Spreading your wings

In the days when pharma's pace of change was much slower, many a good career was built on finding a niche and specialising in it. This is no longer the case: what was once prudent career-building is now seen as pigeon-holing – and is the kiss of death for a long-lasting career.

Today, a varied CV with lots of different experience is what stands a candidate in good stead. This means changing roles – and probably employers – much more frequently. Some lateral thinking is required to build a sustainable and successful career in pharma.

Making the right choice
With flattening organisational structures and lower head counts, building a commercial career in pharma is quite a challenge these days. Unfortunately, those organisations that are not 'knowledge-based' (ie depend upon people and their expertise) are more likely to cut jobs – so choosing the right company to join in the first place is key.

Obviously, you should look at the company's performance historically, but more importantly, at what is planned. As the old model of super-blockbuster products becomes less applicable, companies are looking to extract maximum value from assets with smaller potential, in an increasingly budget-conscious market. The industry is moving away from the old 'boom-and-bust' cycles of the past. This is not necessarily a bad thing. A healthy pipeline of future products entering less price sensitive markets that are open to generic competition is one way of ensuring a more positive financial picture in the future and, with it, more secure employment. It should also mean that the company atmosphere is more likely to be positive and upbeat, rather than tense and budget conscious.

Staff development
Something else to consider when choosing prospective employers is their approach to 'talent management'. By talent management I mean a structured process of identifying and nurturing people within the organisation so their commercial skills are developed in line, and along with, their career aspirations.

Good companies explain not only the next move, but the one after that. As a result, a secondment into sales should not make one feel as if they are being sent to Alcatraz with a life sentence, but rather it should be seen as six months of valuable experience en route to becoming a more customer-focused marketer.

The traditional route into marketing in 'commercial' pharma was always sales and then sales management, or just sales, and so even if you have come into marketing through a graduate entry scheme, gaining sales experience is an important part of building the CV.

The talent search
So just what are companies looking for from future employees? I cannot talk from a structured research base, but looking at recent people moves, I can hazard a guess.

Companies who do not develop their own talent look to buy it in; and they are looking to tick a certain number of boxes. These can be within particular therapy areas and/or with specific functional expertise. Generally the former seems to be what company's are looking for rather than the latter, particularly at junior levels and in smaller firms. However, as you get more senior, then success in all the strategic – as well as operational areas of marketing and sales – becomes increasingly important.

Pigeon-holed
Danger lies in becoming expert in a narrow therapeutic field, as this limits future options. You need to ensure that even though you have been 'brought in' to work in a particular therapy area, you can move across other areas later to broaden your experience and marketability. Beware of the 'jack-of-all-trades' tag if you only have a superficial level of experience in a number of therapy areas. You need to spend enough time in one area to demonstrate you have made a difference.

The same applies to functional expertise. Some larger companies pigeon-hole marketers, particularly junior ones, so that all their activities are related to one area of the marketing mix. This is a dangerously narrow base. Unless you want to become an expert and make your fortune that way, look to broadening your experience of the marketing mix in the early years.

A good framework
While functional expertise seems hard to measure, even with assessment centres, there is no doubt that this is the foundation on which all else is built. Many companies are focused on immediate results instead of more medium-to-long term goals, which means that although people within the organisation are busy 'doing', they lack the knowledge and skills to develop that critical foundation.

While experience is a key part of learning, there is a definite need for mental 'processes' or 'frameworks' that can guide the individual through solving the increasingly complex, competitive commercial challenges we face now and will face in the future. Without these 'processes' or 'frameworks' life gets quite tough.

In our experience, many pharma firms have not provided these in the recent past. More are doing it now, but there is still a huge need and a gap between where people are and where they need to be.

A breadth of functional and therapy area expertise can be found, dare I say it, on the 'other side of the fence'. Stepping outside a pharma company may seem like career suicide (and in some cases where longevity of service is the name of the game this may be true), there is no doubt that a period of time on the service side can turbocharge your knowledge. The right consultancy provides process, and a range of experience in therapy areas and commerical challenges.

A logical CV that reflects a range of therapeutic area experience, demonstrable functional expertise and a successful track record is what makes you an attractive asset. Where you do that is not necessarily important; it is having a rounded track record that matters.

The Author:
Dr Paul Stuart-Kregor is a director of The MSI Consultancy
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