How to Train in a Pharmaceutical Company
To their credit, many of the world's top pharmaceutical companies don't skimp when it comes to training employees. The entry-level unskilled laborer and the recent college graduate eyeing a future in sales can both find plenty of training opportunities to support their professional goals. That includes workshops that teach basic job-specific skills and cross-training seminars that permit qualified employees to shift career directions. Stacey Bledsoe, HR manager for McKesson, said she is often asked what corporations can do to retain top-performing employees. "The answer," says Bledsoe, "is pretty simple: orient, educate, and communicate with your employees."
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Attend new hire orientation workshops to learn about benefits, company history and mission, product line, organizational structure, and manufacturing processes. Learn how to use a company's intranet to discover opportunities for professional growth. Companies such as Abbott even introduce new employees to a leadership development program that embraces diversity.
-
2
Sign up for innovative training courses that can launch a career in management. For example, one of the reasons Novartis instituted an e-learning program was to help supervisors identify support staff employees with management potential.
-
-
3
Pursue leadership training that emphasizes coaching, actual work experience, and hands-on activities. Learn how to create action plans to increase job performance. Advance to management programs that teach how to maintain high levels of productivity even during transitions. According to business expert Michael Watkins, companies value effective transition managers whose steady leadership can compensate for bad decisions sometimes made during restructurings and moves.
-
4
Take compliance training on governmental standards for operating pharmaceutical corporations. For example, employees at Merck & Co. learn how the company's code of conduct, ethical operating standards and corporate policies establish appropriate behavior models for making and selling drugs in the United States. In particular, the company's field-based employees learn which interactions with medical professionals are permitted and which are prohibited.
-
5
Enroll in sales training classes to learn how to customize a marketing plan for individual doctors. Know communication strategies to portray the company's mission to health care providers. Learn how to create a sales model, reassess the effectiveness of sales training procedures, and recommend improvements.
-
6
Advance to training that teaches how to become a sales coach. Learn how to evaluate the company's training needs, build a powerful sales force, and design web-based and print communications that effectively deliver training content to sales representatives.
-
1
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Writing-books on the table at seminar image by Dmitry Goygel-Sokol from Fotolia.com
