Looking for career advice

[kys123]

Hello everyone,

For some background: I'm a 27 year old pharmacist from Brazil, who's been working as a regulatory affairs analyst at a consultancy firm for almost 5 years now, mainly focusing on registering medical devices and IVD products in Brazil for importers and registration holders, with a few audits (ISO 13485 and RDC 665 - Anvisa's GMP rules) sprinkled here and there, both as an auditor and auditee.

I've been feeling burnt out lately, since it has become increasingly clear that there is absolutely no room for growth at the company, nor for my salary, which isn't very good to begin with.

The combination of these factors is telling me that it's definitely time to move on, but I have outlined my current options and none of them seem very good:

1) Staying at my current job and studying/hoping for a job at Anvisa (current plan, not very likely to happen so I'm looking for another path)
2) Opening my own registration holder/consultancy company (I have no connections of my own and my social skills are subpar)
3) Looking for a job at another consultancy company (demand isn't very high, salary and working conditions seem similar)
4) Looking for a job at a manufacturer/importer (demand is low, pay is worse initially and would require me to relocate from my city)
5) Looking for a job at a pharmacy (I might be insane, but I find it extremely boring and enjoy my current job way more, but demand is through the roof and pay is higher)
6) Changing careers completely (I have a few programming skills)

So, if anyone has any advice I would be very happy to hear it.
Thanks.

 

[Steve Prevette]

I see a lot of folks have read your post, but no one has answered. Most likely since few of us are from Brazil, and fewer likely know Pharmacy. I will take a stab at it, having had a few changes of careers over the years, but managed to usually be "in the right place at the right time".

I assume you are staying at your current job until you find something else. Sounds like option 1 is the status quo, since you say advancement is unlikely.

You have pretty well eliminated 2, 3, and 4 based upon your parenthetical comments.

If money is important (it sounds like it is) sounds like 5 is a good interim option. Do consider "boring" can translate to low stress. Most of my job as a statistician was, well, boring. But no one else wanted the job and it paid well. Left a lot of free time.

A thing to watch for in 6 is most programming jobs require "experience" and that can be a big barrier to someone who has "a few programming skills". But if you can open up some time and work on some software certifications or even college courses, you may be able to build some experience. There may even be some volunteer jobs out there to get some programming experience.

Best advice I can offer is to keep your eyes open for opportunities, and you need to network, perhaps starting with Linked-In, which I assume is avialable in Brazil, or some equivalent professional internet marketing site.

 

[kys123]

Hey Steve,

Unfortunately pharmacy is boring but oh boy can it be stressful, and dealing with retail customers is definitely not my forte.

I'll try to keep an eye open, thanks for answering.

 

[ChrisM]

I echo most of what Steve has said... but I don't know what the jobs market is like in Brazil. What I would add is that for option (5), if you are meeting your customers face-to-face and will be talking to them, you never know who you may meet who could end up offering you a better job for better pay. You may also have the opportunity to move into pharmacy management

 

[Johnny Quality]

Why did you get into the medical field to begin with? What qualifications do you have?

You mentioned you've done some auditing, considered that as a job option? Internally or 3rd party.

 

[Zero_yield]

Is there a position you're trying to reach in particular (you mentioned Anvisa)? Are there any qualifications you're missing that the position you're going to want will require?

For example, if it was a management position with direct reports, you'd want to show experience as a supervisor / manager somewhere. Maybe you could look for a job as a supervisor of a pharmacy (or that could lead to a supervisor job) to prepare you for the next position you want to reach.

 

[Johnnymo62]

Please look at this: FAQ - Pharmaceutical GMP Professional Certification - (CPGP) | ASQ and this: Pharmaceutical GMP Professional Certification (CPGP) | GMP Certification ASQ
This may be something you could pursue if you want to stay in pharmaceutical but away from consumers.

 

[DannyK]

If you are allowed by your current employer,and if you have good medical device regulatory experience, you may want to pursue a sideline helping companies with regulatory.
I sometimes have mandates where I am looking for subcontractors to assist.
Do not do this if your employer does not allow it.

Good luck and stay positive.

Danny

 

[kys123]

Why did you get into the medical field to begin with? What qualifications do you have?

You mentioned you've done some auditing, considered that as a job option? Internally or 3rd party.

For added background, pharmacists here only have to get a bachelor's, so I don't have any other degrees. I was really into chemistry and I wanted to get into drug discovery, but since Brazil has near zero private pharmaceutical research and since the economical/political circumstances were not very favourable at the time for academic careers, I basically had to give up. I guess my only other qualification would be an ISO 13485 internal auditor certification.

I 100% would take on ISO 13485 auditing as a career, but I think I'd have to gather more experience before even being considered as a candidate by any serious company.

Is there a position you're trying to reach in particular (you mentioned Anvisa)? Are there any qualifications you're missing that the position you're going to want will require?

For example, if it was a management position with direct reports, you'd want to show experience as a supervisor / manager somewhere. Maybe you could look for a job as a supervisor of a pharmacy (or that could lead to a supervisor job) to prepare you for the next position you want to reach.

Working there would be my dream job (I think), but since Anvisa is a government agency the candidate selection is done through competitive exams. These are pretty hard even for people who study for them full time. To give you an idea, the last selection was done in 2013 and there were 43k candidates competing for 135 positions. A new exam is expected for this year, but yeah. The only qualification required is a bachelor's and I'm studying for it but a plan B is definitely warranted.

The supervisor experience aspect is definitely something to keep in mind, thanks for the advice.

Please look at this: FAQ - Pharmaceutical GMP Professional Certification - (CPGP) | ASQ and this: Pharmaceutical GMP Professional Certification (CPGP) | GMP Certification ASQ
This may be something you could pursue if you want to stay in pharmaceutical but away from consumers.

The pharma market (as in the number of positions and companies) is considerably smaller than the medical devices one, and making this switch now would not be very feasible I fear.

Thanks for answering anyway!

If you are allowed by your current employer,and if you have good medical device regulatory experience, you may want to pursue a sideline helping companies with regulatory.
I sometimes have mandates where I am looking for subcontractors to assist.
Do not do this if your employer does not allow it.

Good luck and stay positive.

Danny

Thank you Danny.

This would kind of fall into option #2 from my first post, however, the vast majority of companies that hire these services are either: A - big multinational companies with no regulatory offices in Brazil or B - small/medium sized Brazilian importers who cannot afford a regulatory affairs department.

From my experience, A would never go for the small guy instead of the big household names and B is 90% of the times reached through personal connections. I have made a few good connections on the job, but stealing a client from my current employer would be a big no no for me.

Anyway, my contract does allow it and I'll make sure to keep looking for opportunities.

 

[DannyK]

You do not have to think of just the Brazil domestic market.
There may be companies outside of Brazil that would need help.