How to get work in pharma/regulatory industry?

scrawnybawny

i have been trying to get into the Pharmaceutical Industry for over a year now, with little success.
i have worked as a pharmacist for 10 years in a variety of settings (hospital and community pharmacy mainly) with no experience of anything to do with industry or regulation.
it seems very difficult to get your foot in the door as all posts seem to insist on x number of years of experience in this field before you would even be considered for interview.:(

so i guess what i'm asking is how would i go about getting my foot in the door (either in the area of regulation or standard pharma industry, both of which i am interested in) with no specific experience? - are there any courses that would help and that would counter my lack of experience? (or is experience king and if so how does one get it in the current market?)

rude awakening

As much as I hate to say it "Jobsbridge".
But thats the way the country is gone, Hence my argument of companies hiring juniors, not experienced employees and train them inhouse

By pharma/Regulatory, I presume you mean drug trials, preparing dossiers for approval by regulatory authorities, post marketing follow up etc...

The regulatory area has changed a lot in recent years. Your work experience is not particulary useful and your college education is out of date.

I'd suggest two ways, firstly offer yourself as a short term work experience trainee but pick the field very carefully so that the experience will be useful and will set you up for further employers.
Second idea would be to go back to college and do a masters, again focused directly on the area you want to work in.

scrawnybawny

thanx for that
had kinda figured that myself but was hoping someone might have a quick fix!
yeah was aiming mainly for pharmacovigilance or something in clinical trial work but really would give anything a go, but seems mighty hard to even get an interview with no experience

Condon

scrawnybawny wrote: »

i have been trying to get into the Pharmaceutical Industry for over a year now, with little success.
i have worked as a pharmacist for 10 years in a variety of settings (hospital and community pharmacy mainly) with no experience of anything to do with industry or regulation.
it seems very difficult to get your foot in the door as all posts seem to insist on x number of years of experience in this field before you would even be considered for interview.:(

so i guess what i'm asking is how would i go about getting my foot in the door (either in the area of regulation or standard pharma industry, both of which i am interested in) with no specific experience? - are there any courses that would help and that would counter my lack of experience? (or is experience king and if so how does one get it in the current market?)

Trust me, however difficult it is for you it is ten times worse for graduates like me. I have zero related experience and the future looks pessimistic because pharmaceutical companies only seem to care about is experience

Mr. Loverman

The guy I know who does this is a pharmacologist/toxicologist with a Ph.D and a couple of years post-doctorate research.