Pharmaceutical Sales Representative | New Jersey | Oct 8, 2016
Expansion and rapid growth destabilized many established teams which left the team members uncertain about the future and lowered productivity.
Rapid growth and acquisition of a new company changed the dynamics of the Pulmonary division leaving many district team members uncertain and the future of their team. Many managers committed themselves to future opportunities and spent little time focused on the development of teams already established. There was little to no concrete information shared by management about the future of many existing teams therefore, seasoned employees focused on finding new positions elsewhere leaving 30% of the existing sales team displaced to be absorbed by other districts. The team members that were left had uncertain roles for the future with the very real possibility that current positions would be dissolved or replaced with no promotional or lateral opportunities available. The typical work days are spent calling on high target HCP's working to maintain market share and reverse automatic product switches due to loss of formulary status of major local and state insurance providers. Lunches are held several times a week where I capitalize on the opportunity to promote the product benefits for the patient. As an experienced and effective representative, I was able to spin the negative and spend less time on damage control.
Management was not forthcoming or reassuring about upcoming changes which left remaining co-workers gossiping and scrambling for positions that where not yet posted. About 50% of employees share this less optimistic view of the companies culture and direction.
ProsThe benefits of the company are good if you are there long enough to take advantage of them.
ConsGrowth and change brought instability & chaos to this company affecting it's most valuable resource, the employees.
CEO has done well to turn around lackluster pipeline and there are a lot of products that have promise and will really benefit patients. The pipeline is one you can be proud of as an employee. Commercialization efforts have not been meeting expectations (confusion over market share vs revenue/profit goals driving business priorities) and the commercial teams are under a lot of high stress to achieve unrealistic expectations amidst constant cutting back of resources.
The company has lots of really talented people putting in significant effort to achieve results, however recognition is often misplaced and does not recognize efforts. Significant turnover in key leadership positions over the past few years has been concerning. Not vetting high level leaders who manage up well, but really aren't the best candidates for the job, has allowed ego building empires where favoritism outweighs talent.
Additional significant recent changes to benefits have reduced morale. Company wants to operate more as a biotech, but (other than specialty or biotech sales roles) does not compensate like one. If you are fortunate to be in the specialty divisions where sales salaries are higher, you are compensated very well. In non-specialty and non-sales roles, compensation increases have stagnated and are lower than competitors. Bonus payouts have mostly been very good over the past ten years, with a few exceptions.
Constant headcount reductions to reduce SG&A expenses have hit headquart
ProsPipeline promising, great products
ConsLoss of top performers, talent, and leaders
3.0
Pharmaceutical Sales Representative | Phoenix, AZ | Apr 25, 2021
Unbalanced culture and company performance.
Let's start by stating there are mostly good leaders in management positions and few really rotten apples. There are many with long tenure at the company who are honest and supportive employees. If you end up in a field sales position, or sales in general, chances are you will mostly have a great team. However, it only takes one manager to dismantle and entire team, like mine, and be the driving force behind several people leaving. In this case the company, I learned, will take a blind eye to a compiling list of anonymously reported concerns all pointed towards one individual. Sad, it creates a toxic environment, and leaves you unsupported. Overall, my experience, minus one manager validated by many others now considering retirement early, would overall rate as a good experience if you can find a good manager.
The companies performance is peculiar. I noticed that AstraZeneca has a tendency to underperform as a company. This is strikingly odd as it appears there are many intelligent people driving clinical research and results. The company consistently shows up late with products and clinical data, sometimes second place at best. Clinical trials tend to be "go big or go home" like and are more often than not underwhelming in data and/or delivery speed. This makes promotion of products difficult where Pfizer and Eli Lilly seem to be the "go getter's" and AstraZeneca is left fighting for second place. This is evidenced in AstraZeneca's efforts to procure and make COVID vaccines
Interactions with bright minds, lots of corporate rules, many only want to look good
upper leadership very prone to only hearing or knowing about your personal performance from direct line manager. Which means you either have a great relationship or you do not. This can be positive or highly detrimental to your career within the company and will determine success or failure. Lots of corporate change in terms of added duties and metrics which require adapting, putting down projects to prioritize activities as leadership sees fit.
Large company does not have a set way for those in certain roles to grow within. Big discrepancy of pay between those performing similar job functions.
Poor leadership, most afraid to speak up or, say what they mean, huge layoff of medical affairs 2016, many only care about their own image or success, few willing to mentor others unless seen as a positive for image within role, biased leadership styles among direct line manager in medical affairs, lots of preferentialism, specific line managers need more leadership, be more inspiring and less authoritarian, policy very open to interpretation by upper managers and can be misleading and interpreted either way causing issues within compliance that could have been avoided many times. Policy easily manipulated to reflect negatively but not clear in many aspects. Can be used against anyone.
Proscompany car, benefits, vacation time, life work flexibility, interactions with influential community leaders in national congresses
Conspoor leadership, most afraid to speak up or, say what they mean, huge layoff of medical affairs 2016, compete to be visible, many only care about their own image or success, few willing to mentor others unless seen as a positive for image within role, biased leadership styles among direct line manager in medical affairs, policy very open to interpretation by upper managers and can be misleading and interpreted
5.0
Pharmaceutical Sales Representative | Baton Rouge, LA | Aug 3, 2012
I enjoyed the daily interaction with physicians and staff. I valued their time to discuss how Crestor could help their patient's quality of life.
I began the day in my home office planning which physicians I would see. I pre-planned what my call objectives would be for each account/office. My partner and I strategized which physicians we would call on (2 week routing schedule) as well as prioritized accounts that had the most Statin Market Share and our plan of action to increase our market share in the class. Additionally, we zeroed in on who our highest Crestor (product drug labeled a statin), writers/physicians. Maintaining and gaining market share was the most challenging part of the job. Increasing market share from those physicians writing our competitor drugs i.e. Lipitor loyalist, was probably the hardest part of our job. At the same time, convincing those Lipitor loyalist or other statin loyalist was the most gratifying part of our job. We took great pride in studying the trends where we could shift market share to Crestor and continue to grow Crestor with our loyalist. I was very anxious to see where we ranked amongst our own district/regional peers. Often times, there would be busy work at night to complete, evaluate & input physician writing habits in an Excel spreadsheet, complete expense reports, etc.
The role of Pharm. Sales Specialist allowed you the autonomy to manage your territory. However, I liked it when my District Sales Manager worked with me because she knew how to bring out the best in me. It was a bonus and a value added resource to have her work with me.
Proscompany car, amex card to expense "lunch & learn", office supplies, etc.
Consphysicians who would not see pharmaceutical/medical sales reps.
5.0
Inside Sales Representative | Yardley, PA | May 19, 2016
Great Pharmaceutical Training
A typical day of work consists of: figuring out which accounts would be best to contact that day and at what time, tailoring my conversations to HCPs depending on the individual account's current situation (showing disinterest in the product, to regularly prescribing the product and using it as their first line of treatment), and updating/continuing my product knowledge. I have learned various aspects of the pharmaceutical industry, including but not limited to: managed care, prescribing information, clinical studies, knowing the product's competition, and handling/overcoming push-back from HCPs. My district manager provides me with great constructive criticism on a bi-weekly schedule to assist in my growth as a pharmaceutical sales representative. My co-workers are well-educated young professionals trying to gain as much experience as possible in this position. The hardest part of my current job is trying to open the minds of some physicians who are and have been satisfied with their current treatment practice for some time now and are, therefore, reluctant to hear information regarding a newer-to-the-market treatment. The most enjoyable part of the job is knowing that my regular contact with viable accounts is making a difference in the lives of patients suffering from a certain condition, whether I am introducing this condition to the HCPs for the first time or speaking with HCPs already well aware of this condition and its need for a treatment.
Unstable Company, Zero Pipeline and terrible mid & upper level management
When I joined this company years ago, I was estatic. What a great reputation it had, I respected the AZ Reps I saw in the field. Wow, times have changed. The company's mid and senior management have made some fundamentally flawed decisions.
And yes indeed! They claim they have the highest level of intregity and strong ethics. Not so true. They just have excellent attorneys. For example, they do not follow many of the policies other big pharma companies must adhere to and let things go unreported.
Instead of spending millions of dollars on TV ads, they should value and compensate their employees accordingly -- instead of forcing themselves to layoff thousands of employees (many of which were excellent reps, circle of Excellence winners, top notch performers). Then they go and hire contract sales reps and train them in a week (and don't tell the reps and dsm's about this until they are already working in territory). Simple horrific!
Also, in certain territories management has made bad teaming decisions, creating a not so pleasant co-worker environment.
Bad decision if you decide to work for AZ. Again pipeline is dry and Brilinta? do some research. Reps are not as talented they once were. HIring several layers of contract sales forces. Do yourself a favor, pass on this one.
And glad I just got an offer from another company!!
Prosco car, nice base salary, crestor is probably their only saving grace.
Consdifficult to advance, downsizing, poor managment, lack of integrity, no pipeline, not transparent.
Could not be more proud to work for this organization.
AstraZeneca has provided me with fundamental knowledge and development that has allowed me to further my career and discover the true passion I have for this line of work. Even through difficult periods such as the divesting of my site's parenteral manufacturing facility, they have provided ample support and flexibility.
Due to a business decision related to the end of my site's main product market exclusivity, my company has decided to close my facility and nonetheless, AstraZeneca has gone above and beyond my expectations and not only hired an outside career management company to work with all employees, they have also opened their doors and welcomed prospective employers from companies in the surrounding areas to come in and interview their current employees whom will be hitting the job market once the facility closes its doors.
As a result, the staff has responded with an unrivaled commitment customer service and has continued to respond successfully to market volatility without delays to the patient in getting the medicines that are so important to their quality of life.
I cannot express my gratitude for the firs 10 years of my career and the wonderful experiences AstraZeneca has offered me during this time. I hope I have a fraction of this commitment from my future employer.
ProsCulture, Salary, Benefits
ConsUnfortunately, the technology on my site is so unique, our facility will be closing its doors at the end of our product patent.
Enjoyed Working there and always learning new things
I enjoyed working at AstraZeneca. I created weekly/monthly/quarterly upper level management KPI reports, scorecards and ad-hoc reports. Supported Service Now Reporting and created jobs/reports for user(s) and areas. Maintained the OLA/SLA within Service Now for the various vendor agreements. Data Analytics for IT related date for Incidents, problem and other types of data. Multi Tasking was part of daily routine which I enjoy doing. People were hard working, helped each other and I enjoyed working on Global projects/teams. I regularly dialed into meetings in the UK and Sweden regardless of the time zone differences and enjoyed being part of the culture. I have SAP MM/Ariba Buyer experience. Was on SAP projects and supported various plants for direct material purchasing as well as indirect purchasing. Config experience on SAP/Ariba. Previous roles within AstraZeneca included Data Warehouse US as well as Global projects either as part of a team or as project lead. Have Business Analysis experience as was the Business Analyst supporting the Procurement department in coding (ABAP back when they had SAP R/2) and COBOL previously. I started out supporting the MRP plant systems at the various sites. I have always been a high achiever, team player and adapt to change quickly.
ProsFlex hours and 1/2 Day Fridays. Jeans and/or Casual Dress
ConsOver the past 7 years with the changing environment, been through 6 reorgs.
• Responsible for movement of controlled substance materials.
• Maintain an understanding of, and compliance with, all applicable SOPs, GMPs and department/site guidelines to ensure fulfillment of all applicable regulatory requirements (OSHA, FDA, DEA, FTZ, etc.).
• Safely and proficiently operate multiple types of Powered Industrial Trucks (PITs).
• Maintain skill proficiency in mySAP (including Radio Frequency devices), Clippership, Microsoft Outlook, Temp Tracer and all other programs necessary to support warehouse/label control activities.
• Assist in various cycle-counting and location-audit activities.
• Perform all warehouse duties related to receiving, shipping and storage of direct materials (raw materials, WIP and finished goods), chemicals, HAZMAT materials and non-stock materials.
• Perform all warehouse duties in support of Production.
• Safely and proficiently operate all non-PIT equipment including hand pallet jacks, pallet inverting machines, pallet stretch wrappers and pallet banding machines.
• Understand and communicate Bill of Lading information to outside truck drivers and carriers.
• Perform all system transactions and updates, including BOL, MRR, MMC, POD, DFR, MVI Tank Log, etc. and complete any written documentation required to support these processes or forms.
• Oversee stock inventory to ensure consistent, adequate supplies.
• Maintain license to operate a forklift.
ProsWestborough, MA
ConsWestborough, MA
3.0
Senior Research Scientist | Occitanie | Dec 3, 2014
Nice place to work
Most people come to work before 7 AM and start working. Many of them even finish their daily exercise routine by that time, take shower and start work - some of them run for almost 10 kilometres to come to work, yes! and they come on time! Starting time is flexible though.
Workday goes on smoothly by communicating between different departments. Instruments are taken care of regularly. Could learn to work on several of them. Also access to many databases and search engines. Could access enormous number of electronic journals. Each individual person has plenty of workspace. Access to any chemical reagents from stockroom or overnight delivery from outside chemical company is good. Access to databases show available intermediates even from other AZ sites. Communication with colleagues from other sites is helpful for receiving or sending the necessary chemical.
Lots of meetings - number of attendees vary from 2 to many. Work break (Fika) at 9:30, and at 14:30 are kind of mandatory. Lunch (50 mins) is served in the company restaurant with subsidised price. Several choices and food quality is good.
Very nice place to work at. Work/Life balance is good. My mother was terminally ill. AstraZeneca had more vacation days than I previously worked at, and also I had sympathetic colleagues, who had similar experiences, so I could be with my mother more than I could expect. People with small children can have plenty of parental leaves.
Most of the Swedish people are peace-lov
AstraZeneca con los Valores y sus Mision en un Excelente lugar de trabajo
AstraZeneca ,empleados mas comprometidos en el apoyo y crecimiento profesional asi como el Talento que cada uno tiene como parte de esa Familia AstraZeneca.
Lo que Aprendes: Tener ese contacto Diferente con los médicos y pacientes de una manera de poder brindar apoyo cada una de sus necesidades. así como también establecer una comunicación Eficaz para las diferentes unidades de Negocio.
La Gerencia: Reportaba a la gerencia de Ventas una unidad de muchos retos y ganancia asi como de estrategias precisa , sin embargo era un trabajo en equipo con los diferentes tipos de departamento lo que permitía que el éxito fuera de todos.
Tus colegas: Éramos un Grupo muy comprometidos con nuestras metas y los de la Empresa, Compartíamos los triunfos y las frustraciones y de esa manera poder tener armar en conjunto estrategias que llevar y nos mantuviera en un triunfo.
Difícil en el trabajo: Los momentos difíciles eran por pocos minutos luego de encontrar ese equilibrio laboral que siempre permitía ver que los cambios eran resistencia y aprendizaje que nos llevaría al compromiso de cada uno con Astrazeneca.
Lo que mas me gusto de Astrazeneca: Ver Crecer la Empresa y ser participe de cada unos de los triunfos, Mis compañeros, Crecimiento Personal, Ver Crecer a mis hijos con la Familia Astrazenca. Asi como Cada unos de los productos de Astrazeneca me permitió lograr identificarme y tener un nivel de pertenecía en cada Lanzamientos tales como : Losce mups, Nexium, sym
ProsPoliza seguro para mi y mi Gupo Familia, polizas de vehiculos, politica de vehiculo, comisiones mensuales, conveciones, Cursos de Crecimiento Personal y de Productos cada cierto tiempo
5.0
Business Administration Apprentice | Alderley Park | Sep 13, 2013
Vibrant, challenging and Motivating workplace
I successfully supported various administrative activities, such as; travel arrangements, meeting arrangements, coordination of SharePoint site, visitor arrangements and meetings on a regular day to day basis whilst studying for formal NVQ Qualifications on a half day per week basis.
I learned that in order to achieve the throughput of work required, flexibility is one of the key benefits. I also learned that the best approach to help achieve this is by adopting a cheerful, positive, co-operative, and professional attitude and since being in the work place I have gained patience and discretion, tact and diplomacy which I consider as life skills.
Despite my self sufficiency, I feel that my mentor/manager and my co-workers provided the appropriate and most beneficial guidance in order to help support me in achieving and obtaining my NVQ Qualifications. I also feel that I was treated and managed equally to my colleagues, peers, assessors and my mentor.
I found providing administrative support to the department to be quite challenging at times due to different personalities and different ways of working but I learned to adapt to the different personalities and ways of working and adopted a cheerful, positive, co-operative, and professional attitude and since being in the work place I have gained patience and discretion, tact and diplomacy which I consider as life skills. The most challenging part of my job was the application and interview process, but undertaking i
Very challenging and fun workplace with many opportunities
I had been working at Astrazeneca Japan for seven years as a medical sales representative.
What I did everyday was not only meeting my clients like doctors.
My first job in a day started from visiting wholesale companies to communicate every sales men who had contract with my clients.
This everyday's communication with them makes my sales be comfortable. After I got some recent informations about my clients, I prepared some documents or some data what they need that day.
During 10 am to 7 pm, I visited 13 doctors to give them our medicine's informations. Some times I talked with the doctor for one hour the about specific case that he had at the time.
Then I started my routine office work around 8 pm and prepared documents for next presentation at the hospital until 10 pm.
I learned to listen someone very carefully because most of their information gave me many ways to think about my clients's needs.
I also learned to be patient even though I could not get a good result as soon as I had done my action. Since I was a sales woman, I was under pressure of sales goal. I had to get over my goal every month. It was good experience for me. It absolutely made me strong.
Our management worked well in my team. I shared our goal with all of my co-workers and we had a meeting once a week regularly.We tried to solve everyone's problem by everyone's idea. It worked very well. Literally I was a leader at the meeting.
I got along with all of my co-workers. We had some drinks af
ProsBenefits and income
ConsLong hours
3.0
Senior Business Intelligence Analyst | São Paulo, SP | Jul 23, 2013
Summary
I’m a professional with 12 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, majored in Advertising and Post-Graduated in Business Services Management, actualy stunding Marketing with sales emphasizes at
FGV (MBA). I’m an intermediate(conversation) / advanced English student.
My career in Marketing started at Novo Nordisk Company. My function was to control all operations in the promotional area. I was responsible for the whole process of creating, approving, buying, and sending all promotional material of the company for sales reps cycles, courses and events, besides the management of physical and OPL website stock.
I have solid knowledge of the strategic planning product and marketing concepts used to create and the develop all parts of the Brand Plan, segmentation and market analysis.
I was very well evaluated in the internal review processes of the companies that I had been worked, often reaching more than 100% off the results of the activities involved.
I started to work with brand intelligence in the Hospital area, doing all market analysis, results dashboards, After that I worked with RA, AI and SNC and the segmentation and Ad hoc market research for all brands.
Nowadays I have been dedicating myself to a new challenge in the company, as a strategic business analyst, doing all the POS Segmentation, sales and demand analysis for all products of the company, retail and Institutions analysis, redistribution of panel and segmentation for Market Acces
I worked at AstraZeneca for approximately 2 years. I received no training or introduction to the company, and was provided only with a broken laptop and nowhere to work. I was expected to define my own role, training, identify groups to work with, and deliver high impact on projects with a quantifiable cash benefit to the organization.
Later, I was assigned a line manager from an unrelated department who had no training or experience in the field I was working on. I was provided with no training, mentoring, guidance, feedback, coaching, or support of any kind and was merely facilitating the advancement of another into management.
The group I worked in was brow beaten by management and there was no group cohesion or identity of any kind. A strong culture of blame from senior management resulted in a suspicious and Machiavellian nature in colleagues, resulting in frequent in-fighting.
The hardest part of the job was creating "pull" from the research projects I was to provide a service for. There was a lack of credibility for the group within the organization, but this wasn't acknowledged by management.
Appraisal time was very similar to Alan Sugar's Apprentice board room finale. Colleagues hurled abuse and blame at each other over a period of weeks to avoid the management's sword of Damocles. It was embarrassing to be a part of the organization, observing colleagues slandering each others reputation to mitigate themselves from failings that should have been
Prosfree councelling service to cope with stress at work.
Consrequiring free councilling service to cope with stress at work.
Questions And Answers about AstraZeneca
What is the interview process like at AstraZeneca?
Asked Jun 18, 2016
Nerve racking. Hostile.
Answered Mar 29, 2020
Questions asked about what you would do during situations related to the job. Questions mostly related to what you did during situations at your other job. I went through all the interviews to include onsite, then after 3 weeks, just decided not to hire me even though I am highly qualified. Not sure if it is bc I emailed them 3 weeks after the interview or not. Rejected me same day I emailed them. So I guess you don't email them, just wait or else they get mad??. Speaking for cincinnati site.
Answered Nov 5, 2018
What is the work environment and culture like at AstraZeneca?
Asked Jun 18, 2016
Managers need to be honest with their employees and take responsibility. They have to understand they set the tone for the entire office. Could be a great company if they vetted their managers before hiring. Most managers have no idea what their employees are because they are not involved at all, but pretend they know everything. Take time to listen then speak. Just because you're a manager doesn't mean you're correct all the time. Learn how to talk to people and not at them.
Answered Aug 15, 2017
Very supportive and collegial culture
Answered Jun 11, 2017
What questions did they ask during your interview at AstraZeneca?
Asked Feb 5, 2020
STAR QUESTIONS; When was a situation where you solved difficult problem and how did you handle it.
Answered Aug 30, 2020
About medication package inserts.
Hypothetical sales scenarios. “Sell me this product using this water cup ?”
Why are you in sales. ? How do you deal with a doctor who won’t see sales reps ?
Answered Mar 29, 2020
How long does it take to get hired from start to finish at AstraZeneca? What are the steps along the way?
Asked Apr 12, 2018
Because I went through Aerotek and the position is a seasonal one, you will be contacted through whatever agency is working with AstraZeneca at the time of next season start.
Answered Jan 21, 2020
1 to 3 months, depending if they are launching a drug or just expanding the sales force. Phone interview, then face-to-face interviews (usually 2 rounds but sometimes only 1 or as many as 3). 2 weeks of home study and Skype classroom training, then a week of on-site training, then a week in Denver at a major hospital.
Answered Mar 25, 2019
What is the career Level E salary range equivalent at AstraZeneca?
