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Name: Kimberly W.

Employer: Eli Lilly

Title: District Sales Manager, Pharmaceutical Sales

What do you do?
Supervise/manage/coach/develop a team of 12 sales representatives who call on prescribing doctors to sell pharmaceuticals. Set expectations and direction and hold team accountable to results. Manage all aspects of the business: recruiting and hiring, budget management, performance management and career development, field coaching and evaluation.

How did you get your job?
I have been in the pharmaceutical industry for 20+ years. I found my first pharmaceutical company through the Des Moines Register Sunday Career pages, believe it or not!! I joined my current company by networking through individuals who already worked there that I had built contacts with. I started as a sales representative, then moved to an associate position and then on to my current management assignnment.

What is your educational background/degree(s) earned?
I have a BS in Biology from Iowa. I have done some additional coursework in healthcare at UCLA while exploring masters opportunities there.

Which degree(s) do you recommend for this career field?
For entry level positions in the pharmaceutical industry, a bachelor's degree is required. However, there is not a specific major that is required. Many different undergrads come to us with a variety of majors and all can be successful.

What talents, skills, or personality traits help someone do well in this job?
Someone who is self-motivated, smart - with a high learning agility, able to strongly connect with a wide variety of people with varying professional backgrounds and someone who is very good at debate and persuasion to get an individual to understand a difficult concept. Finally, someone with very good organizational skills who can multi-task well.

What are the challenges of this job/career path?
The constantly changing health care environment, particularly during an election year. Continually changing pipelines resulting in redeployment across the industry. Managed Care payers restricting patients to generic drugs whenever possible. Strict FDA guidelines on promotion.

Any misconceptions about your job?
Here is what some people think about being a pharma rep: expense account + company car + flexible work hours = good life. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a very difficult and very demanding job. The good reps work hard for what they are able to achieve.

What do you know now that you wish you knew as an undergraduate at The University of Iowa?
I know it is hard but the sooner you can figure out what you want to do when you graduate from college the better. If you know what you want to do, you can manipulate your college experience to set you up to have experience in demonstrating transferable skills for the job you have your heart set on. And, of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention GPA. In today's job market, GPA matters significantly. The higher the GPA, the greater chance of getting the job you want. Get good grades!!! :-)

Final words of advice...
This is such an exiting time for all of you who are entering the job market post college. I remember that time for me vividly. So much opportunity and so much anxiety!! My advice is know what you want to do, hold on to that strongly and don't settle for anything less. Persistance pays and you will eventually get there. Lastly is, even if you have now graduated from college, don't assume that you know everything. You will learn exponentially more in your first year of work experience than your entire undergrad years put together. If you always look for opportunities to learn along the way during your professional career, you will succeed!! Good luck!!!