There are many opportunities for part time or reduced hours employment in pharmaceuticals sales forces. Increasingly employers recognise the benefits that part time staff can bring to their companies. There are a variety of part time options available for people. Some companies will allow you to work three full days of the week, others prefer you to work five shortened is in a week. Some companies were even allow you to work reduced hours each week and also have the school holidays off too.

Part time employment can sometimes be found in companies where there are mixed teams of people, e.g. there are some part time people and some full-time people doing the same job. Other companies operate complete teams of part time people; the advantage of this is that it is often easier to manage employees who are working to the same employment contract and hours. However companies which mix their full timers and part time may find advantages in retaining staff through their flexible policies and also may be able to deploy part time staff to smaller geographical areas or territories that for particular geographical reasons lend themselves to part time working.

Part time opportunities in sales forces in the pharmaceutical Industry in the UK have been around since the late 1980's. Originally the contract sales organisations such as Innovex were pioneers in this area, recruiting large teams of part time staff who worked alongside full-time staff in the pharmaceutical companies. The idea of part time medical representatives really caught on and today many companies have part time staff as part of their overall work force, although the percentage of part time sales staff is still only in the region of 10-15% of the total sales workforce.

Part time jobs, tend to of fall into 2 main categories:

1. In the Contract Sales Organisations. e.g. Ashfield Innovex, Ventiv. These companies will often offer part time jobs as it fits their business needs in terms of being able to offer cost effective sales resources to pharmaceutical companies. Offering part time options also helps them attract new candidates or returnees to the industry who are looking for flexible working. The majority of part-time jobs will be found with the contract organisations. In terms of the types of jobs offered by the contract sales organisations the most common part time option is five reduced days, usually 8am - 2 p.m. There may be some term time or reduced days jobs available too but they are less usual. Some times people accept part time roles in order to gain valuable experience even if they would prefer a full time job, as the contract organisations often have the most jobs available they become a good starting block for many people.
   
   
2. In the Pharmaceutical Companies. Some companies actively recruit part time staff for specific jobs. Again here there are a variety of options offered from reduced hours to term time only employment. Pfizer are one of the biggest recruiters of part timers but several other companies have a number of part time staff e.g. GSK, Solvay, Schwarz. Part time jobs are not always offered to external candidates in all instances as sometimes these roles are the results of variations to contracts of employment- e.g. after maternity leave.

So What Kind of People Become Part-time Medical Sales Representatives?

Over 70% are returnees to work after a break to have a family. Other people attracted to part-time include:

• Serious sports people
• People studying for further education
• People with a time consuming hobby, e.g. music
• Carers for an elderly relation
• Those who have made a lifestyle decision to work shorter hours
• People in last years pre retirement

What is the job of a part-time medical sales representative?

Essentially, it is a home based sales career, which is different from a part-time job in an office or in retail. Like any other field sales career:

• You will be expected to be out seeing customer every working day
• You are consistently measured against personal targets
• You work on your own for much of the time, organisation, diary management and planning are really important and completely down to you
• Not all customers want to see you - it's up to you to persuade them so be prepared to take some knock backs

Additionally:

• You will be working in a challenging professional environment and selling to professionals
• You manage your own time and are part of a local team with a dedicated local Manager, whose job it is to ensure that you are trained and motivated so you can perform the job to the required standard
• You will be well trained in sales skills, interpersonal skills and pharmaceutical products

The benefits package usually includes:

• Car
• Pension
• Health Insurance
• Holiday
• Bonus

What are the typical hours will I be working?

The normal working hours for a reduced hours job are 8am until 1/2pm, with an hour for lunch. However, it is a sales job and because you will be in different places on different days the ends and the beginnings of the day are not set in stone. In reality, this may often mean that you work more hours than are actually in your contract - particularly while you are learning the job. However this should get better as you get to know your way around your territory and when your customers will see you. Check out whether you will be expected to work any evenings as well - most part time teams will not be asked to do this but it is worth making sure that this is not expected of you too. As with most part time roles, the job works best when flexibility is applied on both sides- i.e. from employer and employee. Reasonable companies will understand that you will sometimes work longer hours and they will also therefore let you take time off in lieu or if necessary or pay you for extra hours worked.

If you work a reduced days part time option then the hours will typically be 9-5 with an hour for lunch. In this type of part time role it still may be necessary to work outside these hours because of travel or indeed if your company wants you to carry out evening meetings.

Evening meeting (when you see customers in the evening usually for dinner and a presentation) can be a big problem for part time employees - this is well worth a discussion pre you accept a job if it is going to problematical for you.

Like any other professional job, if you are new to it there will be a lot of learning in the first 3- 6 months, including getting to know your territory (location of GPs), products, computer and phone systems and of course how to interact with people.

Will I have to work late?

From time to time, like any professional job the answer is 'Yes', especially in the first few months. Your manager knows your commitment is part-time and, therefore, they will try to keep any out of hour's work to an absolute minimum. However there will undoubtedly be occasions that you will be asked to work extra hours or days (this is especially prevalent if you are working with full-time colleagues.) You also have data to input into your PC, to keep this out of your non working time most experienced representatives do this in the car during the day.

Basically, you are sales professional - left to manage your time and your calls. As you become more experienced you are more able to 'juggle' your time and manage your priorities. As long as the job is done and your business objectives achieved there is huge flexibility as to how you deliver your results.

Will I need to stay away overnight?

When you start a new role with a new company you will need to be trained and this will often start with a residential training course that could be up to 4 weeks long. The course will teach you all you need to know in order to be able to go out and talk to customers.

After initial training days there may also be other over night stays for:

• Conferences (usually 1-2 times a year up to 5 nights away) These are sales meetings and often, as a means of reward for your hard work and achievements, these are held in (frequently exotic!) locations. They are hard work, tremendous fun and are, quite simply, part of the culture of the industry. You always receive lots of planning time to arrange for conference commitments and they are usually 3-5 days away - it is usually expected that everyone attend.
• New product training (duration varies) may be local or national and frequency will depend on how often the products you sell change. In a syndicated team in a contract force this could easily be 14 days away a year.
• Development training (duration varies, allow 4 night year)

It can also be that that notification of the 'away days' (and nights) can be At short notice (possibly two or three days). Although this tends not to happen frequently, it is important that to be aware of this as it can clearly impact on family, sport and study commitments.

Key Issues for the first 3 months

Consider the first 3-6 months of the job as almost full-time. You'll have residential training and then spend time understanding your territory, your products and your customers - it takes hard work and time. The first 3-6 months are hugely demanding, but rewards can be great.

What is the commitment to study for the ABPI?

The ABPI is an examination which you have to pass within two years of becoming a medical sales representative, you can't continue after two years unless you have passed it .The level of the syllabus is between A level and degree standard. You need to find time to study for this at home. Therefore, you need quiet space and the backing of your family or partner in order to be successful. Many companies will enrol you on a distance learning programme. Your employer traditionally pays for all examination fees.

Do I need a ' home office'?

Basically, your office is your car and then you will need some quiet space at home preferably with a phone. You may also need to call customers or your manager from home, and plug in your PC every night so if you have a quiet office this is really useful.

You will also need to prepare an area for storage of promotional items and literature. Obviously, you will have items in your car boot but it is unlikely to be big enough for all your promotional items.

Can I Become a Full-time Representative?

'Yes', this is certainly a possibility if you feel your circumstances have changed. Depending who you are employed by will govern the possibilities but if you have a good track record this should be an easy step to make.

What about Promotion for Part timers?

To date there are not many jobs in the pharma industry except field based sales jobs and indeed Clinical research associate jobs that are part time. This may change over the forthcoming years due to family friendly legislation and skills shortages. There however will be development opportunities for positions such as of Senior Representative, Executive Representative, Hospital representative and NHS liaison Managers, all of which could be carried out on a part time basis.

About the author

Gillian Morgan joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1984 as a medical representative for Beecham Research, progressing to senior medical representative before taking up her first management position with Schwarz pharma. From Schwarz, Gillian moved to Innovex and held a variety of positions over a ten year period from Regional Business Manager, Sales Director, Business Development Director and Operations Director.

Gillian has two daughters of 9 and 6, and in order to accommodate a better work life balance with more flexibility, has in the last 2 years opted for what is often described as a "portfolio career". This has allowed her to work on various specialised consulting and training projects, as editor of PF magazine and also as an accredited life coach.

Gillian currently works on a part time basis, with In2Focus, the specialist sales organisation, as an internal consultant and additionally is an active monthly columnist for Pharma Times.