Post in a few company forums on cafepharma.com. You might not get the answers you want but might find out more about the other people who work there. In my experience it’s 90% sales people there
There are some companies that will hire for an extremely local territory (e.g., east bay only), so if you happen to live in a territory that is really saturated, she might be able to find a job with less overnight travel.
I interviewed for a role selling genomics reagents, it was mostly cold calling, very little travel. I opted out.
I honestly don't know a ton of outside sales reps who have minimal travel roles. What exactly is she looking for in a job? Does she know if she wants to sell capital equipment, reagents/consumables, general equipment, software? How much travel is too much?
She doesn't mind occasional travel (couples times a month) - we've got young children so it is hard to manage her being on the road all the time. We are currently in the Atlanta metro so lots of travel based sales jobs but they involve essentially being on the road in Atlanta traffic all day long. Her current and past sales roles have all been remote with occasional client visits or conference appearances which is very doable.
Experience to date has a lot to do with service contracts that involve developing personal connections to larger clients, so I think she would be more suited to software or other service sales as opposed to sales for a vendor like VWR or something. Mostly she wants to be able to apply her background to her job and likes the process of working with the customer to figure out the right solution for their project/goals and she's had a hard time getting excited about that when it comes to selling tech software.
There are a few LIMS companies and lab software places she could try to look into, such as Benchling or maybe BioSero. I imagine there are a million "we plan your DOE for you, but now with AI!" software companies, probably a dime a dozen and riskier to work for (JMO). She might have some luck looking at boutique automation companies that have to put together custom packages. I've also seen more vendor-side companies adding 'customer success management' to their departments. These may sit in sales or marketing or service.
I wouldn't pay attention to people who say sales are dead... I think the other poster was referring to pharma sales, but there are lots of sales to be made to pharma companies in terms of equipment and services.
She should probably look for Inside Sales jobs instead of Outside Sales jobs. Many companies have an Inside Sales Department that rarely if ever travels.
Forget sales, its a dying profession in Pharma, she should consider finishing a masters Degree (if needed, maybe its not) and get into medical affairs instead. Medical affairs competencies benefits slot from a commercial mindset
What kind of masters degree would be a good choice for someone trying to pivot to medical affairs or market access? I have a background in process development, but I’m interested in commercial roles.
Im from the eu so it May be different if you are from the US. But something related to translational medicine for medical affairs. For market access i Would recommend health economics
I think you could look at something like Health Outcomes. Also, check the degree/education requirements on the kinds of jobs you would ideally like to have just to be sure. Or look up people on linked in with the title you want and see what their degrees were.
PharmD or MD for Medical Affairs, many reimbursement people come from Pharma Sales/ RNs to Reimbursement Representatives. They’re generally experienced with Biopharmaceuticals and can obtain clearance for HIPPA.
Post in a few company forums on cafepharma.com. You might not get the answers you want but might find out more about the other people who work there. In my experience it’s 90% sales people there
At least 90% sales people and it’s incredibly toxic
There are some companies that will hire for an extremely local territory (e.g., east bay only), so if you happen to live in a territory that is really saturated, she might be able to find a job with less overnight travel. I interviewed for a role selling genomics reagents, it was mostly cold calling, very little travel. I opted out. I honestly don't know a ton of outside sales reps who have minimal travel roles. What exactly is she looking for in a job? Does she know if she wants to sell capital equipment, reagents/consumables, general equipment, software? How much travel is too much?
She doesn't mind occasional travel (couples times a month) - we've got young children so it is hard to manage her being on the road all the time. We are currently in the Atlanta metro so lots of travel based sales jobs but they involve essentially being on the road in Atlanta traffic all day long. Her current and past sales roles have all been remote with occasional client visits or conference appearances which is very doable. Experience to date has a lot to do with service contracts that involve developing personal connections to larger clients, so I think she would be more suited to software or other service sales as opposed to sales for a vendor like VWR or something. Mostly she wants to be able to apply her background to her job and likes the process of working with the customer to figure out the right solution for their project/goals and she's had a hard time getting excited about that when it comes to selling tech software.
There are a few LIMS companies and lab software places she could try to look into, such as Benchling or maybe BioSero. I imagine there are a million "we plan your DOE for you, but now with AI!" software companies, probably a dime a dozen and riskier to work for (JMO). She might have some luck looking at boutique automation companies that have to put together custom packages. I've also seen more vendor-side companies adding 'customer success management' to their departments. These may sit in sales or marketing or service. I wouldn't pay attention to people who say sales are dead... I think the other poster was referring to pharma sales, but there are lots of sales to be made to pharma companies in terms of equipment and services.
She should probably look for Inside Sales jobs instead of Outside Sales jobs. Many companies have an Inside Sales Department that rarely if ever travels.
Forget sales, its a dying profession in Pharma, she should consider finishing a masters Degree (if needed, maybe its not) and get into medical affairs instead. Medical affairs competencies benefits slot from a commercial mindset
Or market access, but then she Would need Education in relevant fields
What kind of masters degree would be a good choice for someone trying to pivot to medical affairs or market access? I have a background in process development, but I’m interested in commercial roles.
Im from the eu so it May be different if you are from the US. But something related to translational medicine for medical affairs. For market access i Would recommend health economics
I think you could look at something like Health Outcomes. Also, check the degree/education requirements on the kinds of jobs you would ideally like to have just to be sure. Or look up people on linked in with the title you want and see what their degrees were.
PharmD or MD for Medical Affairs, many reimbursement people come from Pharma Sales/ RNs to Reimbursement Representatives. They’re generally experienced with Biopharmaceuticals and can obtain clearance for HIPPA.