Today, more and more candidates are competing for positions in the highly lucrative field of pharmaceutical sales..and here is why: According to Salary.com, the median salary, including benefits, for a pharmaceutical sales representative nationwide is $95,660. In Chicago, that number is $103,688, in Los Angeles $108,227 and in New York $113,114. You’ll also have the chance to work out of your home office and, in some cases, to work flexible hours.
Here are some other key basics:
Base Compensation:
• 0-2 years of industry experience: $42,000 - $50,000
• 2-5 years of non-industry outside sales experience: $50,000 - $58,000
• 2-5 years of industry experience: $58,000 - $65,000
• 5+ years of industry experience: $65,000 - $75,000
Bonus:
• Average Bonus: $15,000 - $20,000
• Experienced Bonus: $18,000 - $30,000
(Anyone with more than two to three years of outside sales experience)
A Partial List of Benefits:
• An average of three weeks of vacation in the first year
• Company car, including all gas, comprehensive insurance, all
maintenance, from oil changes to tire replacements, and a per diem for
personal gas use, valued at $7,000 to $8,000 a year
• Health insurance: full coverage for primary healthcare, dental, vision,
spouse, pregnancy and birth, and children
• Equipment, including laptop and cell phone or cell phone reimbursement
• Most home office expenses
• All business expenses
• 401k includes employer match
• Stock option purchase plan, activated at date of tenure in some cases
• Full tuition reimbursement
• Spouse and children benefits
• Daycare service discounts
If these benefits sound too good to be true, don’t take my word for it.
Go to this link on the Web, and check out Pfizer’s extraordinarily comprehensive
plan, with 34 bullet-point categories. http://pfizer.com/pfizer/are/
careers/mn_working_benefits.jsp.
Check back next week for my top tips on setting and achieving goals.
Tom Ruff is author of How to Break Into Pharmaceutical Sales: A Headhunter’s Strategy and President & CEO of Tom Ruff Company. Visit www.breakintopharmsales.com.
You need to be a member of Secrets of the Job Hunt to add comments!
Join Secrets of the Job Hunt