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Pharmaceutical Sales Careers Advantage Over Careers in Medicine

Advantages can come in many forms. Looking at careers in pharmaceutical sales and careers in medicine, the thing I see personally that put them under the same umbrella is healthcare. Both careers affect healthcare, directly or indirectly. But the things that put them at different end of the line can be summed up in this sentence - demand and supply.

Let's take a look at both careers, in term of advantages, from that point of view.

Pharmaceutical Sales Are Profit Driven

It is not a mystery when a new pharmaceutical sales rep for a multinational company (MNC) got paid higher in basic salary and overall package than a new Houseman i.e. a new medical graduate. Such a high amount represents high expectation from the company. The company invests and expects higher return from the rep.

Starting off high - who would not consider that as an advantage to their career?

Flexible Working Hours

This is one thing that really makes pharmaceutical sales careers more worthwhile than any medical careers. After a decade of working in pharmaceutical industry, I have never experience a time when I was On Call. You have a number of calls to make per day but how you are going to fulfill it is totally up to you.

Chances To Bag Huge Incentive

Huge incentives can take many forms depending on companies. Some give cold hard cash, some car incentives, oversea trips, expensive watch, and some just mix everything in. I have seen cases where a sales rep brings home more incentive than total annual salary. It is not typical but possible. I could not say the same to the folks in medical line though.

More Careers Advancement Option

In medical line, a natural progression is obvious if a person works for the Government. But for a pharmaceutical sales rep job, you can always be on the look out for bigger, better opportunity in other companies provided you have gathered enough experience. You do not need to wait for your boss to retire and you probably stand a chance of getting better remuneration than he or she in due time.

Meaningful Transferable Skills

I have friends who are former Sales Rep just like me making a killing on their own. They have their own companies and they are building strong business. And I knew they learn all these while serving their former pharmaceuticals employer. If you are in medical line, such transferable skills may be available but limited. Maybe an extreme example I can call upon right off the bat is our former Prime Minister who was a General Practitioner in a small town in Kedah, Malaysia. There is no former pharmaceutical sales rep that I know of in our local cabinet line up. But I know a lot of them who are busy building up their companies.

A Liberal Playing Field

I have a medical related background and if I have a career in pharmaceutical sales it looks somewhat normal. But my other colleagues in the same company, not all of them share my kind of background. Some of them were Air steward or stewardess, law students, engineers, clerical jobs, menial jobs, veterinarian, nursing and many others.

And their chance to succeed in this career is not reduced by their background. In fact, some of them are far ahead than me in terms of position and salary remuneration. But you could not do the same in medical line. If you were not trained, you are out.

These are some obvious advantages I observed all my entire pharmaceutical career life. Some of them you might also see in your local situation but some you might not be able to so take everything listed here with a pinch of salt. My own observation is not typical but probable.