AR, Milwaukee, WI and Baton Rouge, LA as well as larger cities including Pittsburgh, PA, Los Angeles, CA,Boston, MA, Honolulu, HI and San Diego, CA. Starting salaries range from $65 to $85 K. For more information about other job openings please visit the BioJobCenter. 

In a previous blog post, I suggested that a career as a sales rep may represent viable alternate career opportunities for PhD-trained scientists who have an interest in sales and aren’t averse to earning a living selling drugs to physicians and other healthcare providers. Because of the complexity of newly approved biotechnology and speciality pharma products, drug makers are beginning to understand that persons with a strong background in molecular biology, immunology and pharmacology will be required to help to sell their products to physicians, hospitals and other healthcare organizations. That said, sespite the recent reductions in R &D for new drug development, there will always be a need for drug makers to sell their products! After all, selling drugs is how these companies remain in business. 

For more information about a career in pharmaceutical and biotechnology sales please visit the NAPRx website.

Until next time... 

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!

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While US unemployment continues to hover around 9.4 percent, there appears to be a steady increase in the number of companies that are posting ads on job boards like Simply Hired and Indeed.com. According to an article in the NY Times “A Sign of Hope for More Hiring” job postings at Simple Hired roe over 50 percent last year over 2009 and increased almost 70 percent in December 2010 as compared with December 2009.

The situation at Indeed.com, a major competitor of Simply Hired, appears to be similar. That is, there has been a substantial and continual increase in the number companies posting jobs on the Indeed.com website.

However, while this is great news, it isn’t exactly clear what the increased job postings mean. For example, some industries are hiring at a greater rate than others (see below).

Not surprisingly, the greatest increases are occurring in some of the industries that were hit hardest by the recession, e.g. transportation, automotive, legal, manufacturing and financial services. Hiring in healthcare, technology and education remains steady and respectable. On the other hand, two industries that have actually lost ground are media and the military. For a more comprehensive analysis check out the white paper on 2010 Employment Trends created by Simply Hired. Although things look like they may be picking up, the sad reality is that workers who have been unemployed for months have a much harder time landing new jobs as compared with those who have been unemployed for weeks. Unfortunately, many of the workers that make up the 9.4 percent unemployed, have been out of work for six months or more. Further, the availability of jobs will vary by industry and perhaps more importantly geography. Data from Simply Hired suggests that employment opportunities are greater in Washington, D.C, Baltimore, Boston, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St Paul, San Francisco and Denver as compared with Miami, Detroit, Sacramento and LA. The availability of healthcare jobs appears to be greatest in San Francisco and San Antonio. Interestingly, many of the new job postings are coming from smaller companies rather than those that constitute the Fortune 500 list. This means that former corporate employees may want to focus their job searches on smaller companies rather than continue to seek employment at big name companies.

Despite these encouraging and optimistic signs, the road ahead for most R&D scientists and pharmaceutical sales reps looks pretty bleak. That said, now may be a good time to consider alternate career options or possibly going back to school for retraining. To that end, data from Indeed.com suggests that learning HTML 5, the new, highly anticipated Web development language which may make Flash obsolete, may be the ticket to guaranteed employment. Knowledge of HTML 5 in addition to experience with mobile apps, the Android operating system and Twitter skills that are highly coveted by employers in many industries. Finally, if more school or retraining is not in your future, you may want to consider switching industries, moving to a different type of job in your discipline or, if possible, relocating!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!

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A post on the Pharmalot blog today reports that spending on direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising came bounding back in the third quarter —rising 15 percent to $1.16 billion, according to DTC Perspectives (which cited data from TNS Media Intelligence).

The increased spending marks the first quarterly gain in nearly two years after slumping 6.4 percent earlier this year from January to June. According to the Pharmalot post, “Internet spending increased the most—more than tripling between January and September to $221 million (display ads only). And, more ads were placed in newspapers, which showed a 25 percent gain to $104 million during the same period.

During the first nine months of 2009 the leading advertisers by brand (each of which spent more than $125 million each) were:

1. Lipitor (Pfizer)
2. Abilify (Bristol-Myers Squibb/Otsuka America)
3. Cymbalta (Eli Lilly) and
4. Advair (GlaxoSmithKline)

Could this be a sign that the pharmaceutical industry thinks that the economy is improving? Alternatively, maybe pharma marketers think that people might become increasingly stressed by the economy and drugs like Abilify and Cymbalta (a variety of psychiatric indications) and Lipitor (high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease ands stroke) may be in greater demand. And finally, from a completely cynical perspective, maybe drug makers want to sell as many drugs as possible before healthcare reform and possible price controls kick in?

Hat tip to Ed!!!!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!

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