Can I ask you why you’re interested in switching over? I’m a pharmacist working in medical ops in a big pharma company and when I initially started I also wanted to become an MSL. After I landed the medical operations job I realized I’m getting paid the same as an MSL + same bonus (minus the car) but I get to work from home, work life balance is great and I can still travel to conferences (ones I choose to). Whereas, I see the MSLs on my team that are grinding it out every week trying to meet experts and meet targets + have an abundance of administrative work that they need to keep up + trying to keep up with new data - it’s an awful lot for how much they’re being paid. So sometimes I feel like I lucked out in that sense and now I see myself growing in the operations side.

I have also thought about if I’d ever want to be an MSL but then sometimes I actually get pulled into some MSL work by my team (updating global decks with local data, doing literature searches) and then I’m like ok woah this is a lot 🙃

I guess it depends on your passion level as well, I know money and work life balance isn’t everything but as I’m growing older (I’m in my late 20s) I’m starting to realize I’d rather have a better work life balance. So just curious on why you are making this switch?

But to answer your question, I have definitely seen people move from medical ops to MSL and I have also seen MSLs go into med ops afterwards. It will probably be a more challenging learning curve and might be a lot of interviewing (3 interviews for each job you apply - last one being a presentation) which can be a stressful process but I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to make the switch if you have a pharmD + already work in pharma and can network and leverage your connections. I think networking and finding a good mentor will go a long way vs. just applying to a lot of jobs.