Recruitment - Articles

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most highly R&D-intensive industries, more so than the electronics, communications, and aerospace industries. The industry faces a continuing challenge in emp
A high performance industry US pharmaceutical companies are the leading companies in the global pharmaceutical industry and this is expected to continue in the future 1. The ability to invest substantially in R&D is critical to a company’s future growth potential. With the advantage of having the lion’s share of the best-selling products, US companies are in a better position to spend more on R&D than their European and Japanese rivals. In 2001, the US pharmaceutical industry invested more than $30 billion in 2001 in discovering and developing new medicines 2. This high level of R&…

You could spend days trawling through the situations vacant, ringing and writing to prospective employers “on spec” and buying numerous beers for your buddies in return for their “putting a good word
You’re getting itchy feet. It’s time to move your career onwards and hopefully upwards. But where to start? You could spend days trawling through the situations vacant, ringing and writing to prospective employers “on spec” and buying numerous beers for your buddies in return for their “putting a good word in” with their Manager or Company. But since a large percentage of vacant positions are never advertised, you could be missing that perfect job. HR departments are swamped with speculative applications and all too often it is difficult for them to retrieve your details at a later dat…

The day of your interview for your dream job has finally dawned. You’ve researched the role and the organisation, prepared your examples of skill and competency and polished your shoes!
The day of your interview for your dream job has finally dawned. You’ve researched the role and the organisation, prepared your examples of skill and competency and polished your shoes! Now it’s here and should be feeling enthusiastic and raring to go! But are you….? 1. Combating Nerves If you are feeling nervous, remind yourself just why you think you are right for this job anyway. Do you have the knowledge to do the job? Do you have the skills to do the job? If the answer is yes, then there is no need to feel nervous. Before you set off, relax with a final cup of tea and run through in your mi…

Well, you’ve done it – you’ve been selected for the all-important interview for your dream job in the pharmaceutical industry! But does the thought of it fill you with adrenaline and a sense of chall
Well, you’ve done it – you’ve been selected for the all-important interview for your dream job in the pharmaceutical industry! But does the thought of it fill you with adrenaline and a sense of challenge or fear and a sense of nausea?! The key to successful interviewing is in the planning - read on to ensure successful interviews – every time!! 1. What exactly are you being interviewed for? The first step is to ensure that you fully research both the role and the organisation. Ask yourself the following questions: Do you fully understand the nature of the role you are being interviewe…

Nurse teams are becoming ever more prominent in the sales and marketing plans of pharmaceutical companies. Nurses can offer pharmaceutical companies a unique opportunity to deliver multiple outcomes s
For almost a decade, Ventiv Health has been at the forefront of providing nurse teams to generate significant return on investment for clients and improve clinical outcomes for patients and the NHS. Whilst the use of Ventiv nurse teams has been shown to be highly effective in achieving these goals, PharmaTimes discovers that many companies are missing out on the opportunity to maximise sales. Nurse teams are becoming ever more prominent in the sales and marketing plans of pharmaceutical companies. Nurses can offer pharmaceutical companies a unique opportunity to deliver multiple outcomes such…

Increasingly, companies are opting for a formalised, objective structure as a means to standardise the interview process. To a certain extent, this allows all candidates an equal opportunity to presen
Increasingly, companies are opting for a formalised, objective structure as a means to standardise the interview process. To a certain extent, this allows all candidates an equal opportunity to present their abilities and skills in line with the specific requirements of the position being sought. Competency based interviews focus on 'core-skills' i.e. those specific skills or behaviours that constitute success within a given role. Each competency will be assessed for a requisite amount of time (usually 20 minutes), with the interviewer asking a standard set of focused questions. The interview…

Increasingly it seems that locational flexibility may be an essential point to mention on the CV for a career-minded corporate animal in the Life Sciences sector.
Clients taking part in a recent PiR survey on the European recruitment market were using words like “geographical flexibility”, “career mobility” and one even coined the phrase “Euromobile” to describe their ideal worker of the future. What does this mean then for professionals looking for new opportunities and for businesses searching for talent in Europe? Increasingly it seems that locational flexibility may be an essential point to mention on the CV for a career-minded corporate animal in the Life Sciences sector. There is no getting away from the fact that companies are looking for a new breed of worker who will move across…

Just when we were thinking that the EU was a complete waste of money, news reached PharmiWeb Towers this week about a ground breaking plan concocted by bureaucrats in Greece to standardise all cvs/res
Just when we were thinking that the EU was a complete waste of money, news reached PharmiWeb Towers this week about a ground breaking plan concocted by bureaucrats in Greece to standardise all cvs/resumes/Zusammenfassung across the continent. The plan, which emanates from CEDEFOP, www.cedfop.gr, The European centre for the Development of Vocational Training, aims to create an environment where employers in all member states can easily compare experience and training of prospective employees regardless of their country of origin in order to create a genuinely level playing field of work through…

You’ve assessed your strengths and weaknesses, set your career and life goals and prepared your CV to ensure you market yourself in the best possible way.
So, you’ve decided it’s time to move on and you are looking for a new role in the pharmaceutical industry. You’ve assessed your strengths and weaknesses, set your career and life goals and prepared your CV to ensure you market yourself in the best possible way. You may feel exhausted after all that but in fact your job search has only just begun - now you need to find out what vacancies are out there! 1. Advertisements The traditional way of searching for a suitable opening is to scour the general press and trade literature for job advertisements. Commercial roles in pharmaceutical sales and marketing are most often advertised in…

The NORAS survey is as comprehensive an attempt to assess the state of online recruitment in the UK as we currently have but still leaves much to be desired, the raw stats demonstrate that many sites
The recent publication of NORAS 2002, the first National Online Recruitment Audience Survey is a positive step forward for both recruiters and candidates alike. The survey, run by online recruitment specialist Enhance Media with the aid of several of the major generic job boards, several of the sector specific job boards and the support of ABC Electronic offers an excellent starting point from which those interested in e-cruitment can begin and, despite the self-imposed non-participation of Monster.co.uk, the result is an accurate picture of the state of online recruitment in the UK in mid-200…

Our aim is to reduce the cost per hire and time to fill positions whilst continuing to source high quality candidates. At GSK, e-Recruitment is more than posting adverts on the Internet. It is about l
After internal recruitment methods have been exhausted, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) uses the Internet to recruit its people before using more traditional methods. Our aim is to reduce the cost per hire and time to fill positions whilst continuing to source high quality candidates. At GSK, e-Recruitment is more than posting adverts on the Internet. It is about leveraging a wide range of web-based technology. The e-Recruitment team source candidates, promote the GSK on-line brand, develop on-line recruitment strategies, research and evaluate web information for all of the UK-based businesses. Thes…

Fifteen years ago, nearly all CRAs worked as permanent employees of pharmaceutical companies, juggling monitoring and project co-ordination responsibilities from an office base in the South East of En
If you have been a clinical research professional for sometime, you could be forgiven for not recognising the industry today as the same as that which first employed you. Fifteen years ago, nearly all CRAs worked as permanent employees of pharmaceutical companies, juggling monitoring and project co-ordination responsibilities from an office base in the South East of England. But changes in the pharmaceutical marketplace have resulted in radical changes to the way in which pharmaceutical companies resource their clinical development programmes – CRAs monitor sites and Project Managers co-ord…

We have already considered in previous articles the role of the nurse adviser and how nurses cope with the transition from NHS into a commercial environment. This month we look at how nurse advisers a
We have already considered in previous articles the role of the nurse adviser and how nurses cope with the transition from NHS into a commercial environment. This month we look at how nurse advisers and medical representatives can get the best out of their working relationship, without compromising ethical standards. The Medical Representative’s Perspective Nurse adviser teams are still a fairly new concept. Many representatives still have little or no direct experience of working for a company that sponsors such a team. This means that there is often a lack of understanding of how these tea…

As R&D costs rise steadily and restrictions on profit squeeze tighter, pharma companies must maintain large commercial and development portfolios in order to remain competitive.
It is a palpable fact that you cannot work in the pharmaceutical industry of the 21st century without coming across a merger or acquisition at some time in your career. As R&D costs rise steadily and restrictions on profit squeeze tighter, pharma companies must maintain large commercial and development portfolios in order to remain competitive. The easiest way to increase your product line is, of course, to buy or in some way amalgamate with another company with an established and complementary portfolio itself. Since the 1980’s pharmaceutical companies have been constantly merging with and acquiring othe…

The role of Clinical Research Associate (CRA) is a vital one in the pharmaceutical industry and as such commands both significant responsibility and impressive remuneration. A Clinical Research Associ
The role of Clinical Research Associate (CRA) is a vital one in the pharmaceutical industry and as such commands both significant responsibility and impressive remuneration. A Clinical Research Associate’s principle role is in monitoring the progress of a Clinical Trial either from an overall standpoint, or focused on an individual area of the trial such as initiation, ensuring the scientific integrity of the data collected or monitoring the well-being of the trial patients. A well-trained and knowledgeable CRA plays a vital role in helping to reduce the time between drug discovery and marketi…

In this two part series we look at 35 typical interview questions taken from countless interviews throughout the UK and North America over the last ten years along with 5 typical questions targetted s
An interview is not like an exam and shouldn’t be treated like one, it is an organic process, the pattern of which changes with every question asked or answered and it is designed to let all the participants establish who is the right person for a specific role within an organisation. You should always remember that the interview process is as much about you deciding whether you want to work for a company as it is about the interviewer(s) deciding whether you are right for a particular role. In this first of a two part series we look at 35 typical interview questions taken from countless int…

There has always been a steady flow of nurses who have been tempted away from the NHS to become medical representatives. In the last 5-10years, however, the number of nurses joining our industry has
There has always been a steady flow of nurses who have been tempted away from the NHS to become medical representatives. In the last 5-10years, however, the number of nurses joining our industry has dramatically increased due to the rise of the role of Nurse Adviser. Last month’s article attempted to shed some light on these roles. This month we take the nurse’s view to try and understand their motivations for joining the industry and to get an insight into how they cope with the transition into a commercial environment. Why leave the NHS? If you took a straw poll of nurses in the NHS you wo…

Increasingly, pharmaceutical companies are moving towards flexible human resource management by employing core permanent staff and utilising contract associates to meet short to medium term resourcing
Answers for both those who have vacancies to fill and those who are actively looking for a new position It is well recognised that a flexible approach to staffing is needed in order to meet the peaks and troughs of activity during the drug development process. Increasingly, pharmaceutical companies are moving towards flexible human resource management by employing core permanent staff and utilising contract associates to meet short to medium term resourcing needs. Such contract personnel are available through three main categories of organisation : CRO’s CRO’s may offer their own permanen…

Nurse Adviser teams have seen a rapid growth over the last 5 years, yet they remain an area of mystery for many. This article, the first of a series of 3, aims to start to shed some light on the role
Nurse Adviser teams have seen a rapid growth over the last 5 years, yet they remain an area of mystery for many. This article, the first of a series of 3, aims to start to shed some light on the role of Nurse Adviser within the pharmaceutical industry. The Growth of Nurse Advisers Nurse Adviser (or Advisor), Nurse Facilitator and Nurse Specialist are just some of the titles applied to Nurses working on a wide variety of programmes sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. There are great variances in their day to day roles, therapeutic specialities and programme objectives but the one commonali…

A role as a medical sales rep is difficult to land, but with determination, persistence and a little advice from us you too could soon be warming a seat in a GPs waiting room, craving that elusive thr
One of the most common queries received at PharmiWeb Towers is from career changers or recent graduates looking to get into the field of medical sales. The attraction is understandable, repping offers excellent salaries and the potential for even better bonuses, company cars are standard and of high quality, training is excellent and many ethical pharmaceutical manufacturers are the very definition of blue-chip companies. A role as a medical sales rep is difficult to land, but with determination, persistence and a little advice from us you too could soon be warming a seat in a GPs waiting room…