Biotech companies continue to grow and develop at a remarkable rate. Money Morning reports that up to 300 initial public offerings by biotech companies may happen this year. Considering that many other industries are struggling during this time of economic uncertainty, biotech jobs is a great area to look into if you are looking for a promising career. Furthermore, a simple pharmaceutical career search can help you find where the jobs are in the industry. One of the most stable and quickest growing areas is pharmaceutical sales.
Related: 5 Awesome Healthcare Careers With Salaries Over 100k
A pharmaceutical sales representative is a job that requires a wide range of skills, but it also offers high retention rates and a good earning potential if you can flourish in this role. While salaries vary on experience, location of your job, and other factors, it's a hot job market with a promising future. Here are some tips to help you take the right approach to becoming marketable to pharmaceutical companies:
Education
First, it's important that you earn a bachelor's degree, as many pharmaceutical companies have this as a requirement to work for them as a sales representative. Further, while many companies may not specify a degree type, it's ideal to pursue an education that can help you take what you learn and transition into a sales job easily. With this in mind, it's ideal to take a combination of business and science classes. PharmStorm recommends earning an MBA since this can improve your chances of earning a job in the pharmaceutical sales field.
Stand Out From The Crowd
Along with earning your degree, it's important you are able to stand out from other candidates in your field. Two ways you can accomplish this is by earning your Certified National Pharmaceutical Representative Certificate and receiving sales experience.
Certification: To earn your CNPR certificate, you should buy the Certification Pharmaceutical Sales Training Manual. This manual is a great guide that can help you prepare for the exam by showing you the type of material on the exam and ways to pass it. By obtaining your CNPR, you show pharmaceutical companies that you are an expert in your field and this can separate you from other candidates.
Experience: Another great way to enhance your marketability to pharmaceutical companies is for you to gain sales experience. You can start small by becoming an account manager or sales representative with a local company. By learning the sales trade and becoming successful, you will have a great sales record you can show to prospective employers while also gaining the real world skills necessary to succeed once you earn a pharmaceutical sales position.
Finding The Right Job
Once you gain the education, certification and experience, it's time to find a job in the field. While there are many career search websites you can visit, it's important to find one that can help you land the right job. Keep in mind that many companies won't post jobs on websites such as Monster because they will receive an overload of resumes and they have found it isn't the most effective way to find the right candidate. Instead, you should use a specialized site that is industry specific to your career.
Research
Once a company expresses interest in you, it's important to do research on them before the interview. This will benefit you in several ways. One, you'll learn about the company, its history, values and growth ahead of time. Armed with this information, it can be a determining factor in whether this company is the right fit for you. Further, you show the company you took the initiative to learn about them. This may give you the edge over other applicants.
To recap, the biotech field continues to grow, as hundreds of IPOs will come out this year. This represents a significant amount of promise in the future of this industry and its job market. Additionally, hiring trends suggest that pharmaceutical sales continue to be a stable job for candidates to pursue, as it offers an attractive earning potential. A simple pharmaceutical career search can help you see just how many jobs are available in your area and what type of skills, education, and certifications you will need for this job.
By doing this research ahead of time and by following the right approach, it can help you earn the skills and education you need to become marketable to pharmaceutical companies. While it takes hard work to get into the field, the rewards are well worth the work.
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
Bigstock
Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
Bigstock
Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
Bigstock
Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
Need more help with your job search?
Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!
This article was originally published at an earlier date.
Bigstock
Bigstock
Bigstock
