Beginners guide to pharmaceutical jobs

In general, pharmaceutical jobs offer good pay and packages, excellent initial and ongoing training, and good career structures. There's plenty to choose from, so which pharmaceutical job will suite you.

Medical Sales

Often referred to as GP/hospital reresentative, or Medical rep, or territory business manager, or primary care representative. These are viewed as possibly the most prestigous sales roles in the UK. It is expected you will be educated to degree level or perhaps come from a medical background such as a nurse. You will need excellent communication skills in order to sell in highly technical areas. A normal part of this role is to sit down with Doctors and explain how your particular products will work. Not for the faint hearted, you will be driven by targets, both activity defining how many people yuo should see, and the sales you will need to produce. Rewards are excellent, basic salaries of £20 to £40K

Regulatory affairs

Pharmaceutical companies are awash with processes and procedures to gain approval for many aspects of sales campaigns, from the approval to sell a drug for a particular use right thruogh to what can be written on sales literature. Hence regulatory affairs drives through these regulatory processes. For this you will need an eye for detail and also to be an organised sort who can follow processes and procedure to the letter. You will be expected to be eductaed to degree level, preferably a science degree. Salaries starts between £20K to £25K.

Product Managers

Otherwise know as marketeers, product managers are responsible for putting together the 'campaign'. How is a product going to be sold? Which clinical evidence will be used to claim what? What materials will be produced at what cost to produce what expected results? Once a product is out in the market, they need to establish whether it's working, are the key messges right? are the promotional materials having the desired effect? and so on. You will need ot be educated to degree level and preferably have a creative brain. In most cass you will have already been a medical represntative. Salaries range from £30K to £55k.

Sales Managers

Often called RBMs (regional business managers) or ASMs (area sales managers) and many other variations. These folk manage teams of medical representatives, ordinarily 7 to 10 people. You will be resopnsible for meeting a collective sales target, in addition to all other aspects of management, recruiting new staff, dealing with poor or unacceptable behavior, dealling poor or unaccpetable performance, training and development of your team and of course motivating them. You will be educated to degree level and will have been a top performing medical representative. Salaries range from £40K to £55K

Human resources

People are a company's most valuable asset. Human resources is a broad ranging role which covers the general mamagement and care of it's work forc. You would be involved with everything fom recruitment procedures to geivance and disciplinary procedures. Ideally you will be educated to degree level and also will possess the CIPD, the HR industry's formal qualification. This may be something you pursue whilst in your first role. Salaries range from £20K to £30K.

Medical information

Training executive

Business information

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