It's really not that bad here

We all have a ton of friends that fit that description. They last 10 years in pharmaceuticals and than get downsized and jump from job to job every year because other industries don't pay as well and they actually require people to produce. This industry ruins people for anything else.

 

This applies equally to reps working 50+ hours a week, giving their entire lives to this company. They are no more protected than the rep working 20 hours a week.

 

It can happen to anyone. Because people move from company to company (reps, managers, etc), if you've done a good job, you can usually find another job through a contact. If you've been lazy, the word gets around and nobody will touch you. I've been downsized twice in 12 years and found new jobs through people that I worked with in the past. This board is full of people like the original poster that justify being lazy, get downsized, and than blame everyone but themselves.

 

Most people in pharma are too stupid to realize they're traveling down a dead-end road. They get lazy and comfortable until the road ends. When the roads ends, they panic and blame everyone else but themselves. The original poster is typical of this mentality. They have a great future in crappy jobs when this gig ends......and it will end.

 

Laboratory worker here...posting here since the lab forums for BMS on this site get ZERO traffic.

I truly loathe BMS anymore..it's gone from being a place I at one time used to look forward to coming into every day since at one point I worked for and with great people and was doing interesting work with reasonable timetables, to a place I cannot fucking stand.

The good colleagues are gone or relocated, replaced with mindless minions who will stab you in the back if they think it will help them get ahead, and we now have workloads and timetables that are simply ludicrous and unreasonable. In my case, a lot of this is brought on by managers who are trying to outshine other managers ("look at me, look at me"), and my own personal manager has basically said that she is trying to break someone else's record for delivery of an ECN.

That said, for the amount of money I get paid there are certainly worse things I could be doing, and I often remind myself that I am not driving a truck for a living or doing physical labor..

 

shut up asshole.......I have freeloaded for years and years and I'm still around. I even drove 10 hours there and back to Montreal for a rub and tug just to mileage on my company car. This is a game and very easy to play

 

Yep, it's a game until they decide you're no longer playing. Hopefully Inventiv or the hospice you'll be working for offer a company car or a good car reimbursement plan so you can keep traveling to Montreal. Better save some of that money now because you'll need it later.

 

Most medical companies won't touch pharma reps with over 5 years of experience. As they say about pharma reps.......the longer you stay in pharma, the dumber you get.

 

True in any job. If you haven't learned to play the game in ONE year, you are pretty dumb. If you're dumb enough to put job first, you are just plain stupid. It's all a game. Even the president and his cronies have figured that out.

 

Blah, blah, blah......yes we know that you're playing the game. We've heard you say it countless times on this thread and we understand what you're doing. We get it and so does the company.

Unfortunately for you, any of us in this industry for 15-20 years have seen countless people like you come and go. When you get downsized (and it will happen), the part you don't understand is that nobody will touch you when it happens because everyone knows that's all you did. You think everyone is around you is stupid while we all talk about what a lazy moron you are. When you get downsized, we'll tell you how sorry we are but we'll be laughing behind your back.

Your time will come and when it does, you won't look in the mirror and blame yourself. You'll be one of the thousands on cafepharma whining about how unfairly the company treated you. Any of us that have survived have seen tons of people like you come and go. No need to pay a fortune teller, the terms "Inventiv" and "contract sales" will be in your future. LOL.

 

The child's world of pharma has warped your pea size brain. Because pharma is a game, don't ASSume that other industries work the same way. I did pharma before medical. Pharma is like being in junior high with a bunch of immature kids and medical is like being in college. Now go load up that trunk with samples and make sure my food is warm when you deliver it. And by the way, make sure you bring extra food as I'm taking it home to feed my kids tonight you tool.

 

BMS is good at a couple things. We all must admit that our drugs in oncology are very good and we can that BMS for developing them for us to sell. That said, BMS is also great at creating distance between management and sales and creating a " what's in it for me" attitude all the way up and down the hierarchy. Core behaviors are set to give direction as to how to hold a lower level employee responsible to a higher level employee BUT those core behaviors are not in play when the higher level is interaction with the lower level. Basically the shi flows down hill. If you doubt that ask yourself how many times you have been contacted by somebody who out ranks you to explain something they heard or read that gave them an "impression" good or bad?

 

I've worked at 4 pharma companies during my career. GSK was the softest group of people. Novartis was the most unethical. BMS was the one where people spent the most time making excuses. It was like working for the government. Nobody really wanted to improve or make things better because they're were more concerned about CYA and covering their own agenda to MAKE IT LOOK like they were doing something. No offense intended but when I see someone that has worked at BMS a long time, I automatically dismiss them as pretty mediocre.

 

I currently work in sales for a medical engineering firm. Started out in pharma and then medical. Went back and got masters in electrical engineering. Pharma and med devices are kiddy shit money is crap. I've quadrupled my earnings. Last year was almost 7 figures. My fiends are still at BMS I tell them if you have half a brain get out whole you still can.

 

And what does it say about you that you worked at all of these companies?

 

Most reps today will work at as many as 10 companies over their career. It is no uncommon. The days of a rep at one company for life were done 10 years ago. It about pipeline and share of voice. Reps are a commodity. If company A looses patents or mature products. Less reps needed. Company B has a booming pipeline they hire reps. Simple concept. So 4 companies is no big deal in pharma. If your smart you'll be proactive and create your own destiny by finding a job with the best pipeline company.

 

Totally agree. If you have 20 years experience with 4 different companies you have a significant advantage over someone who spent all 20 at one company. There is a concern about anyone that spends too long with one organization- inflexible? risk averse? not change oriented? too set in one culture? etc.

 

It says that he/she was smart enough to leave BMS and that you're stupid enough to think that you're going to work at one company in this day and age.