I'm burned out. Any zero pressure, sample only jobs? Or otc to pharmacies?

Ive been doing this for 22 years. I'm totally fried. Need something non stress for a few more years. Not worried about the money. Just need benefits and a salary for a few years.

 

stay in until they cut you loose or you can retire...You will see when
you get out in the real world with 22 years of pharma sales on your resume
you will be about as valuable as a cell phone from about 20 years ago...

No one wants to hire ex drug reps, especially those with gray around the temples...

good luck to you...I was pushed out at 50 and am struggling like crazy to keep
it all together...raided the IRA accounts to survive.

 

Ditto- same here- last 3 jobs all disappeared due to merger/aquisition, sale of divison, etc- I am 57, and thank god got all my kids through college before my last layoff- have been unemployed 13 months- apply for lots of positions, but employers (and recruitters in particular) will not look at you unless you are an 'exact match' for industry, disease state, drug class, etc- I have 30 years sales, 20 in pharma/animal health, and the best I can do is an offer from Trugreen to go door-to-door selling lawn care service- $700 a week base- WTF?? if my wife were not employed full time with good job at hospital, I would be bankrupt and moving in with my 85 yo mom- have to laugh to keep from crying- yeah, 401K is about to be cashed in to pay off debt- nuculear option I know, but we are drowning- I have done so much up to now (specialty sales, national accounts) and now I cant get a damn job anywhere! many new opportunities are '1099 reps' paid commission only on a per-sale basis- I would accept the risk and work for a start-up if I could find one ......

 

this is so true...The only jobs I have been able to have employers look at me for are the absolute bottom feeder jobs that either people don't want or are just churn, burn and turn. People, you will see once you are spit out of the pharma sales meatgrinder. Your options: Aflac and other insurance companies, Terminex and other pest control sales, Merchant Services Sales (the worst of the worst) Solar Panel sales, etc. etc...I miss my 100k a year pharma job, but I don't miss the insanity and the daily lying quite frankly.

 

Yeah, same story here, ony jobs I've been getting are temp manufacturing jobs, swing shifts for $10 an hour or 12 hr days six days a week mandatory OT. my wife liquidated most of here IRA (20K), I''ve went through 25-30K svngs and cash, done retail at HD PT, If it wasn't for my wife I'd be 50 iving with my mom too! The fall from pharma is long and hard -so those of you still in it quit whining about you company car and do your job

 

Agree with you completely that the fall from pharma is "long and hard" as you put it, but take issue with
your statement to "Quit whining - and do your job." Seriously though, what job is there really left to do. The
bulk of territories rarely see reps anymore, and reps just add in daily phony calls so they can keep the gravy
train running. The pharma sales job hasn't really existed since the early 90s. And even then it was a bit of a
charade really.

 

Well, I spent 23 years with one company ... top sales for several of those years. But we got bought out and I ended up with some pretty rotten managers ... just as the new folks in charge were rolling out all their corporate bureaucracy, which happened to coincide with a bad year (several of my key customers changed GPO contracts in a hospital setting) and my being just under 50 years old, so I was at a point in my career where I was most vulnerable. Spent several years chasing down jobs, fortunately my wife could teach and we were out of debt except for a modest mortgage and even tried going into business with a partner (DON'T DO IT!). I finally landed on my feet three years ago with a facilities management company doing telephone sales to existing accounts. Making about half of what I did in pharmaceuticals, but it's more-or-less a 40 hour week and close to home. All I gotta do is last about 6 more years and then it's retirement.

 

Well I do agree the train quit running, but probably more like mid 90-20 when insrances told docs what to rx, your doc can clinically luv ur drug 2 death but if insrance says no, or offers a a genereic 4 $50 less what will the patieny want inost casrs? Insurance companies write the rx;s not the docs

 

Agreed...the only reason there are still armies of pharma reps, is because their are still armies of
middle managers above them, that insist on corporate welfare for life...

 

I got pushed out at 53. Since pharma was not my first gig, I'm ok doing the chameleon once again. I'd be lying if I told you I don't miss bringing lunch for $50 an hour but I miss the fishing, claybird shooting, wine tastings, and strip clubs more. The docs I still hang with do too. Change is certain.

 

What about lab sales? LabCorp or Quest....

 

1. Take a vacation.
2. Don't over analyze the job.
3. Take a leave of absence if you need it badly.

Keep us posted. Wish you the best.