Getting Experience

Recruiters usually look for people to have had some exposure to the type of job they are applying for, whether it be a lab job for a scientist, shadowing a medical rep for a commercial role, or other industrial experience.

There are a variety of ways in which you can gain experience of what it is like to work in the pharmaceutical industry:

• Take up any opportunity to visit a pharmaceutical company and to make contact with people who work for, or who have had links with, the pharmaceutical industry – this may include asking family, relatives friends or university tutors who may have worked in the industry themselves.
• Ideally try to do a PhD or Masters that is co-funded with a pharmaceutical company, some university departments have specific projects that are run in collaboration with a pharmaceutical company. This is a great way of finding out what it is like to work in industry, what sort of jobs there are, and, if you actually get an opportunity to work in their labs, you will get the opportunity to find out what you like, or dislike, about the work.
• For post docs interested in gaining some experience within the industry, look out for awards and fellowship funding opportunities that allow for a period of placement in industry. For example, the MRC have a Career Development Award in Biostatistics that includes an optional two years in UK industry.
• Talk to your university department to see if they have any links with pharmaceutical companies through other programmes.
• For commercial roles, such a becoming a medical rep, you will also be expected to have found out what is involved in the role, for example through shadowing a medical rep. Recruiters will be looking for people with initiative, who have taken the time and made the effort to get this sort of experience, it shows that you are serious about the job. It will also give you a chance to find out if your chosen area of research is actually what you want to do.