Eight of the world’s largest drug makers
recently announced the loss of 42,000 jobs, including such household
names as Pfizer and Wyeth. The job losses fell disproportionately on
their U.S. sales forces. Clearly, the days of growth for drug sales reps
are seemingly over.
With unprecedented job cuts shaking the pharmaceutical industry and
leaving many sales representatives suddenly jobless, The Birkman Method®
for personality assessment is helping to reconnect stranded sales
personnel with new positions by determining their underlying interests,
personality strengths and workstyles, and helping them find new jobs
that fit best.
“Pharmaceutical sales reps are some of the
hardest-working, resourceful, and most resilient salespeople,”
said Sharon Birkman-Fink, CEO of the Birkman International, developer of
the Birkman Method. “By determining strengths,
stressors, and work interests, these high-powered and highly-trained
people may not only find a new job in the broader healthcare field, but
may find a job that more completely suits their needs and plays to their
strong points in another field.”
The current recession, coupled with the increasing standard of “closed
door” policies for doctors has led to
companies outsourcing what little sales they are keeping, and no longer
hiring.
“There is no reason to panic, however,”
said Birkman-Fink. “If a pharmaceutical sales
representative has lost his or her job or is about to lose it, now is a
good time to sit down, evaluate strengths and weaknesses, and see what
else is out there.”
The Birkman Method uses a combination of factor analysis and statistical
regression to ascertain a person’s preferred
method of working, and then matches their personality profile and
interests to a set of appropriate jobs, or “job
families,” within which a person will thrive.
“Pharma reps are valuable people,”
said Birkman-Fink. “Their keen insight into
the complicated U.S. healthcare system and the benefits of new and
improved pharmaceutical products has taught them how to maneuver through
a sea of complexity and be perceptive about things that other sales
personnel might miss. Personality testing can help find them explore
different opportunities that reps might not even know exist.”
For over 50 years, corporate human resources professionals, independent
consultants, executive coaches, educational institutions and other
not-for-profit organizations have used the Birkman Method with over 2.5
million individuals.
The Birkman Method accurately measures productive behaviors, stress
behaviors, underlying needs, motivations and organizational orientation,
helping people understand and seek careers that keep them at their best.
“The job market can seem daunting and fraught
with dead ends,” said Birkman-Fink. “The
Birkman Method helps people zero in on the career that fits them, and
figure out where they will succeed without the guesswork.”
The Birkman Method® has been in use for over
50 years and has been used by over 2 million people and 5,000
organizations worldwide, including corporations, not-for-profit
organizations, governmental agencies, and individuals in their hiring,
retention, motivational and organizational development activities. The
assessment accurately measures social behaviors, underlying expectations
of interpersonal and task actions, potential stress reactions to unmet
expectations, occupational preferences and organizational strengths. For
more information: www.birkman.com
or 1-800-215-2760.
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