it's not that rare. my homegirl works in pharma sales, her mom does too, she had some exec job. really, the peak for getting into this was like 2008, a lot of pharma companies are cutting sales staff due to mergers, a lot of blockbuster drugs losing their patent protection, and dry pipelines for new drugs. my friend's mom was actually given the choice of taking a demotion or being laid off at her company (Novartis), even with a Ivy UG and Ivy MBA, she struggled for a year to find another position that was an equivalent level to the one she had to leave.
you need to do a lot of research and networking, the better you can sell yourself, the more belief people will have that you can sell their products. you need to have a compelling story as to why pharma sales, yea it may be bullshyt, but you need one, they get a lot of applicants b/c of the perks in the industry.
but it's an overall chill gig, good base pay, good bonuses, company car, you're not in an office all day, you get to deal with people (may develop some great friend/mentorships), there's a lot of training and conferences so there's an opportunity to get a trip on the company's dime - plus meet a fukk co-workers from across the country so they can't complicate your life. Pharma companies also tend to have a lot of incentives for top salespeople (free vacations, money, other gifts), and lastly, the hours seem manageable - my girl is always doing some random shyt at some random time of day or calling me while driving in her car.
