How To Prepare For Pharmaceutical Industry Transformation In Malaysia this 2023 – Pharmaceutical Recruitment Trend

The pandemic has thrust the pharmaceutical industry into the spotlight like never before, turning some global companies into household names. The success of Covid-19 vaccines has also helped deliver a massive boost to its public reputation.

But beyond Covid-19’s halo effect, we’ve noticed the pandemic has accelerated more profound changes within the industry. This article will discuss how Malaysia’s pharmaceutical market is evolving and highlight some key pharmaceutical recruitment trends.

Pharmaceutical sales teams are getting leaner

Over the past 9-12 months, we’ve noticed how many large multinational pharmaceutical clients are shrinking their commercial teams. Commercial strategy in this industry has been evolving for a while; back in 2015, PwC identified a decline in traditional sales and marketing tactics due to “rising costs, new regulations, increasing provider consolidation, changing operating models, and greater market complexity”. But fast forward a few years and pile on the disruption brought on by Covid-19, and we now see more dramatic shifts taking place.

Our experience across Asia Pacific bears out the results of a recent McKinsey survey of global pharma companies where the majority feel that the traditional sales rep model will no longer be fit for purpose – downsizing the field salesforce has become inevitable.

The pharmaceutical industry’s transformation affects the commercial set-up of organisations, with the headcount for traditional sales and marketing positions no longer what it was three or four years ago. For example, the typical sales team of 15 people has probably shrunk to 10 today, increasing competition for the best jobs.

Pharmaceutical distributors expanding

One of the main reasons for this reorganisation is that tier-one pharma companies are moving more of their products to pharmaceutical distributors. And as the distributors are taking on more products, they are expanding and building larger sales teams.

A challenge arises because many talents are resistant to joining distributors from pharma companies. After all, it’s a very different environment and way of working; it’s not for everyone. For instance, a sales manager in a pharma company working on a specific product will do the full-scale sales role, controlling all the development and planning of the sales strategy and targets. On the other hand, a job with a distributor involves just the execution of a specific part of the process; you don’t get to take much initiative. But it’s also very subjective as some people like the fact that working at a distributor can give you a chance to work on various products, but your portfolio of skill sets will be a little bit smaller.

Currently, there’s a little bit of instability with most large pharma companies as they transform. This situation creates uncertainty and makes some pharma company talents more open to a move to distributors.

Pharma strategy: from a sales-centric to a customer-centric

We see a fundamental change in the pharmaceutical business model, with manufacturers reconsidering their go-to-market strategies. The market has changed forever. As a recent Bain & Company briefing identified, “Doctors want customer relationship managers who they can “pull” on to help build frictionless practices; they don’t need sales reps who “push” products and take up their time.”

One of our top-tier multinational pharmaceutical clients has spent the last five years implementing massive transformations to change how they approach customer experience (CX). They want to shift focus from a sales-centric approach to a more personalised, customer-centric experience, enhancing engagement with prescribers and patients. And this involves refreshing the company’s entire team structure and creating new positions where performance metrics are not so objective but more subjective and qualitative.

Recruiters seeking talent with a growth mindset

Pharma’s new focus on customer experience means hirers are looking for entrepreneurial talent with a more business mindset. Successful talents must be socially conscious and have a holistic view of the market and the entire patient journey, understanding what’s important for the patients and doctors; it’s no longer just about pushing numbers and products. Companies don’t just hire people with sales backgrounds but also marketing talents or doctors with strong technical knowledge who want to step into the pharma industry.

These days, we look beyond the past experience of talents to see if they have the right attitude and can fit into the company culture. More importantly, a candidate must have passion and a solid understanding of what the pharma company is trying to do regarding its vision and mission.

Leaders must be able to manage teams of different stakeholders not just locally but cross-culturally; diversity of experience is critical. Overall, requirements have moved from command and control to innovation, collaboration and value creation. And when it comes to technical skills, cross-functional skills are a must. If you’re a salesperson, you should also try your best to have some knowledge or exposure to other areas like marketing or project management.

With companies undergoing rapid organisational change, the pharmaceutical industry seeks agile and adaptive talent to suit different business environments. The best candidates can continue to operate when there’s uncertainty and ambiguity. We identify these strengths from talents’ profiles, assessing their experience over the past three to five years. Have they worked consistently with fairly traditional companies without going through much change? Or do they have a broader mix of experiences with large multinational companies and startups, working in small and large teams?

Data and technology skills are becoming critical

The pharmaceutical industry is increasingly focused on data-driven effectiveness. To succeed in this space, candidates must be adept at sourcing and analysing qualitative data to get results.

Most big pharma companies are embarking on digital transformation strategies and exploring solutions such as automation and other technological tools to enhance the efficiency and productivity of their leaner teams. Understanding how to integrate technology with traditional forms of communication is essential. We look for candidates exposed to new tools and technology, assessing whether they depend a lot on automation or if they can do things manually too. Cloud ERP and cybersecurity skills are also in demand.

How BTI Executive Search accelerates the recruitment process

Finding the right candidate with the critical skills can take a lot of time which is why clients come to BTI Executive Search for help speeding up the process. We have a particularly close connection to the talent pool in the healthcare market, maintaining constant engagement with the right quality of candidates. It means we’re ready to move quickly when pharma clients need to fill gaps in their workforce.

We have a very in-depth understanding of what our clients are trying to do and can communicate it to candidates from an objective, less biased perspective. Talents can be a little more sceptical about getting a direct approach from a pharma company.

Our clients appreciate our transparency and our honest opinions about why the talent might not last in their transformation because their mindset or cultural fit isn’t right. Our comprehensive search methodology, detailed talent mapping exercises and levels of professionalism set us apart – we focus less on delivering quantity when it comes to candidates and much more on quality.

Looking for expert support in hiring pharmaceutical or other healthcare industry talent in Malaysia and other Asia-Pacific markets? Chat with BTI Executive Search’s specialists today. Click here to contact us, or you can email info@btiexecutivesearch.com. Let’s connect on LinkedIn!