Pharma Veterans

Disruption of Careers in Pharma Industry – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1018 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1018 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Antoni Shkraba Credit: Lukas Credit: Yan Krukau Preamble When I started at the entry level in pharmaceutical industry four decades ago, there was no talk about career progression. The market was dominated by MNCs who invested in training and development, but discussion on career planning for every individual was not done. The MNCs followed the rule of hiring at the entry level or at the highest level. Lateral hirings at middle and senior middle position were rare. The rule was to promote from inhouse talent. The problem, however, was that the companies were not expanding, and senior positions were few and far between. Even the first promotion t...

How to Promote Engagement in Your Organization? – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #852 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #852 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans aims to share knowledge and wisdom from Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Alexander Suhorucov Credit: Ketut Subiyanto Credit: Wills.io This post is based on several research findings by Gallup and McKinsey. Fighting disengagement is a defensive strategy; offensive strategy will be to promote engagement. Multiple strategies must be employed to promote engagement level across the organization. We take a brief look at some of these strategies. Recognizing and Valuing the Presence The first step in creating and sustaining an environment of engagement is to recognize the people who work here.  This basic step is needed bec...

Getting Up and Restarting After Career Setback – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #820 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #820 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Andrea Piacquadio Photo Credit: Ann H Photo Credit: Mizuno K I have found few people whose career trajectory keeps rising throughout the career span. For ordinary mortals like me and many others, there are ups and downs during a long career. Personally, I have faced serious setbacks more than once. I have also seen it happening to others, have talked about it, and tried to find solutions together. Experiencing a career setback is certainly disheartening and challenging, but it doesn't have to be the end of the road. Setbacks are a normal part...

Career Setbacks – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #819 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #819 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Andrea Piacquadio Photo Credit: Anna Shvets Photo Credit: Ron Lach This post is generally aimed at all working women and men, and especially towards Pharma colleagues. Why Pharma? The turnover in pharma sales teams ranges from 25 – 50%; very high as compared to office jobs in the same industry and all jobs in other industries. And it is not just due to stress; people working in small businesses receive very bad treatment, poor salary, and everyday attacks on self-respect, but they keep working at the same place for years. It should also be understood that stress is deliber...

Should We have Only One Career in Life? – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #804 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #804 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Alexander Suhorucov Photo Credit: cottonbro studio Photo Credit: Sarah Chai Ms. Su-Yen Wong is Singaporean, a hardworking, hard driving lady pursuing several interests, and presently working as a board director for organizations around the world, a professional speaker, and an adjunct professor of leadership at the top-ranked National University of Singapore. We have been connected on social media for couple of years. Previously, she had been pursuing the same career for several years. She took a leap of faith and reinvented herself. She then launch...

Career Suggestions for Gen Z – Part 2 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #745 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #745 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Ivan Samkov Photo Credit: MART Production Photo Credit: Polina Tankilevitch Photo Credit: SHVETS Production Generation Z are the people who are borne between 1997 and 2012, give or take couple of years. This is the most tech savvy generation because they grew up in the age of technology. They are very familiar and comfortable with gadgets and love to use these. Some of the Gen Z have already come into workforce and others are at stages of education where they need to decide about their career choices.  We continue with career options for Gen Z. A...

Career Suggestions for Gen Z – Part 1 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #744 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #744 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Marcus Aurelius Photo Credit: Mikael Blomkvist Photo Credit: Artem Podrez Generation Z are the people who are borne between 1997 and 2012, give or take couple of years. This is the most tech savvy generation because they grew up in the age of technology. They are very familiar and comfortable with gadgets and love to use these. Some of the Gen Z have already come into workforce and others are at stages of education where they need to decide about their career choices.  Lot of research is being done on how and why Gen Z is different from Gen X, Y,...

Career Choices Dilemmas – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #743 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #743 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Amina Filkins Photo Credit: Jeff Denlea Photo Credit: Thirdman Let us start with the question, Do Young People Make Career Choices? The answer is mostly No. These are the scenarios which lead to the above answer. Aptitude Assessment Most youngsters do not know or at least do not know clearly as to what they wish to pursue as a career. The biggest reason for this gap is our curriculum which is taught from beginning to the college. The curriculum is a mix of many subjects none of which evokes curiosity or quest for knowledge. Children are being overloaded with unnece...

Public and Private Sector Careers – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #742 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #742 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Andrea Piacquadio Photo Credit: Antoni Shkraba Everyone, including myself, propagates that one should plan, monitor, and control her/his career. In the same breath, we say that one should stick to an organization to get recognized and upgraded. Then there are others who say it all depends on luck, nothing else. For the latter, no logic can be given though at times it seems that luck has prevailed over competence and performance. Given this uncertain situation, how can one gain control over career evolution? We shall examine these questions in this and the...

Employee Engagement – Part 3 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #688 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #688 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Nicola Barts Photo Credit: Jonathan Borba FACTORS THAT REDUCE/ STOP ENGAGEMENT Gallup reports that globally, only 15% of employees are engaged in their work. It means that 85% employees are less engaged, disengaged, and actively disengaged. Less engaged and disengaged employees still do their work, though without committing themselves. Actively disengaged employees do not just perform in a compromised manner, but they become a source of negativity for the other employees. Their negative influence has the likelihood of spreading gradually. They would criticize ...