Switch job as you can...now
Started by letsquitpharm
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
Curious what lucrative positions you think pharmacists would qualify for that would be more stable than practicing through a recession?
The weird economic situation we've wound up in thanks to a worldwide hard shutdown and restart has never happened before. And where it's going is going to be unpredictable and surprising.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
"But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it." - Liam Neeson
As a Pharmacist, our training and experience makes us THE LEAST capable of making a pivot and seizing any job opportunities, anywhere!
I am very sad to say.
Yep, we definitely don't have Liam Neeson's skills.
The least? I'll agree that pharmacy is pretty specialized so any transition would be fairly difficult, but that feels like a stretch. Do you not know any/many pharmacists who transitioned out of healthcare?
My last batch of offers (>3) came around late August, and I was fortunate enough to let companies bid against each other. My highest bidder (a household name vaccine maker for covid) offered a perm remote role with 170k + 18% bonus + 40% RSU, and the second highest (a rare disease gene therapy biotech that saw explosive stock appreciation in the last 3 months) gave a hybrid role of 160k + 18% bonus + 80k equity (RSU and options) + 26k sign-on package. I am <3 yrs out of pharm school with no fellowships/residencies.
I accepted the offer from the highest bidder. From what I heard from HR, they plan to continue massive hiring until next year, to help diversify pipeline portfolio outside of covid vaccine. My recruiter complained to me that the gene therapy biotech had zero qualified candidates for > 6 months and should be more flexible in terms of hybrid/remote and package details, which could sway my final decision...
A lot of pharma jobs now can somewhat match if not exceed household tech companies in terms of compensation, minus the hiring freeze and PIP pressure. I got corporate recruiters from BMS, J&J and Merck advertising how many vacant positions they have and they think I am a good fit, etc. I also had to turn down at least 4 interviews in the last two week cuz they are too late to the party lol.
I was basically interviewing throughout August, but I do have a feeling that this won't last forever if the macroeconomic environment isn't so great in the upcoming months.
Pharmacists can do a lot of things, just don't feel emotionally attached to it so much. It's just a label that you can peel off at any given moment. Many people switch careers during the pandemic and never looked back. What's making pharmacy so special that prevents any changes? I am graduating MSCS in 3 months, and my girlfriend, who is an architect, is making the same pivot. She had to take all the math & cs courses at cc to make herself eligible, but she never took the self-identification of her present profession that seriously, unlike a lot of pharmacists do...It's not a competence thing, rather it's more like an excuse for complacency I suppose.
Last edited:
Do you think industry positions (and especially being a new employee) will be less sensitive to a recession than traditional practice?
I just don't get how an expected recession makes these jobs more desirable now.
Speak for yourself dude. I just watched, The Matrix.. I’m doing all those kung fu moves now.
I know plenty actually...in pharma and cro (in all sorts of functionalities you can imagine), in consulting (LEK, ZS, Accenture, etc), and also in tech (very few in big tech companies like Google but a handful in start-up and medium-sized). I am leaving out the ones in insurance, investment banking, weed stuff for now as they are too niche.
Last edited:
Pharma is in a hiring frenzy somehow, the jobs are just everywhere. Nobody can predict the future, but the companies I interviewed at were mostly in expansion phase with solid financial standings. My new employer actually reported billions in profits last year, hundreds of millions this year and >3B cash in hand.
Pharma jobs have inherent stability issues. I am not denying that, but what I was saying is now is probably a great time to take advantage of the great offer package before it's too late.
FYI, I have not seen any pharma employees becoming unemployed over extended period of time (>3 months), we usually have multiple job offers to entertain with and job-switches are mostly voluntary, for a higher position or pay. In the contrary, pharmacy, especially clinical, is notorious for job stagnation and difficulty with even lateral movements. I came across a recent reddit post that a clinical pharmacist with residency and yrs of exp can not get a hospital job after moving from NJ to Austin, TX...
Last edited:
Hey more power to you. I hope the job stability is at least as good as you're hoping/expecting it to be.
Thanks. If things go south, I can always reach out to the Meta recruiter, who kept trying to call me to discuss roles on their ML teams...I guess they are "quiet hiring" despite highly publicized hiring freeze?
Local school district is hiring bus drivers. $25/hr and they'll train you.
Success in pharma isn't about finding job stability. It's about developing rhe experience, skillset, and reputation to secure your desirability throughout the industry - future proofing.
For example, there are rumors a big pharma will be laying off thousands in the somewhat near future. More than a few Biotech companies are WAITING like vultures to snatch known talent from that company - especially within certain therapeutic areas. Think about that for a moment - those people in that big pharma haven't even heard yet if they're getting laid off or not and they're already getting competitors and former colleagues trying to outbid each other for their expertise. I don't think that happens much between retail pharmacies, no matter how great a pharmacist (or pharmacy manager) you are.
Stability within the same company can be a nice thing in industry, but (most) pharma people just don't think in those terms. Jumping to a better opportunity is not that hard so you have to really like the company culture and your team to want to stay there for a long time. And I know plenty who welcome getting told they're laid off because it usually means they're going to get a big payout as severance- which they can pocket and find another job. Case in point, I paid off my pharmacy school loans with such a payout.
For example, there are rumors a big pharma will be laying off thousands in the somewhat near future. More than a few Biotech companies are WAITING like vultures to snatch known talent from that company - especially within certain therapeutic areas. Think about that for a moment - those people in that big pharma haven't even heard yet if they're getting laid off or not and they're already getting competitors and former colleagues trying to outbid each other for their expertise. I don't think that happens much between retail pharmacies, no matter how great a pharmacist (or pharmacy manager) you are.
Stability within the same company can be a nice thing in industry, but (most) pharma people just don't think in those terms. Jumping to a better opportunity is not that hard so you have to really like the company culture and your team to want to stay there for a long time. And I know plenty who welcome getting told they're laid off because it usually means they're going to get a big payout as severance- which they can pocket and find another job. Case in point, I paid off my pharmacy school loans with such a payout.
Last edited:
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Congratulations for pivoting into Pharma/biotech/CS as a former pharmacist. Indeed a commendable, bright future. Unfortunately for most of us, I would say 99%, none of these opportunities are available. There might be a few hundred (very specialized) positions out there, ain't nobody knocking at my door, no bidding war for my services. I can barely figure out my pharmacy software.
Oh well, let me get back to counting pills.
Hey, that's a PIVOT I am able to make. Well within my skillset.
