Introduction
Education leads to development of an individual and these individuals are expected to develop the larger mass of people, constituting society, city and ultimately nation. Education must deliver the result. A proper education and allied training make a person job-ready. Cut throat competition is taking its toll and students are taking extreme steps. This cut throat competition prevailing in almost all domains is changing equations across human resource (HR) departments. In pharmaceutical sciences opportunities are like never before. This sentence may sound ridiculous to some and some may approve it. First of all, let me demystify the fact that pharmaceutical sciences involve many sciences so students end up with the tag “Jack of all, master of none”. Why one forgets that pharmaceutical sciences mean (in broader sense) discovering-developing and launching new molecules and this is not possible by a person sound in only one stream/subject. This is not the job of every Tom, Dick and Harry or any Tom, Dick or Harry. Here comes the role of graduate or post graduate who has tremendous knowledge of the relevant field. Jobs are aplenty, especially after India became signatory country in newer patent laws (process patent since 2005). These news rules forced the closing of many reverse engineering chapters; but the silver line is that it also forced Indian pharma think tank to discover new molecules, which will require trained and talented man power. Credit for first such molecule goes to Ahmadabad based Cadila Healthcare Ltd. This article very precisely highlights the job scenario and allied aspects.
HR perspective
“Now you have got billions of people from Beijing to Bangalore to Moscow, all of whom are competing with you directly. And they are — those countries are working every day to out-educate and out-compete us," USA President Barack Obama said in his remarks to students at the Pathways in Technology Early College High School in Brooklyn. "We live in a 21st century global economy. And in a global economy, jobs can go anywhere. Companies, they are looking for the best-educated people, wherever they live, and they will reward them with good jobs and good pay," the president said1.
Mere possession of a degree is not sufficient to claim a job. World over situation is not very impressive and lucrative from job point of view. But those who are laced with knowledge, there is no dearth of opportunity. There is always vacancy at the top. The onus to make this field as lucrative as other field and as glamorous as IT industries or marketing arena is on students.
A candidate should be aware of how the new opportunity can present a win-win for the organization and her. How do you conduct yourself? Are you go-getter homo sapience or a lackluster person while facing the interview? Interviewee should know how to market him amidst other candidates waiting outside interview hall for their turn. He must be candid about his previous experiences and future strategies. You are creating negative impact by criticizing your current boss, colleagues or subordinates for that matter. Refrain from highlighting those stuff which is a strict no no from the point of view of interviewer. Employees, who can work independently and without the shadow of boss, always have an added advantage. How higher academic credential you sport, does not matter in getting a job. The crucial factor is how and what you can do for the organization in a most optimum manner (moreover chances of attrition are more with people possessing higher degrees). Successful colleagues or employees read good literature, keep abreast with latest not only in the field but surrounding too. This may be a daunting self-taken assignment but sooner or later it pays, because you never know a timely and relevant punch or comment of yours in fraternity will make you outstanding and cynosure.
New hires should have some expected traits like punctuality, a go-getter, always ready to learn and mingle. Today problem is behaviorally poor lot of passed out graduates or post graduates who may have sound knowledge but not able to communicate and deliver the same in an impressive way. Sometimes their communication, both verbal and written is marred by their regional accent or heavily inspired by social websites lingo. Cumulatively and cumulatively this compels the interview panel to change their mindset, despite being impressed by his ranks and scores. How communication skills mar one’s impression is very beautifully reflected in figure 1 which is taken per se from a website mentioned in reference2.
How pharmaceutical domain is different from others
Pharmaceutical industries and work culture is different from rest of the set ups. Because the ultimate goal is to develop drugs (I am bypassing all other roles). All the persons who are even remotely associated with pharmaceutical sciences are aware that it takes around fifteen to twenty years and whopping sum of Rs 500 crores. Not only in developing nations but also in developed regions of the world, drug discovery (actual launching of the innovative molecule in market after successfully crossing all the barricades installed for safety, efficacy and purity) happens once in a while. If sponsors of drug discovery, group of scientist (involved in this marathon work) and allied people have patience then why a young chap or experienced professional can’t have patience while doing a job in pharmaceutical world. Why he plans to switch over in time? Why he is frustrated with not-so-impressive emoluments and role? Why he wants over-night success?
When the new drugs comes in market then entire team involved in drug discovery breathe a sigh of relief. Potential job candidates may/should watch a 3:15 minute long video featuring Sir Andrew Philip Witty, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Chancellor of the University of Nottingham (figure 2). He recounts his journey at GSK as management trainee through various bigger roles to juggernaut and the most coveted title in corporate world, Chief Executive Officer (CEO)3,4. The cartoon below shows the problems with existing drug, let alone the discovery of entirely new molecule either for rare disease of some common health problem5. Youngsters should be patient and have a flair for constant learning and marching ahead.
Here let me elaborate the issues (rather I will say common notions and misconceptions) prevailing among job seekers. There is no job. Who says? There are ample opportunities in all the departments of a pharmaceutical organization; may it be marketing, production, quality control, quality assurance, product development, research and development or formulation and development. Who knows the ground reality of what happened inside the interview cabin. Moreover how many students are proficient and perfect in chosen career field? The largest vacancy is in the pharmaceutical field only. This claim is not exaggerated or befooling the readers/job-seekers. Almost all type of disorders prevailing or emerging, has no sure shot or long term treatment. So what is this; this is the opportunity for job seekers that they show their knowledge to the persons chairing technical interview, that this may be the route to devise some panacea for addressing a disorders. Because the main role (other than compounding and dispensing medicines) of pharmacy people is to discover drugs. How many passed students have sound knowledge of physiology and pathophysiology of disorders? The other day I was questioning a girl at an AICTE sponsored seminar about cancer of urinary bladder, as she was working on some technique for putting drug at the site for longer time. She replied “I do not know and I don’t wanna go in detail, because I am pharmaceutics students, I will just prepare the dosage form”. This is a common scene. These tendacy and work approaches among researchers need to be changed.
Conclusion
Indian pharma fraternity has made a long stride, though slowly. There are abundant jobs, but head-hunters (HR people) are not happy with the interviewees. Message for the young blood is that they should expose themselves to real time environment and problems/projects as early as possible when still they are in educational houses. Reading good books are indispensable for a bright career. Students should watch various useful and relevant videos on YouTube and similar sites. Just for sake of degree one should not defend his final viva-voce or just for certificates one should not attend the conferences. In my earlier articles, I asked readers about drug discovered in India. Nobody posted on my Facebook. Now we may proudly say Lipaglyn is the brand wholly developed by Indian pharma major Cadila. Lipaglyn™ is the first glitazar to be approved in the world and is the first New Chemical Entity (NCE) discovered and developed indigenously by an Indian Pharma Company. A documentary on generics and brands “Fire in the Blood” must be watched by readers. The winning and survival formula is pull together, up your game, hustle, fight back, work hard, and win as urged by Mr. Obama in said conference.
References
1. timesofindia.indiatimes.com:People from India, China out-educating Americans in maths and technology: Barack Obama, PTI | Oct 26, 2013, 02.50 PM IST
2. indiaonrent.com/view/f/funny-leave-application.html
3. youtube/FHkj9dJ6aNE
4. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Witty
5. cartoonStock.com
ABOUT AUTHOR:
Amit Gangwal
Department of Pharmacognosy,
Smriti college of pharmaceutical education, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
gangwal.amit@gmail.com
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