Pharmaceutical jobs and field training jobs

In the early days of my career in medical sales there were a few options with regard to aspirations to promote, product management, regional sales management, head office training or field training. For someone in their first role, with the exception of field training roles, all the others were really perceived as too big a jump for a promotion from a field based sales role. Consequently, field training was an attractive prospect. It not only offered a position of perceived higher status, but also a potential stepping stone into a bigger role again.

The idea of the field training role is to take someone who has 'been there, done it, and been successful' and ask them to work with and help lesser experienced folk whilst out in the field. This works well on a couple of fronts, firstly the experience and skills of the field trainer are passed on to the student over time. The field trainer is able to develop training and development skills which will be useful for future roles such as management or head office training. In addition, as a field trainer is not the student's manager, they can therefore can act as a more neutral mentor figure without the same stresses and strains related to the needs to see results.

Are there any downsides to field training? Well potentially yes, there are some negative issues to consider. If you are a highly successful salesperson and enjoy the thrill of the sell, you may find field training frustrating as, most of the time, you are simply a spectator unable to get involved in the action. It it's a bit like being the star striker on a football pitch, and every time you get in front of the goal, you have to pass to a new junior member of the team to shoot...often to watch them miss!!

In the current pharmaceutical industry, there are many changes occurring and the majority of companies are having to reshape for meet the changing needs of the NHS. In most organisations, dedicated field training roles are not 'directly' producing roles and consequently, they are often first in line to be removed if redundancies are necessary to reduce overall headcount, so security may be an issue.

A final issue which is often overlooked, is that as a field trainer, you sit between management and the field force. In some scenarios, for example, helping to deal with poor performers, this can be an uncomfortable place to be. You may be asked to perform field visits with team members to necessarily improve performance, and whilst doing so, assess the level of performance in a way which can impact upon your students future. Once other team members see this occurring, they will begin to perceive you differently. In this way, a field trainer can loose their status as 'just another member of the team' and this can be somewhat isolating, neither sales team, or management team.

If you are considering field training as an option, probably the best option is a to gain field training responsibility whilst maintaining a sales role. Whilst this can be challenging to maintain your patch whilst also arranging days out training, there are several benefits regarding the issues above. You maintain better security as you are in a producing role. You still have the variety of work and the thrill of the sell to keep you sharp. You are more likely to fell part of the sales team, and treated as such whilst you are still out selling. Overall, field training experience is unquestionably an extra useful feather in your cap which will give you additional opportunities throughout your career.

Good luck