|
|
| |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Career Advice for University Students
By Bob Gammon |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
With Finals upon us, Undergraduates will soon be turning their attention to the business of finding a job. Those who have taken a year out in industry during their degree course may already have been invited to return to their placement company. These are the fortunate few. What then does the pharmaceutical industry have to offer for new graduates?
This article describes some of the many career opportunities open to university graduates. It should be read in conjunction with other articles on this website such as What To Include In Your CV, The Whys and Wherefores of Covering Letters and How To Succeed At Interviews.
Life does not begin on Graduation Day. The earlier years leading up to graduation tell a great deal about the type of work to which you will probably be most suited. Some people are gregarious, are the life and soul of a party, others find satisfaction from reading in quiet surroundings and are content with their own company. Some are particularly numerate; some are good organisers and some enjoy writing whether it's poetry or letters to friends. In the same way, different jobs require people with different skills and personality traits.
Without the continuous search for more effective and safer treatments, mankind would be the poorer. Almost every pharmaceutical company is developing it's own products. Alongside this industry another runs in parallel - contract clinical and pre-clinical research. When pharmaceutical companies need additional manpower or a greater level of skill or experience lies outside their company, Contract Research Organisations (CROs) are called upon for assistance. Most of the functions described below exist in both of these parallel industries.
Undoubtedly, the most well-known job function in clinical development is that of Clinical Research Associate (CRA). The Institute of Clinical Research (see Links) has over 5000 members most of whom are employed by pharmaceutical companies and CROs. There is no standard job description for the CRA. However, their responsibilities will include some or all of the following:
writing protocols
designing case report forms
selecting General Practitioners and Hospital Doctors as investigators
setting up clinical trials
monitoring performance
checking data
trouble shooting and much more.
This is a job essentially for life scientists and nurses who have excellent people skills since the success of a clinical trial lies largely in communicating information, motivating, and solving problems. Many CRAs work from home just as do Sales Representatives but an equally large number work from the offices of their employer. There are many similarities between the Sales and CRAs functions. Both require flexibility in hours of work, frequent travel is a significant feature as is talking to doctors and nurses. There the similarity ends. Selling is about getting someone to use a product: the CRA job is about finding the truth about a drug's usefulness.
Only a very few openings exist for graduates coming directly from universities and therefore the competition for places in intense. The most successful candidates are those who have the desired personality traits and are the best prepared when they apply for openings and attend interview. Before applying for any position, it is essential that candidates prepare themselves as fully as possible. If the reader thought that education stopped after university, then think again! Excellent materials exist to help the job searcher such as the publications obtainable from www.canarybooks.com
Alongside the profile of the CRA role, university graduates need to be aware of another discipline which offers excellent growth potential and career opportunities.
Data Management is an essential component in the clinical development of pharmaceuticals. Once upon a time, CRAs would write protocols, run clinical studies, analyse data and write reports of the results. It's now a rarity to find all these components undertaken by one person. Data Managers become involved in the planning stages of clinical trials. They design the materials used to capture data (the case report forms), are involved in designing databases which will hold the data and have an overall responsibility for ensuring that the integrity of data is maintained once it arrives at the data centre. There are various ways in which clinical data is reviewed for accuracy and completion. Data Associates will often be responsible for the review of case report forms once they have been delivered to the pharmaceutical company and CRO. They will be looking for missing data, ensuring legibility, coding safety information for computer entry and generally making sure that data is capable of being analysed. Needless to say, this role requires an eye for detail, a love of working with figures and, inevitably, keyboard skills. For more information, visit www.acdm.org.uk
Numerous other vital roles exist in the pharmaceutical industry for which graduates are eligible. These include:
Pharmacovigilance or Clinical Drug Safety
These departments in pharmaceutical companies receive details of serious adverse events occurring during clinical trials and, in the case of marketed products, everyday use by doctors. These must be evaluated and reported to the regulatory authorities such as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in London. Naturally, training is provided so that new entrants to this field are able to recognise a serious event. As would be expected, close collaboration exists between these departments and those of Data Management and Clinical Research and this leads occasionally to people transferring from one department to another as openings become available. To work in this field, graduates should have a sound background in one of the clinical sciences such as pharmacy or pharmacology. It has been the experience of the author that graduates and postgraduates originally applying for CRA vacancies, have subsequently entered the pharmaceutical industry via a role in Pharmacovigilance but many also have chosen to stay in this field.
Medical Information
Medical Information departments provide an essential interface between pharmaceutical companies and their customers: doctors, nurses, pharmacists and the general public. Many Medical Information Officers are pharmacists although the role is not exclusively filled by these graduates. In addition to answering external enquiries, these departments are the prime source of information for colleagues on up-to-date medical literature and competitor product information. Inevitably, the pharmaceutical company's library usually falls in the domain of Medical Information. Enquiries are diverse and numerous arriving by telephone, letter, fax and email and require urgent attention. Medical Information departments are often called upon to participate in the training of Sales Representatives and CRAs. Such is the importance of this discipline, that a forum exists, details of which can be found at www.aiopi.org.uk
Regulatory Affairs
This department performs yet another vital function within a pharmaceutical company as they are the interface with Government departments whose role it is to grant licences for and monitor the safety of drugs and devices. This discipline maintains active involvement in the lifespan of a pharmaceutical product from discovery to marketing and thereafter. When marketing licences are sought from bodies such as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (the UK's regulatory authority), Regulatory Affairs will assemble data from a wide variety of sources such pharmacy, manufacturing, toxicity and clinical testing. Personnel are assigned to specific parts of an application and may be involved in writing summaries of, for instance, groups of clinical trials. Needless to say, the ability to express oneself clearly and concisely in writing is an essential skill. Applications are usually welcomed from those with pharmacy, pharmacology and biomedical degrees but those without these qualifications should not be deterred from following this career path. It is unlikely that someone joining a Regulatory Affairs department would be required to travel. Senior personnel may be required to visit Government agencies on occasion.
Sales
Studying the Appointments section of The Daily Telegraph on a Thursday, the reader can't fail to notice advertisements for Sales Representatives. These positions, often called Medical Representative, are among the most numerous in the pharmaceutical industry. Not only do pharmaceutical companies employee representatives but there are very large numbers of people employed by contract organisations who are then seconded to the pharmaceutical companies. Representatives "sell" pharmaceuticals and, in allied industries, sutures, catheters, prostheses, diagnostic kits and so on. In the case of pharmaceuticals, for the most part, representatives do not actually sell anything from their briefcases in the sense that a doorstep sales-person does. They "promote" and persuade uses of products (General Practitioners and Hospital Doctors) to use one company's products rather than another. If you have visited your GP's surgery and seen a professional looking, usually young, person with a briefcase waiting to be seen, it is probably a Sales Representative. This is a highly ethical form of selling which is governed by strict rules laid down by the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries (ABPI). It is a demanding job and is remunerated accordingly. Sales Representatives usually work from home. Their package usually includes a company car or car allowance. Drive, initiative, resilience to rejection are all essentials for these positions. If this is not you, look elsewhere.
Laboratory Technician
Readers of New Scientist - available at any newsagents - will have noticed the wealth of opportunities for people wishing to work in a laboratory setting. Were you the student who gained excellent grades in your practical work or stayed on in the lab long after others had left? If you enjoyed working in a lab during your university years, then why change after graduation? You will find a multitude of opportunities through agencies, in journals and newspapers. Be aware, however, that of all disciplines in the pharmaceutical industry, a PhD is generally regarded as essential if you intend to attain management or higher positions in a laboratory setting. Those who wish to work in a laboratory will need to be able to work to strict guidelines, have an aptitude for handling equipment and for keeping neat and up to date records.
Copyright © 2009 PDR Partners, incorporating Bob Gammon Associates. |
|
 |
 |
|
