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...

Why do Senior Managers Keep Repeating the Same Mistakes? Part II – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #945 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #945 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: Christina Morillo Credit: fauxels Credit: RDNE Stock Project Continued from Previous …… Before we move to the next job with KK, it would be instructive to review the first job and analyze what was right and what was not. The Right Things KK applied his educational knowledge on the job. He was a good learner, and he kept the learning streak alive. The difference between good and poor education is its assimilation; good education gets into the personality and enriches it; poor education keeps floating outside. KK had good observation and he picked up many things from his colleagues. He had a reasonably good reading habit, an...

Is Pharma Industry Ruining Careers? – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #830 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #830 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. Photo Credit: Nicola Barts Photo Credit: Mikhail Nilov Photo Credit: Monstera Photo Credit: Vantha Thang A colleague working in a large MNC, who was few years senior to me when I started, once told me this. “I was about 18 years of age when I joined as medical representative. I had a rather large territory, and I traveled a lot with several night stays. My expense statement was bigger than most and I earned almost 1800 rupees a month. Earning 1800 at 18 was fantastic”. In the early 1970s, this amount of money was large by any standard. The gentleman kept rising through ...

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...