Aspiring MSL Insights: Does Your Degree Make You Qualified?

Some Aspiring MSL’s are retail pharmacists or freshly minted PharmD’s. Others are either new PhD’s or PHD candidates. Are these viable launching points to land into an MSL role? That’s the topic of this Aspiring MSL Insight.

Michael Pietrack heads up the Medical Affairs Recruiting at Kaye/Bassman International and hosts of the Pharmaverse Podcast. He's been recruiting MSL’s since 2007 and happy to share my insights with you, so let’s break these down individually.

Retail Pharmacists – Sadly, your background is not what companies are looking for because they want a clinical pharmacist who is involved in prescribing decisions and rubbing elbows with the very doctors they will be calling on. So, if you’re a retail pharmacist, our recommendation is to transition to a major hospital where you would be dedicated to one disease state. Companies want specialists not generalists, and they hire people who are deeply connected with the right docs.

New Grads – You are well on your way to becoming an MSL, but you need to let your experience incubate for about 5 years. Your degree alone will not get you the MSL role because everyone your competing with has the same credentials, so it is the depth of your experience and the strength of your contacts that will help you get the job. As noted above, we would recommend Pharmacists to work in a clinical setting where they are designated to a single therapeutic area, and for PhD’s we would recommend being at a key research center or at a pathology lab at a hospital so that you will have leveragable connections.

And for the PhD candidates – You are way too early and should apply all the advice already mentioned.

So, if you’re launching point is too far away from the landing point, maybe there is a closer launching point that you need to hit first. This video is not to discourage you, but to inform you so that you can position yourself to get that MSL job you are dreaming about. So, don’t give up.