Is pharma for me? Navigating the move from agency, clinic or academia

Gina: Before we get into exploring careers in pharma and making that move in-house, I thought it’d be great to start by hearing a bit about your journey. I know much of the advice we’ll be covering today will cover things that you’ve learnt from your own personal experience.

Sian: Exactly. I’m a Global Medical Director at GSK. I’m based in Switzerland and I’ve been in GSK now for almost two years. Before that I was working at another big pharma company on oncology and neuroscience, and I’ve been in-house now for about 10 years. I started out as a medical writer way back in 2007.

I’ve got a very unusual background, and it’s a non-traditional background in pharma, and I guess I’m really passionate about sharing my background and showing people that you don’t need to come from doing a master’s degree and then getting an internship and then going into pharma like that. There are many different routes.

Gina: So what drew you to go for a career in pharma?

Sian: I think the pharma industry provides such a brilliant experience and exposure for people. You get to travel, you get to meet brilliant experts, you work on so many different types of work. If you stay in the same company, then you can move around departments, you could try medical, you can try a role in commercial. I think there’s also great benefits. Let’s be honest, that’s important.

Gina: Like you, I’ve worked in med comms and you often hear people discussing, should I move into pharma? And then you often hear, it’s just not for me. What are some of the big misconceptions about entering pharma?

Sian: I think for people working in agencies, the main misconceptions about pharma come from Hollywood, actually. There’s this misconception that you either work in sales going around trying to sell drugs to doctors, or you’re in a lab coat in the lab designing the latest drug. And the reality is, there’s much more to pharma than that. There are a lot of misconceptions out there. There’s also a lot of buzz around the industry, around roles like MSL as well, but there’s so much more to industry than those two or three different roles.

Gina: You mentioned earlier, that you came from a med comms role and you find that’s quite unusual. What are the typical routes people enter pharma from?

Sian: There are a few typical routes. Doing a master’s programme, in something like public health or medical affairs masters, and industry recruiters will look out for students and pull them from those programmes into internship programmes. There’s also young leader programmes where people come out of university and go into leadership programmes. They’re brilliant because you might end up going all around the world trying out different departments. It’s a great opportunity. But those kinds of opportunities are only available to a limited number of people, and there’s a lot of competition.

Gina: You’ve mentioned med comms as a route. Can clinicians enter the world of pharma?

Sian: Absolutely. I think it’s valuable for people to pivot from diverse backgrounds. Med comms people bring a lot of value into pharma. They’re able to do different types of projects and see lots of different projects coming from different clients. They get to see how to do things really well, how to do things not so well. Clinicians bring a different perspective. They’re able to bring the patient perspective and clinical challenges. They may have better insight than I do as a scientist about how much time physicians actually have and what channels they use to access their information. Different people bring unique perspectives. It’s important to have that as part of the hiring process.

Gina: And you mentioned people in lab coats, these can include people working in clinical research organizations (CROs) doing clinical research. Can people with this background fit well in-house?

Sian: Absolutely. People coming from clinical research organizations, especially in functions like clinical operations or clinical research associate roles, are doing identical roles externally or being contracted. So it’s very easy to step into pharma and do the same role, whether that’s running clinical trials or project managing clinical trials.

Gina: I used to work in health outcomes. Not many people move from roles here but is there space for them within pharma roles?

Sian: Yes, absolutely. There’s somebody I’ve been on a podcast with, Abby Stevens. She made that move herself. She was working in NICE, then at a specialist agency that did health outcomes research, and now she is working in value evidence and access or health outcomes research in-house. I think she’s done really well. Those specialist agencies bring even more desirable skills.

Gina: Depending on the role, do certain professions or backgrounds tend to thrive more than others?

Sian: I think it’s a little bit about personality. I say to people, think about what type of person you are. Do you enjoy deep work? Are you a creative person? Are you a bit of a jack-of-all-trades?

The first thing you should do when pivoting your career is try to understand your own personality, needs and wants, and where you would thrive. I’m naturally creative, but I also love science and communicating with people.

So for me, medical affairs and scientific communications is a really good fit. However, I know people who are introverted and very detail-oriented who do really well in clinical science or publications planning roles, where you have to do a lot of deep work. They also do really well in medical affairs, because there’s a lot of managing clinical trials and reviewing data very precisely. There’s something for everyone; it’s a case of understanding yourself and knowing what options are out there.

Gina: We’ve touched on backgrounds and skills that translate well, but what are the common skill gaps you’ve seen with people coming from less traditional routes? What could individuals coming from these alternative routes do to upskill?

Sian: The biggest skill gap is not understanding how corporate organizations work. You see it all the time on job adverts for large pharma companies: cross-functional collaboration. It’s alien to clinicians, academia, even large CROs. You tend to work in small teams. But in a large biopharma company, on a daily basis you have to speak with 20 to 50 people and bring them on board, collaborate, get their insights on your projects. That’s alien for many people outside corporate environments, but it can be coached. You can explain to people what they need to do in the first 90 days—meet as many people as possible, include people in decision making, co-create with people. You can’t just go off and do your own project.

Medical writers in particular tend to be kept in a darkened room at the back. I say to people, you need to get in front of the client. You need to get involved in business strategy, pitching, because all of those things prepare you for working in-house. Strategic thinking will help you in almost all roles in pharma. As a medical writer, it’s important to train those skills.

Gina: What has surprised you most about moving into pharma?

Sian: The scale. Especially the big pharma companies. There are small biotechs with other challenges, but for me, it was just the scale. You’re talking about companies with 90,000 employees. You won’t work with all of them, but in your disease area there may be hundreds of people you’re working with. Remembering names and who you need to speak to takes getting used to, but you manage.

The other thing that took a while to get used to is how slow things move. In an agency, if you want to do a project, say an AI project, you could start it tomorrow and launch it next week. In-house, if you wanted to do a big AI project, you’d need to come up with a concept, get leadership endorsement, get budget agreed, bring on the vendor, create a core team. It would take months. But there’s a good reason things are slow; it’s part of collaboration and building relationships.

Gina: For those listening today, what is a good first step in exploring whether they should make that move?

Sian: There are plenty of resources out there. Speak to people in your network about what it’s like to work in-house, and do research. Identify what you enjoy, what you’re good at, what you don’t like, and then look at opportunities that align with your personality.

Gina: Where can you find these roles?

Sian: Connect with as many people as possible. Search for thought leaders on LinkedIn for your target area e.g. regulatory, medical affairs. Follow them. Search for #hiring to see posted jobs, because smaller biotechs don’t necessarily list jobs on job boards. Otherwise, search relevant keywords on job sites like LinkedIn Jobs. I don’t recommend searching for, ‘medical director’. Search for ‘medical education’ or ‘scientific communications’. You may pull up roles that are not relevant, but you’ll catch different jobs because titles vary across companies.

Gina: When it comes to your LinkedIn profile, what should you prioritise?

Sian: In the headline at the top of your profile, instead of ‘medical writer at X agency’, position yourself for an in-house role. Think about what you’re working on. That could be promotional materials, medical materials, and reframe it. Instead of using medical writer, use the term medical affairs professional. You’re working on medical affairs materials all day.

Comment on other people’s posts, post about topics that position you as a thought leader. Some young graduates post what they’re learning. There’s a great Gen Z emerging influencer on LinkedIn interested in regulatory affairs. She posts about FDA regulations, regulatory pathways for different types of therapeutics. By doing so, she attracts regulatory affairs professionals and hiring managers. It’s the modern way of finding a job. I just love the way Gen Z can approach things, instead of waiting for perfection and waiting till you know everything and then applying, they’re just kind of learning as they go, and applying for things.

Gina: When writing your CV for a role in pharma, what do you think makes a strong one?

Sian: There are simple things. Agency CVs often use wording like client, pitch, business development. These are agency terms. Change them subtly. Instead of ‘client’, say you’re working on a ‘medical affairs project’. It’s a subtle shift using language and keywords that resonate with pharma hiring managers and using keywords like cross-functional, omnichannel, KOLs, and strategic planning.

The other thing I see on CVs is listing tasks: I do this, I do that. Pharma hiring managers look for the impact you had. You need to add success metrics, whether as a section or woven into bullet points. Demonstrate your value. Examples: I built good relationships with experts. Or numeric metrics like increased readership by 30% or saved 1 million on the budget.

Gina: When it comes to the interview, what can people expect?

Sian: The application process is quite long. The first thing is patience. In agency jobs, you get an interview quickly. It doesn’t work like that in pharma. The time between applying and getting an HR screening call can be one month or even 6 weeks, so don’t panic if you haven’t heard anything in a few weeks, it doesn’t necessarily mean you haven’t got the job.

The process usually starts with an HR screening call to weed out people not right for the role. They ask questions such as, what are your salary expectations? Can you work in the office or remote? Then the second interview is with the hiring manager, your potential boss. They’re looking for technical ability, ability to prioritise or think strategically. Then you may have an interview with someone on the cross-functional team for team fit, and a final interview with a senior person for culture fit. They may ask: Why do you want to work for this company? Why this role? What can you bring?

Gina: For those listening who may still have questions or indeed just want to learn more about applying for that in-house job, you’ve set up the Agency Advantage. Could you tell us more about that platform, what it’s about, and why did you start?

Sian: Sure. I set up the site to help people looking to pivot into pharma and biotech because it seemed so inaccessible. It’s particularly for people coming from med comms agencies, academia, or CROs. I offer three core services: 1:1 coaching, online courses (some CPD-accredited), and lots of free resources—my podcast, free guides, and a book I’ve written called The Agency Advantage, which you can download for free.

Gina: How can people find you?

Sian: You can visit my site at www.theAgencyadvantage.info where you can find links to my podcast and YouTube channel.

Gina: Before we wrap up, for those still unsure if a role in-house is for them, what words of encouragement would you give?

Sian: I would say your skills are really valuable and the industry needs you. We need diversity of thinking and action. People from different backgrounds bring unique perspectives and creative ideas. That’s valuable in any industry, including pharma.

And it is possible. It might feel difficult, but it’s possible. Every week I speak to people moving from agency, academia, clinical backgrounds, even from FDA or NIH. It just takes dedication and reframing your experience. Don’t give up. The time is now. Don’t wait until you know everything. Don’t wait until everything’s perfect. Just go for it. You’ve got nothing to lose.

Gina: Well, that’s a great way to end. Thanks for joining us today, Sian. It’s been a pleasure having you with us, and I know a lot of the advice you’ve given will resonate with people working in the industry as a whole.

Sian: Thank you so much for inviting me. It’s been a pleasure.

Gina: And to our listeners, if you’re considering a career in pharma, don’t forget to check out the Agency Advantage for more support and resources. Thanks again for tuning in, and we’ll see you next time on Visionary Voices.

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Note: This transcript has been edited by AI (ChatGPT v5.1) to improve flow and clarity.>