Thanks for the replies. lord999's comment about msl demographics is one of the reasons I am considering making this move earlier than later (female in early 30s). About what percent of time would you say is devoted to paperwork, meetings, MD contact ? And do you find a decent work life balance (I have young kids)? About being 100% ids, my job has tried to reassign me to a purely research position but I was only willing to do max 50% because I wasn't sure if this would impact my overall trajectory since many of the companies that have tried to recruit me and my colleagues have said they want someone who is actively practicing in the field. Do you think that being 50 versus 100% in research would really make a difference?
Job stability would also be a concern for me as well, but it seems like the drug reps in my area are promoting other onc drugs within the same company and have been there for 5-10 years ...would you say this is translatable to stability for MSLs too?
Lastly, is initial salary dependent on experience and current pay or because I have zero industry experience would I have to start from scratch? What do you think would be starting based on my qualifications and a base of 150-175k/year?
The lifestyle in Up In The Air is what I'd probably tell someone in the modern day what their lifestyle is like unless there specifically NYC or Chicago (not even LA gets to be only within city for most territories). You can have a family, you can choose not to, and you can choose to do both if you are right kind of person. Those matters in terms of where time is spent depend on the company (in fact, they really depend on what your strategy and supervisor strategy is for the drug and territory), so there is not a general work environment out there. More so that you will log those hours on the road, you will have to keep yourself energetic (some say perky, but that's sexist) and optimistic to make your calls and presentations, and that you will need to compromise and stick to the message.
Do you think that being 50 versus 100% in research would really make a difference?
Oh yes, but it targets you for different sorts of MSL work depending on whether where you come from (or not if you are Pfizer or GSK who want a specific kind of MSL).
Job stability would also be a concern for me as well, but it seems like the drug reps in my area are promoting other onc drugs within the same company and have been there for 5-10 years ...would you say this is translatable to stability for MSLs too?
What kind of podunk university area do you live in
🙂? It's not exactly Glengarry Glen Ross, but there's certainly much, much larger turnover than that. Are you sure you're not seeing the survivor bias of those who did make it and not the ones that stopped (due to my position, I have a registry of every single MSL and rep for a couple of VA VISNs (kind of like market areas) that is assiduously maintained and I can tell you that the average career credential life expectancy in a longitudinal sense is less than 5 years and become Gompertz bad real quickly). That's confirmed by my own associations, and we sometimes look in those entries and them remember, 'oh yeah, I remember that one! Before and after he/she was (comment censored)" to remind ourselves who work for whom in the industry. If you are getting complacent in your job, either you or your company is screwing up hard in this business.
Lastly, is initial salary dependent on experience and current pay or because I have zero industry experience would I have to start from scratch? What do you think would be starting based on my qualifications and a base of 150-175k/year?
I will say this now to you now,
if you do not adopt the attitude that no one gets what they deserve, they get what they can negotiate, this is not a career field I would suggest to a student much less a practicing pharmacist. If you are worth $150-$175k, you better talk yourself and perform the "Coffee is for Closers" walk that your company doesn't see you on this Christmas's pink slip. That question being asked, you might want to go into a personal sales/personal brand seminar at the local U to get an idea that Brand You is the only commodity you have to trade with in the industry and know what you are actually selling.
(And if you do the salary and experience research, no, you do have experience, just on the other side rather than sales. You are selling your knowledge of how your place works and how trials are conducted for efficacy and that I (you) know and believe in the religion of this drug.)
(By the way, you might want to ask around the older pharmacists what happens to old drug reps kids. I know what happens, and I think you do too. Is what you want right now worth that future possibility? To what extent are you willing to fight against that possibility?)
