Pharmaceutical jobs advertsied on paper a thing of the past?

Tuesday Nov 21

In the age of broadband, handheld PCs and mobile phones that could make you a cup of tea, is there a role left for advertising on paper?

Times have certainly changed since I were a lad! If you're in secondary school now, the chances are you already own a mobile phone. Primary school children are more often more familiar with google and i-tunes than their parents and a dial up for internet access is a bit...well, old fashioned.

For pharmaceutical recruitment agencies, paper advertising has always been, and still is far more expensive than internet advertising. If the statistics are correct, we're lead to believe now that pretty much anyone seeking professional employement, and certainly those looking at pharmaceutical jobs, will use the internet as the cornerstone for their search.

To advertsie a pharmaceutical job in an industry magazine, for example a quarter page, could cost a pharmaceutical recruitment agency in excess of £1500 + VAT. The same vacancy attached to a large banner on the internet could cost under £300 + VAT. So what about the response. Well the internet seems to win on response too!

So is there a role left of the paper advert? Well, as a nation, we would prefer to rattle a paper over a cup tea versus browsing the news on the internet. In advertising terms, there is still a large amount of kudos to be gained through appearing in a glossy bigger and better than everyone else. I can't imagine people reading an e-book in front of a book they can hold, take into the garden etc. Perhaps it's just too big a habit to break.

What are you views? Please do e-mail us at info@pharmacareers.co.uk