Entry into the Pharmaceutical and Medical Industry

Improving your chances of getting your first position within the pharmaceutical and

medical industry

• The role of Recruitment agencies

• CV preparation

• Interviewing Skills

• Enhancing your industry knowledge

The Role Of Recruitment Agencies

Clients know we have a large candidate database and this means that they don’t have to advertise.

Using agencies saves the client time, so that they can focus on their core business.

We have strong knowledge of the pharmaceutical and medical industry allowing us to work closely with our clients and pro-actively suggest candidates for future roles.

What can you expect from a recruitment agency? • Networks with lots of clients so that you have different roles to choose from.

• Advice on CV preparation.

• Interviewing skills coaching.

• Career guidance - skills to enhance, job rotation ideas.

• Access to specific pharmaceutical and medical industry knowledge.

Choosing a Recruitment Consultant • Choose a recruitment consultant that you feel

comfortable working with.• Ask them:

– How long have you been doing recruitment?– How long has your company been operating within the

pharmaceutical and medical sector?– How well do you know the company that you are representing

me to?– How many other candidates have you placed at that company?

Recruitment Process

• CV Preparation and preliminary industry research• Initial interview with the Recruitment Consultant• Interview with Human Resources• Interview with the Hiring Manager• Job Offer

CV Preparation - First Impressions are vital

Format and Layout - simple emailed Word document with basic format and layout

• Content – Name– Contact details – Education– Current Position – Past Positions: Company, Dates, Title, Achievements and

Responsibilities

CV Preparation - Highlight relevant responsibilities • Hospital pharmacy – dispensing for clinical trials• Hospital or retail pharmacy – reporting adverse events• Hospital or retail pharmacy – handling medical information queries• Pathology lab - responsible for entering clinical data.• Medical centre - responsible for records management.• Freelance writer for a scientific publication.• Retail experience in a place that provided extensive customer

service training.• Providing medical information at a Poisons Centre.• Experience gained from a thesis project (especially if commercially

relevant e.g. patient behaviour)

Interviewing with the Recruitment Consultant

• Pre-interview preparation to demonstrate enthusiasm:– Learn about the clinical trial process, regulatory requirements,

reimbursement, sales and marketing, therapeutic areas, products, different pharmaceutical and medical companies.

• First Impressions are important - be prepared, on-time, well-dressed and professional.

• Be completely honest - a trusting relationship with a professional recruiter can move your career along.

Interviewing with Human Resources

• The Human Resources interview:– objective to screen candidates and provide recommendations

on cultural fit.

• See HR as an ally, not an impediment• Be interested, positive and likeable.• You need to persuade HR that:

– you are qualified to do the job– you want to do it– if given the job, you will fit in.

Interpersonal skills are important within the corporate environment

– listening skills– questioning skills– presentation skills– writing skills– working in teams– negotiation– conflict resolution– management

Interviewing with the Hiring Manager

• Behaviourally based interviewing – past behaviour and performance is the best indicator of future

performance. Therefore describe specific examples from job related experiences that are relevant to the role.

• To uncover the true nature of the candidate’s knowledge, motivations and values interviewers want to find out – how the candidates have handled various situations

– what action they took in situations

– the results of those actions

Overview of entry level positions for graduates

• Clinical Research• Regulatory/Scientific Affairs/Drug Safety• Medical Information• Data Management• Sales

Clinical Research

• Management of designated clinical trials including investigator selection, analysis of potential patient recruitment, preparation of trial related documentation (protocols, Case report forms, investigators brochures, consent documents, letters of agreement, confidentiality agreements), organising Ethics committee submissions with follow through to ensure successful outcome.

• Monitoring the assigned clinical trials following company SOPs and in accordance with GCP. Being the point of first contact when investigators/site personnel enquire about patient inclusion/exclusion criteria for ongoing trials.

Clinical Research

• Development and implementation of recruitment strategies to increase patient randomisation into the trial (eg investigator and research nurse meetings, update newsletters, advertising, and letters

to GPs). • Maintain project files including: ethics committee approvals; curricula

vitae of investigators and study personnel; clinical investigators brochure; protocols; case report forms instructions; consent documents; clinical trial material shipping orders; start-up meeting attendance documentation; letters of agreement; lab reference ranges; all investigator and site correspondence; and schedules of payment.

Regulatory Affairs

• Assist with the preparation of regulatory documentation including regulatory submissions to TGA, drafting Product information, consumer information, literature searches to support submissions, TGAL product analysis, changes in manufacturing, pack sizes, CMI and PI development, packaging changes, MIMS notification and other regulatory activities.

• Ensure that all other adverse event data (trial, literature and spontaneously reported) is entered into regulatory databases within the timeframes specified and that the appropriate regulatory authorities are notified.

Medical Information

• To provide balanced, evaluated information and advice on the clinical use of medicines to both external customers (pharmacists, GPs, specialists, nurses, patients and consumer groups) and internal customers (sales and marketing, health economics, corporate affairs).

• Constantly review published literature and company data to keep up to date with current product issues.

• Review advertising and promotional material to ensure Code of Conduct compliance.

Data Management

• Responsible for collecting, coding, processing, validating and analysing patient data from the clinical trials.

• Developing Case Report Forms (CRFs) and data collection tools

• Developing data validation and analysis plans.

• Managing data entry and coding of clinical data

Sales

• Responsibility for developing the sales of the company’s products in the assigned territory through full coverage of all contacts and by becoming a value-added partner to the health care professionals. These will include pharmacies, wholesalers, hospitals, specialists and General Practitioners.

• Deliver superior sales presentations to customers by fully planning each call with specific objectives; maintaining the customer’s interest; overcoming objections positively; reframing product features into customer benefits and the competent use of relevant literature.

If at first you do not succeed….

Seek a position that will give you relevant experience for future roles

– Hospital/Retail Pharmacy– Clinical Trials Centre– Health department– Therapeutic Goods Administration– Medical Education company– Poisons Centre– Pathology lab– Non-pharmaceutical healthcare company– A commercially relevant thesis project

Enhance your industry knowledge

– develop a working knowledge of all areas (e.g. clinical research, regulatory, medical information, sales and marketing)

– join industry associations (ARCS, specialist groups)

– attend conferences

– consider part-time study (Masters of Drug Development, Certificate in Health Economics, ARCS courses)

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