A few years ago I created a LinkedIn profile, because I was told it could be useful for job searching in the future. For a long time I was not actively using my profile, and the only people checking my page were friends and family, and one curious researcher after I had a job interview with her. Until the day I changed my professional headline, you know, that one line of information about your current position below your name. The next day I was contacted by a recruiter who wanted to discuss a job opportunity as an account manager within a biotech company.
Okay, I am
not saying that changing your professional headline on LinkedIn is the holy
grail. I was actually very lucky to change it at the exact right time. It does show that LinkedIn can be a very
good way to be found by recruiters or other people looking for employees, but only if you are actively using your profile!
If you don’t change your personal page, like, comment, share, be recommended,
whatever,.. you will never be found.
Coming back
to the account manager position. Working in sales was something that never
ever occurred to me. I did not think of myself as a business kind of
person, so I never bothered to find out much about it. But since I was looking
for a job, and a recruiter found me online, I started to wonder what this was
all about, and why she thought I was a suitable candidate.
You can
find information about account managers in general online. I think this article about pros and cons is very useful.
In short, the salary is much, much higher compared to the average PhD salary in
the Netherlands. I wish I could tell you numbers, but I was so shocked when the recruiter told me about the average salary on the phone, that I now don’t remember.
I do
remember that there is a ‘base’ salary. If you excel and go beyond your
weekly/monthly goals, you will get paid extra. You will also get a car, a
laptop and a phone from the company (at least, in this specific case. I can
imagine other companies will have similar arrangements, because you will need
those things). There is a high
performance pressure, and a lot of freedom.
You basically plan your own work week: you decide which clients you visit, when
you visit them, which new business relationships you build and when to do all
the paperwork. The recruiter was also kind enough to point out that you can
perfectly combine this kind of job with your family life, because you are in
charge of your weekly planning... *Good organisational skills and willpower
required* Also keep in mind that there is a lot of competition in this branch. In the end it is about selling your company’s products, and
being more convincing than your
competitors.
At that
time, none of the required skills was mentioned on my LinkedIn profile (organisational
skills had to be added after this event, because YES, I am good at that). I
asked the recruiter why she thinks I am a suitable candidate, and she told me I
have experience with certain techniques
that are required for this job. She was mainly referring to flow cytometry, but
also other cell work. The company she was recruiting for is selling products to
research labs in the areas of immunology, stem cell research, neuroscience,
cancer research and cardiovascular research. As an account manager for this
company, I would have to know what the
products are used for, and how to
work with them. I would also have to discuss
(and understand!) research plans with the respective research groups, and match their interests to the company’s products.
And then convince them to make a deal. An account manager should also be able
to demonstrate the products.
And
basically that is where the lab work ends. Someone who decides to start
commercial career, for example as an account manager, will not be very likely to go
back to lab research. Saying goodbye to lab work is a difficult decision
for me, because I have always enjoyed working in the lab. That is one of the
reasons why I did not pursue this opportunity. Another reason is that I have always
wanted to somehow make a difference (big or small) for underdeveloped countries
regarding infectious diseases. A position as an account manager in a very
western, modern and fast growing company that sells products to western and
modern research groups (most of them not researching tropical infectious
diseases) would soon lead me away from the path I actually want to follow. Despite
that, this has been an eye opener
for me. I am happy I now know more about working in sales with respect to life
sciences, and I know this is not for me. At least not for now.
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