Permanent
Posted by: Lydia in Brussels, pharma, tags: contract, pharma, signed, stability, success
Photo from joebeone
As soon as we decided on Belgium, I submitted my resume to a bunch of Belgian pharmaceutical and biotech consulting companies. In March, I was offered a job at one of these consulting companies (“Choice Consulting”). I would be employed by Choice Consulting, but I would work at a pharmaceutical company (“Federation Pharma”) for at least three months. I would initially have a six-months probationary contract with Choice Consulting that would transition into a permanent position if my performance was acceptable. I have just found out that Federation Pharma has just signed an agreement to continue my contract until the end of the year. This means that will earn a permanent position as a consultant with Choice Consulting. After my contract with Federation Pharma ends, they can send me to work anywhere within the Benelux region, but it feels great to know that I now have a permanent position and a little bit of long-term security.
What do I actually do at my desk? I work as a clinical epidemiologist at Federation Pharma headquarters. At the moment, I examine data from a vast database of health insurance claims from the USA. This database lets me work out patterns of use, treatment rates, co-morbidities, and healthcare costs that are associated with specific drugs or diseases. The data are already there, and I do not have to slave over the bench to generate them. I do not have to work with syringes of infectious diseases, there are no failed experiments, and I work 40 hours a week. I do not have the independence, camaraderie, or altruism of academia, but I have short achievable deadlines and minimal stress. I am a little uncomfortable working in a for-profit environment, but I am learning a lot more about the pharmaceutical industry that I would ever discover from the outside. Overall, I really like it here.
Related posts:
Entries (RSS)
Lovely pic.
Security and low stress are Good Things. They give one so much more freedom in every other aspect of life.
Started writing you a letter…almost done.
xo
Like Bony mentioned short achievable deadlines and minimal stress
are such valuable assets in any work environment,
especially in a commercial company.
A family member of mine works in a comparable field,
but has always held back on moving from his relaxed academic
workplace to a commercial position, given the stress that often
involves.
Glad to hear you’ve found job security! One thing I wish I’d've done was look for jobs before I moved here. I guess that would’ve been easier if we lived in Brussels. I’ve had to translat my cv into Dutch and now I’ve found a crop of English speaking schools in Brussels and I have to translate the whole thing back!
That’s awesome Lydia! glad to see everything seems to be going well!
Great news Lyds
Your job sounds really interesting and hurrah for a job where things WORK! (I am battling to get colony blotting working currently with my Masters student who is on a very tight time frame – SO frustrated!)
xoxo