Another Friday and another installment of the "Bob & John" show; ie, Bob Ehrlich (DTC Perspectives) and me, John Mack (Pharma Marketing News) debate another issue, blogo-a-blogo!Today, however, I am in total agreement with Bob's post about "The Disappearing Corporate Career Path." I addressed this also in the January issue of Pharma Marketing News (see "Is There Life After Pharma?").
"Today, no marketer should expect to be rewarded with a steady one company career," said Ehrlich (see here). "The days of your company taking care of your future have been on the decline for more than a decade. After this economic meltdown, they are now officially over. Contacts are now king. Get out of your office and develop them before the grim reaper finds you at your desk. A marketer laid off without a network is going to face a long time collecting unemployment."
I agree with Bob 100% on the value of networking, which has always been an important part of my business plan. In 1997 I started with the PHRMA-MKTING listserv. That e-mail listserv has now been replaced by the web-based Pharma Marketing Forums.
Like Ehrlich, I urge pharma marketers to get out there and network. You can also write articles for trade publications -- including Pharma Marketing News (see Author Guidelines) -- and attend conferences.
As the editor of Pharma Marketing News, I get complimentary press passes to practically every industry conference. If you can write and wish to attend one of these conferences (see a Conference Calendar here), contact me (johnmack@pharmamarketingblog.com) or download the PMN Stringer Agreement.
There are over 1,000 Pharma Marketing Forum members and hundreds of posts. As a pharmaceutical marketer you should respond to or start conversations in one of the many forums there that match your area of interest. Demonstrate your knowledge, develop a public profile and a reputation on this site, which gets over 3,500 unique visitors every day. In fact, right now, there are over 140 people visiting the site. One of them might be a future partner or employer or someone who can help you get off the beach!
Good luck!
The modern internet age has redefined employer-employee contracts. This is because business plans are more easily disrupted by market forces. Hence, business stability is always at a threat, and in turn, there are pressures on organizations.
ReplyDeleteTo take care of one-self, definitely, the social media is a great help. This helps a person at the individual level to get value. On a broader level, it also helps in interchange of ideas that can impact the pharmaceutical and healthcare field positively.
On the whole, your blogpost is timely and pertinent. Full compliments to you for creating a platform for pharma professionals to interact.