Some Tips on Finding a Job in a Tough Job Market

Peggy McKee, the medical sales recruiter, offers some words of wisdom and advice on finding a job in today’s challenging job market. Read and learn….Hat tip to Peggy for the insights!

We’re in some tough economic times right now, and that can make it that much harder to find a job.  To help you out, Fortune magazine has 7 tips for job hunting in a tougher market.  They include:

1.  Request more face-to-face meetings.  Get your face in front of recruiters and your network instead of relying on e-mails and phone calls.  It will make more of an impression. 

2.  Step up your job-search activity.  This makes sense.  In many ways, a job search (like sales calls) is a numbers game.  Increase your odds by increasing your activity.

3.  Try to be as flexible as you can.  Consider contract work, part-time work, or starting at a lesser salary than you were hoping for.  It gets your foot in the door for other opportunities later.  Besides, less money is better than no money, right?

4.  Consider relocating.  Top jobs aren’t always where you are.  I love the idea of relocating and expanding your horizons…trying something new. 

5.  Scour the hidden job market.  Many jobs aren’t advertised.  Be proactive.  Use your network.  Or contact employers directly.  They might appreciate your initiative.

6.  Spend very little of your time on Internet job boards and help-wanted ads.  Look, but don’t focus.  Everyone’s looking here. 

7.  Take advantage of social networking sites.  Personally, I love LinkedIn.  But also, use MySpace or Facebook as part of your networking tactics.  Just be careful to keep it professional. 

Here are some more great tips to heat up your job search.  One last great idea (from the Sales Hub):   

You never know when or where you may meet a prospective employer. Memory sticks, flash-drives, or email versions of your resume on your Blackberry, Treo or iPhone are must-haves in today’s volatile employment market.

Until next time,

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

Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Co Buy's Generic Manufacturer Ranbaxy

Daiichi Sankyo will buy a controlling interest (50.1%) of Ranbaxy, India’s third largest generic manufacturer.  Daiichi will pay as much as $4.6 billion for the opportunity.

The deal will put Daiichi Sankyo into ninth place in the $120 billion generic-drug market behind leaders Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Novartis AG's Sandoz unit. According to the report “Daiichi Sankyo is mimicking strategies pursued by Novartis and Johnson & Johnson to weather turbulence in the branded-drug industry by diversifying into other markets. The acquisition also gives the Japanese company more reach in emerging regions including India, China and Eastern Europe. “

I think after this deal, that other pharmaceutical companies may consider buying profitable generics businesses. I am not sure why it has taken innovator companies so long to realize that it is much easier to join (buy??) rather than compete with generic manufacturers. It just seems so obvious to me—and I don’t even have an MBA!  Maybe there is some truth to the age-old aphorism “missing the forest for the trees.”

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

Meet the Coalition for a Competitive Pharmaceutical Market

About five years ago, a friend of mine and I had an idea to form a non-profit dedicated to providing consumers with information regarding the safety of marketed pharmaceutical and biotechnology medicines.  At the time, we observed that consumers were repeatedly being misinformed about the safety and efficacy of many products, most notably follow-on biologics aka biogenerics. Unfortunately, we could not garner enough interest or financial support to get the organization off the ground. I guess that  we had a good idea, but, as usual, were a little ahead of our time. A new organization called The Coalition for a Competitive Pharmaceutical Market has recently set up shop with the same concept in mind.

Members of the coalition include insurance companies (Aetna, Humana, United Health Care and Blue Cross Blue Shield), pharmacies and drug distributors (CVS, Medco, Express Scripts, Rite Aid and Wallgreens), generic manufacturers (Barr Laboratories, Hospira, Teva, Mylan Laboratories and Watson Pharmaceuticals) and a large roster of Fortune 500 companies including General Motors, Ford, Caterpillar, Chrysler, Dow and Eastman Kodak. Think of the lobbying power–how cool is that?

I guess the time has come for rational drug pricing for the US. Big pharma and biotech beware–a nationalized healthcare system may not be far behind!

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!