How to make a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry

Vampireskiss

I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to have a successful career in the pharma/biotech industry, I have been working as a qc analyst for the past 2 years and im getting kind of bored of it, the money is not great but in these times one has to be happy in a permenant job plus im 31 so going back to college to requalify as something else is out of the question, I guess what im asking is if I have to stay in this area what should I aim for if I want to make better money?I have an ordinary degree in chemistry and am considering going back to college to do my honours degree at night in the same area

746watts

You could consider doing a business/sales course which will help you get into Pharma sales perhaps?

Rob87

There are courses which can be taken to become a QP. I'm not sure what the eligibility criteria are but that would be a well paid, you would have responsibility and you could stay in the QC department.

anotherlostie

I'm afraid you may have missed the boat on this one. A couple of years ago people with a few year's lab experience tended to be a feeder for areas like Validation, Quality Assurance and Tech Transfer as companies expanded, or staff moved on that were already there. Now expansions are rare, and people are staying put so there is little room to move on. Sorry to be so pessimistic but that's how things are at the moment.

Your best hope might be to apply for maternity cover if it came up in an area you were interested in and by gaining some experience you would improve your chances of a permanent step up.

There are now hundreds of QP's in Ireland, so getting that qualification is no longer a guarantee of a better job as suggested, but you would definitely benefit from the course content. Speak to your Training Department about these courses.

BrianD3

There has been a ridiculous amount of hype about science jobs in the last 10-15 years. People were encouraged into doing science degrees by the hype appearing in "career supplements" portraying exciting opportunities and a desperate shortage of science graduates. A lot of this hype was driven by IBEC, the universities and other vested interests. Those with practical science qualifications have ended up in QC labs if they're lucky to get a job at all. Those with less practical qualifications have ended up not getting a job and going on to to masters/PhDs and then struggling from one postdoc contract to another.

Of my science degree class (graduated around 10 years) ago I'd say only a minority are working in labs in the pharma industry. Some have gone down the PhD/struggling postdoc route. Some went back to do law, one or two used their degree to get into pharmacy in the UK. Some are teachers. I know one fella working in bank.

bleg

Rob87 wrote: »

There are courses which can be taken to become a QP. I'm not sure what the eligibility criteria are but that would be a well paid, you would have responsibility and you could stay in the QC department.

Wouldn't recommend the QP course. There's currently an over supply of QPs in the country and with future years of pharmacy students looking increasingly at industry it will be a competitive job market.