Pharmacy vs Pharm Sales

[tvn273]

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Wondering if anyone on theses forums actually have a career in pharmaceutical sales. I'm currently entering my senior year and am double majoring in Business/Microbiology and have been interested in pharm sales the past few years. I just wanted to hear other peoples opinions about both professions. I've worked as a pharm tech for 2 years and as nice as it is to make fat pay checks, I also have kept my out eye on the pharmacists and it just to me seems like such a lame job. I get it you make 100k+ but the job is so repetitive it drives me nuts sometimes. Also the ability to move up is also pretty low, you come in making a lot but unless you're a manager you make around 110-115k. I want honest opinions, no trolling please.

 

[gh0lee]

Wondering if anyone on theses forums actually have a career in pharmaceutical sales. I'm currently entering my senior year and am double majoring in Business/Microbiology and have been interested in pharm sales the past few years. I just wanted to hear other peoples opinions about both professions. I've worked as a pharm tech for 2 years and as nice as it is to make fat pay checks, I also have kept my out eye on the pharmacists and it just to me seems like such a lame job. I get it you make 100k+ but the job is so repetitive it drives me nuts sometimes. Also the ability to move up is also pretty low, you come in making a lot but unless you're a manager you make around 110-115k. I want honest opinions, no trolling please.

You can go through PGY1/PGY2 residency and work more towards clinical side of pharmacy. There are many field pharmacists can work at besides inpatient/outpatient pharmacy. If you think it's too repetitive and boring, it might not be a field for you... 🙁

 

[MzTweety]

Hi, this sounds very interesting. I am also very interested in pharm sales but I dont really know where and how to start. I did do some research about pharm sales but it seems like the career faces a lot with ethnics issues. I meant since you work for a company to sell the pharmaceutical products which is recently controversial because patients are exposed to many unnecessary warning from doctors/physicians just because they help sales people to sell drugs.

 

[troponin2012]

I agree with the job of pharmacy is really repetitive and at times, very boring. After graduating from pharmacy school in May i really have doubts about how long I want to stay in this profession. But that's a whole different story...

Anyways, you don't have to go to pharmacy school to do pharmaceutical sales. I did a rotation at a drug company (aka industry) this past year and what they wanted was someone with sales experience and background in science. Some of the people working for them included PharmDs, RNs, MDs, people with Science degrees etc.

If you do go to pharmacy school, try to get a job in industry and make a lot of friends/connections there. In addition, try to get a rotation in industry during your last year of rotations and try to make as many friends/contacts there. Talk to your school about your goals so they can help you out. I would apply to as many drug companies as possible and see what the job market is like. You can could do a PGY1/2 residency if you wanted to, but IMO residencies in pharmacy are pretty much useless. A lot of time you'll get stuck doing something like Medical Information (in industry) which is pretty boring after experiencing first hand. Did about 1-2 hrs of work at the rotation/week (they basically used me because we had free access to journal articles), took lunches as long as wanted (approached 3 hrs long as I explored the city I was in), and surfed the web and talked with people. The work I observered in Medical Information there was just as, if not more mundane than a pharmacist job. The one thing I liked was the business casual dress code.

A few years back, one of my really good friends started pharmaceutical sales with Pfizer. She was a math major and one of the top in class so you don't have to be a pharmacy major. She did leave the field a few years because she did not like it. I guess it wasn't like Love and Other Drugs (even though that movie came out a few years later lol).

If I were you, I'd be applying to both industry jobs and pharmacy schools (as a backup) during your senior year. Test the waters and see whats out there and then make your final decision. Good luck!

 

[tvn273]

I agree with the job of pharmacy is really repetitive and at times, very boring. After graduating from pharmacy school in May i really have doubts about how long I want to stay in this profession. But that's a whole different story...

Anyways, you don't have to go to pharmacy school to do pharmaceutical sales. I did a rotation at a drug company (aka industry) this past year and what they wanted was someone with sales experience and background in science. Some of the people working for them included PharmDs, RNs, MDs, people with Science degrees etc.

If you do go to pharmacy school, try to get a job in industry and make a lot of friends/connections there. In addition, try to get a rotation in industry during your last year of rotations and try to make as many friends/contacts there. Talk to your school about your goals so they can help you out. I would apply to as many drug companies as possible and see what the job market is like. You can could do a PGY1/2 residency if you wanted to, but IMO residencies in pharmacy are pretty much useless. A lot of time you'll get stuck doing something like Medical Information (in industry) which is pretty boring after experiencing first hand. Did about 1-2 hrs of work at the rotation/week (they basically used me because we had free access to journal articles), took lunches as long as wanted (approached 3 hrs long as I explored the city I was in), and surfed the web and talked with people. The work I observered in Medical Information there was just as, if not more mundane than a pharmacist job. The one thing I liked was the business casual dress code.

A few years back, one of my really good friends started pharmaceutical sales with Pfizer. She was a math major and one of the top in class so you don't have to be a pharmacy major. She did leave the field a few years because she did not like it. I guess it wasn't like Love and Other Drugs (even though that movie came out a few years later lol).

If I were you, I'd be applying to both industry jobs and pharmacy schools (as a backup) during your senior year. Test the waters and see whats out there and then make your final decision. Good luck!

Doing exactly that, I'm applying for school and applying for companies this year.