Age Discrimination In Pharma Sales

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced age discrimination in pharma sales hiring? I worked in pharma sales for 15 years, getting in late in life at age 39. I have always performed at an exemplary level, getting ranked in the Top 10% of the Nation in rankings, winning President's Club awards and regional awards, etc. My phone used to ring off the hook with phone calls from recruiters, and I was flown all over the nation just for interviews. Now over 50, I'm lucky if I even get an interview. If I do, it's clear I'm written off due to my age. There are subtle clues, or sometimes not so subtle. (No, I don't mention my age, but by my resume, it's obvious.) Don't tell me to alter my resume, because then they just waste my time by rejecting me at the interview. Anyone else over 50 experience this? It's sad, because I've outperformed much younger people on various sales teams …

 

Pharma 30 years ago would have jumped at having an experienced rep in the field...The average age was probably late 40s to 50 .. that was then when pharma sales was considered an elite sales position (1 rep/1 territory covered hospitals, wholesalers, everybody, period)

Pharma company's consider reps a 2nd step job for those out of college...early 30s..really standing in halls or closets to get a signature doesn't take much skill...

Keep trying to get back in...maybe a hiring mgr. will have just gone thru diversity / age training and give you a shot...its hard no doubt... branch out to other industries

 

Yes, this scenario is the norm now. Also, high performing, seasoned reps are assumed to have a high price tag so by excelling you have priced your self out of the market. I can't tell you how many times I have told a recruiter or hiring manager that I was more motivated by opportunity than a fat salary and would more than make up the difference with an uncapped bonus but the conversation goes nowhere. Its truly sad that people with so much to offer are shut out.

 

Its not just salary. Many hiring managers are intimidated by older reps. What they don’t realize is that the rep will help make them look good and they just want to keep working. Nothing to worry about.

 

Wow! I never thought it would happen at just 50! It seems you must know someone to even get a phone screen these days...so depressing. Any ideas on different industries? I apply where skills would be transferable...crickets!

 

There is always going to be work out there if you are flexible. Look for independent sales for a company with a decent product and a territory without too much, if any, over night travel.

Besides, medical sales is not a good gig anymore, and anyone that tells you otherwise, is an idiot. First, the access is terrible. Second, the micro management is out of control. Third, you are dealing with an industry with no stability and no respect.

The best advice, above all, is don't apply to public traded companies, as they are liars in the interview process and suck at life. Stick with private companies, because they tend to appreciate good sales people, and will treat you much better.

Finally, lower your cost of living. Downsize if you can. This will take the pressure off as well.

Best to you. Don't panic through this process. Look inside of yourself for wisdom and strength and you will find it.

 

Also, try to live way bellow your means. Just try it. More than half of the shit we think we need - we don't,
Get some foredoom and then you will know if you need to trade up or not.

 

I am like the OP and entered at 40 and laid off 11 years later. I transitioned into wound healing center sales, then into home health. Home health is so sleazy and smarmy, they make pharma look great. Healthcare sales in general chewed me up and spit me back out. Went back to my original career in the lab and I am so much happier as I edge towards retirement. And yes, after the layoff when I was interviewing for other pharma jobs, I saw a definite age discrimination. Found out that someone in their late 20s got one job I was after and my physician office buddies told me all about her antics. Pissed physicians off left and right and one night she got hammered at her own dinner program and crashed her fleet vehicle. The hiring manager actually called me and asked that I interview again for the position. I declined.

 

Sad to hear I am not alone. I lead my region and often the nation in performance, not every year as we all know how it works, but consistent performance brought me from a salary of $60K in 2002 to $95K in eight years and I would always grab the spiffs and max out bonus. I think my best year brought home over $130k. I began in 93 and the door shut in 2010. I did it all by simply knowing my stuff and working each day...but also knowing when not to bug a doc on a bad day. Just being friendly real and knowledgeable...an I loved it. Then the divisional layoffs came, and I was unemployed. Not many openings in my geography, and when I would get an interview it was always with a group of men and women much younger than me. I could tell they liked me, and I interviewed with confidence...but I never got the call. It didn't make any business sense to me, but clearly that's not what it's all about. Put yourself in the shoes of a hiring manager...and who would you hire? The young go getter, who would look up to you and massage your ego, or the older guy who says he's special, but who knows right...maybe he just had a luck territory or a good pod to win all those awards. So I sell cars now. I enjoy helping people through the process...I can walk around outside and grab a car for a test drive whenever...I make the best of it. But it is a bit of a waste of my ability...I love biochemistry...how the body works and how drugs work in the body, and docs picked up on that. It is a stain on the industry that this age discrimination is allowed to happen. Life is hard, full of tragedies and sufferings...but at least it's short. So just make the best of every day you have. BW

 

You have a great attitude & you persevered. You represent the noble art of selling & do us proud. God bless you my friend!

 

Couldn't agree more. You offer wisdom, lessons learned and a broad perspective that a smart manager would leverage for the good of the team.

 

The days of the detail person is over. The new job description is " Lunch Bitch". It's a humiliating job for anyone with a conscious. Glad I got out and squeezed in 32 years! Most tenured reps are over qualified for the new job description! This industry has gone down the tubes! This used to be a respectable career. It's a joke now!

 

Look at small companies....you might have more travel, but the opportunities are better. COVID will no doubt help or speed up the demise of the Pharma Sales Rep as a career. 1) a lot of offices will remain closed to outside people. 2) Pharma companies don’t need 5-6 reps per geography doing worthless virtual interactions. 3) Technology is moving faster than most of us can keep up with without advanced training. Although not related to COVID....it is a fact. Let’s face facts; Pharma Companies can hire 2 entry level reps for what they are paying me with 36 years in the industry and probably goes for a good 10-15 yr rep; whether it’s the company or the customer, they both realize the marginal value we bring to their practices. Don’t shoot the messenger, just an old “seasoned” rep’s observations.

 

it’s common practice at all levels in Pharma these days. It’s illegal but it’s very hard to prove. It’s offensive to see companies advertise on their websites how much they value diversity only to discriminate. Words like “overqualified “ are code for your too old or I am afraid you’ll leave if a better offer comes along. However, if you declare yourself as transgender I guarantee you will get a call to interview.

 

I agree completely. Had the same amount of tenure and when the division was dissolved I welcomed the package. Hated being the “Lunch Bitch “. The industry destroyed all the respect we once had by flooding the offices to make reach and frequency goals. Total BS. I never wanted or needed another rep with the same bag in the same territory. I won several national sales awards on my own, thank you. It was a great run but I hated what my job had become in the end.

 

General pharma is basically the lowest rung in the pharma ladder. So yes they will most likely pay for the cheapest and therefor youngest sales people. For me I took the route of going to start up companies. I’m on my fourth start up company and theses companies have less than 150 sales reps.

I would say become specialized. Wether it’s focusing in a specific field(neurology, oncology etc), rarer/harder to treat diseases, or the newest treatments/technology.

staying at an entry level pharma position may be seen as complacency. The days of staying 30 years at a pharma job are over. It’s sad, but it’s the truth.

 

Age and pay discrimination are rampant. This is being discussed on other platforms as well.

 

So true... if you stayed in mass market/primary care for more than 5 years whether you started in the 90’s or 00’s you only have yourself to blame. Highly specialized companies and division were starting then and the smart folks left the primary care big Pharma’s for Oncology, Neuro/MS, HIV, rare disease etc..

The sample rep job was always meant to be an entry level position ergo it doesn’t need a deep level of experience so why pay unnecessarily for experience? Save the back in the day at Lilly all the reps were pharmacists and were respected nonsense...they were all the men who didn’t get jobs as real pharmacist and that model died in the 80’s. If you didn’t adjust your thinking by the 90’s, again the blame is on you. My entire team of oncology reps are over 50 with a few eyeing 60. They got into oncology in the early 90’s as did I. We all saw the writing on the wall. You are not, not getting hired because of your age you are not getting hired because you didn’t grow your career, you stood pat as the big Pharma primary care rep while the smart ones went into highly specialized therapeutic areas. Again what skill set, with all you experience is worth overpaying for?