Anyone made the move from NHS to pharmaceutical industry?

[KTMorton]

Hi all,

At a bit of a crossroads. Been in public sector roles since I graduated 9 years ago; had a travelling break for a year half way through (not a sabbatical, I left one role and when I came home ended up back in another NHS role). Have been approached a couple of times over the last 2 years by recruiters on LinkedIn, mostly asking if I would be interested in communications roles (what I do) in the pharma industry. The salaries are good (plus bonuses and/or car allowance), a couple double what i’m earning now; reviews on Glassdoor seem adequate enough.

Some of the factors shying me away before were the security I have in NHS roles (both from redundancy – very unlikely where I am currently; and in the event I ever needed to take long term sick leave – am in my 30s and fit as a fiddle so this is unlikely but we never know what’s round the corner!) along with the flexibility i.e. if I need to work from home one day or attend an appointment in the middle of the day there’s no issues there. In the next 2-3 years DP and I will be trying to start a family so one part of me wants to throw caution to the wind now, (if I were successful in these applications/put forwards by recruiters) see what this type of work is like in comparison and just bite the bullet; the other part of me sees how supportive the NHS is as an employer to my colleagues who have emergencies, are returning from mat leave etc and wonders if it would be silly to leave a permanent NHS role knowing that I may be in that position in the next couple of years.

The salary issue does bug me – i’ve been on a Band 6 for 5 years (with the annual increment which transpires to around an extra £30 take home/month) however I do so much more than what’s stated in my JD, I accept this happens everywhere when you’ve been in your role and while and pick up additional bits of work however it’s frustrating not being able to ask for a rise/receive a bonus in the public sector to reflect this. I know as a public sector worker the mindset shouldn’t just be about the earnings; however it’s hard not to focus on the potential salary difference elsewhere. I’m ready for a new challenge, I was shortlisted for interview and made it to the 2nd round for a job recently however heard earlier this month I wasn’t successful.

I know its silly to stay in a role because of ‘what ifs...’ , just wondered if there’s anyone out there who made this move and how it’s been for you?

Thanks!

I have been having the same concerns regarding my career (sonographer and trained midwife), did you ever make the leap?

I've worked in pharma for 15 years after a career as a healthcare professional, some directly for NHS.

My experience is that sick leave/pay tends to be very generous as most employers will have insurance to cover a % of your salary if on long-term sick leave. Redundancies and restructures are quite common due to the nature of the industry. Big clinical trials fail and this leads to restructuring, but once in pharma it's usually easy to find another role. Also, opportunities will arise to broaden experience beyond the UK.

Also I've always found pharma to be flexible. However, communications are often time pressured and in pharma all external communications have to go through a rigorous approval process to obtain review, edits and sign off. So I'd consider how big the team is so that the team has some flexibility to share the load. Tight deadlines for UK Comms may need input from global colleagues in different time zones.

Hope this helps.

I don't work in Comms, but worked alongside colleagues so familiar with the work they do