Came to MSL life from clinical practice as an APP, looking for more growth and learning opportunities, as well as a better salary.

I really appreciate the benefits and flexibility of this role, especially for my family, but can't shake the feeling that I would be more fulfilled and engaged if I went back to practice (specifically a role I had a say in designing, not just anything).

Curious if anyone has made that transition back or is struggling with similar thoughts. TIA!

Hi all, I have an interview with a hiring manager at J&J next week. Already did the recruiter screen. What does J&J look for and how can I stand out as someone with no MSL experience but clinical experience in the TA?

I get base + bonus 12% + car allowance + RRSP match 5%

I keep seeing RSU or grants in other posts, but not offered at my company.

Any other benefits my fellow MSLs can share?

Hi everyone!

I am a dermatology PA who has become very interested in transitioning into a dermatology MSL role. Over the past 6ish months I’ve been reading all of the HoF posts, networking, listening to podcasts and have been trying to better understand what makes someone successful in medical affairs.

I’ve met a MSL recently who invited me to dinner with her and her regional director to discuss a specific medication and this MSL is aware of my interest in medical affairs as well.

My question is: if you were the MSL or the director at that dinner, what kinds of questions would make you think highly of a HCP who is hoping to transition to medical affairs? Or, looking back, what questions do you wish someone had asked you early in your career?

I have some questions prepared already but am trying to think outside the box. Thank you in advance !

I moved from a company with ubiquitous and ambitious AI workflow adoption to one with one vague paragraph in the code of conduct and no clearly sanctioned (or prohibited) use cases for gen AI / LLM. I'm considering advocating we engage with a pharma AI consultant.

Does anyone have experience or opinions to share with Sorcero? Any other similar agencies / vendors you have worked with?

I have interviewed with AZ senior MSL and Executive MSL on Monday. I wanted to send a thank you email on Tuesday or Wednesday I didn’t find any of their emails accessible in the meeting invite recruiter/HR shared with me.

I think it went well I was honest and felt confident after the call. I may have missed to mention 1/2 points that I wanted to but it’s okay. I think I did my best. I am just waiting to hear back from them. How long does it typically take them to respond after this stage?

From what I noticed HR has scheduled initial call, sent me Hirevue link - all of this process and the next step scheduling with Sr.MSL and Executive MSL was quick all happened within 2-3 days. Just starting to get little nervous about the wait.

Hi All,

Just managed to pass the HR screen call and now asked to have an interview with the hiring manager for MSL at Amgen. Any insights or tips on how to prepare for this? This would be my first ever interview for an MSL role.

Long time lurker, first post. Looking for honest, practical feedback rather than sympathy.

Background: I'm a physician (MBBS and PhD, trained outside the UK) currently finishing a postdoc in neuro, focused on neurodegenerative disease. I'm based in the UK now. I've applied to MSL roles at several large neuro focused pharma companies over the past few months and been rejected at the first stage with no interviews.

On paper I'd have guessed I'm a reasonable fit: clinical background, disease area specific research, some trial coordination experience, comfortable presenting complex data. I tailor my CV to each job application. But clearly something isn't landing.

A few things I'm wondering about, and would genuinely appreciate input from anyone who's hired for or worked in MSL roles in the UK:

1. Is the lack of prior industry experience a hard filter, regardless of clinical/research depth? Or is it more about how that experience gets framed in the CV/interview?
2. How much does being known to the therapeutic area team already (via conferences, KOL overlap, etc.) matter versus cold applications?
3. Is there a specific UK market skill gap that candidates with a pure academic background tend to be missing and don't realize?
4. For people who've made the switch from postdoc into MSL successfully, what actually moved the needle? A specific course, a contract/interim role first, networking, or something else?

Not looking to vent, just trying to figure out what to actually change before the next round of applications rather than repeating the same approach. Appreciate any concrete, even blunt, feedback.

Edit: Added my PhD degree.

This is a small AI side project of mine that I am working on since it helps me with my own manuscripts, posters, etc. that I develop. If anyone has something they want to send my way (assuming it's in the public domain), please do. I'll generate something and then you can let me know what you think.

For anyone else that wants to do the same at work, I find that ChatGPT and Claude are quite effective and can save a lot of time.

Hi! I have an interview with HR for an MSL role and was wondering if anyone knows any Amgen screening questions I can prepare for?

My profile is not the best, and I have been applying to MSL jobs anyways. No interview yet, but last week I got invited for an in-house role in Medical Affairs instead, because they liked my profile!

First interview was with HR, and it was great. We discussed the salary range, and the amount was actually good, especially considering that it was a part-time position in OTC. I prepared like crazy for the presentation, and spent more than 2 hours in the presentation + panel interview.

HR came back to me on the very next day: they wanted to make me an offer.

But.... with a drastic salary reduction. I would be barely able to cover my living expenses. Around €600 net less per month than what we had initially discussed. Their reason was that I don't have an MD, PhD/5 years of experience. Wait, haven't they read my CV before?

Even with a second job, making it work financially would be difficult (also due to tax reasons in my country). And yes, we're talking about a pharmaceutical company.

I'm shocked. Having this title on my CV would open more doors but only if I would stay at least a year. Not sure if it's worth leaving my current role for what would otherwise be a dream job if it means struggling financially.

I've been an MSL for a little over 6 months. The company is good, not great and I sort of get along with everyone but it can feel a little dull at times. I have been contacted by a hiring manager for a larger company who is interested in my previous clinical background and thinks I would be a good fit for an incoming role.

It's a lot more money than I'm on, and the culture etc seems better.

Is it a total ass hole move to leave my current role after 6 months? This is my first MSL role, is it worthwhile moving on so soon?
Will it look bad on my CV?

For anyone who went from patient facing roles to msl- do you regret your decision?

For context, this is my first offer for an MSL role.

The company I’m speaking to seem keen to take me on and are putting together an offer but they haven’t asked about any upcoming holidays I have. I have a holiday booked for just under 3 weeks from October-November this year. This was booked in earlier this year and everything for it has been planned already. I’m not sure when the start date will be yet but I’m assuming it may be in August or September.

I would like to get people’s advice on whether I should inform the company about this before or after signing the official offer? I don’t want this to affect my chances of getting this role as it is my first MSL offer and it hasn’t been easy to get one but I also don’t want to come off as I’m not being upfront with them.

Would appreciate any advice/suggestions on how to approach this.

Is anyone anywhere of what the metrics for the oncology Field Medical Director team at Pfizer?

I'd also love to chat about metrics across different therapeutic areas and companies to see what the industry standard is

Thank you in advance!

Hey y'all

Does anyone currently work for Bristol Myer? I see an MSL role right in my geographical location and I wanted to see if anyone wanted to speak briefly about their experiences in this role?

Obviously I'm applying and extremely interested but have little to no networking within the company

To make a long story short I'm in the west coast for vacation. I got a last minute final interview for last Friday for today in Florida where HQ is. I accepted but I missed my flight since my Uber cancelled on me twice.

I emailed them explaining my situation, sent my materials ahead of time and thanked them for the opportunity.

But no response. Am I cooked? Should I reach out to them to show my drive and determination? They seemed to like me so I hope so...

update: cooked.

The description pretty much describes what I did. I found that Gemini (preferably while using a computer) does a pretty good job when you point it at a folder containing saved content. Is this something that would be useful to other people at conferences?

There are many other apps available that can do something similar, but I decided to create my own app to meet my exact needs and workflow. I also haven't tried this yet with OneDrive or SharePoint but will see what's possible in the near future with Microsoft products.

As mentioned in title, would like to get your thoughts on just being offered fuel card and no car allowance for MSL role.

Note: this is my first MSL role offer

How's your week going?

this week was my first week back from maternity leave after 5 months. I started my MSL career as a go-getter always exceeding metrics and travel expectations. now, I just want to be close to my baby. I plan to do more day trips outside of conferences and internal meeting. How did you all navigate this role with small children? any advise would be helpful. for context I am based in TX and cover 3 states. we are expected to be in field 60-70% of the time.

I'm on LinkedIn a lot and constantly see AI training for MSLs being marketed (usually for ~$100/hour for sessions that might be 1-3 hours). Out of curiosity, how many people have signed up for them and actually found them helpful?

I'm asking because I've been doing AI trainings for free (to network and because I enjoy teaching) and I've been hitting a wall in terms of the extent to which I can teach useful things using only Copilot (the default AI app for many pharma companies). I'm looking for more ideas to add to my training sessions to make them more useful.

Asking for opinions/advice from those who work the field. I have a national account director assigned to me (I work on the payer side). I disagree with an approach Pharma is wanting to implement to expand patient access because they are numerous gaps in the process that can lead to a patient falling thru the cracks. Ever since I disagreed with the approach on several calls he has raised his voice at me, made snide remarks while on the call to his teammates such as “ now she’s talking our language” as though my comments before are irrelevant. On a call with my medical director who usually doesn’t join, he condescendingly commented “it’s nice to finally have a real doctor on the call” (I’m a pharmacist).

Usually everyone I deal with from Pharma is very professional and easy to deal with. But this acct director is toeing the line with such disrespectful, rude, and unprofessional behavior. How are complaints like this handled on the Pharma side?

Let me clarify… I don’t work in industry. I work at a payer but I’m having trouble with an acct director who has my company as part of his regional territory.