How to advance your career in market access

Ask any professional in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology sector, and they’ll tell you that their industry is continuously looking to the future. This is good news if you are a medical professional looking to advance your career. Whether you want to become a market access manager, an analyst or a consultant, there will be many opportunities to climb the ladder.

Also, if you're unsure what a market access manager does, you can find out more in the article we made.

As a market access professional, your role involves preparing new and old drugs and devices for market entry and supporting clients in launching these products. There’s no doubt that medical market access manager jobs offer great personal rewards and a pathway for progression. But apart from a passion for healthcare, you’ll need skills that get you recognised as a motivated player in the industry. Let’s discuss these skills below.

1. Make sure you have the right qualification

To kickstart your medical career, you will need a Life Sciences degree. But if there’s one thing employers like to see, it’s your ambition to continue learning.

By subscribing to training programs, workshops, and enrolling in additional courses, you can prove to recruiters that you are serious about your role in the medical industry and that you are motivated to make improvements.

Examples of other helpful qualifications in his field include:

• A certificate in digital marketing
• A managerial course certificate

Building a professional portfolio of your qualifications and experiences will also play in your favour as you map out a successful medical career.

2. Brush up on your communication skills

Good market access professionals are informative, persuasive, and influential. This means that you will need excellent communication skills and emotional intelligence to understand the needs of your clients and their patients. Being able to communicate effectively paves the way for greater productivity and enables you to successfully work towards your goals. These skills can then be used to prove your efficacy in deploying successful marketing access strategies.

3. Improve your research and analytical skills

Building up to your Life Sciences qualification, you would have familiarised yourself with the research and analytical methods required for most medical job positions. However, this niche always leaves room for improvement. As technology progresses, so do your options for conducting accurate and detailed research.

It’s important that you stay up to date with the latest software innovations to ensure that you are following the best (most cost-effective) processes. Your employers or potential employers will appreciate your dedication to the field and your keen interest in remaining at the forefront of innovation

4. Market your “self”

With your qualification behind you, marketing and influencing should be your forte – so, use your skills to market your talent so that medical recruiters realise your potential.

To do this, start by building your online presence so that employers have something concrete to work with. LinkedIn is a great place to start. This portfolio can highlight your experience as well as your passion for your career.

Remember to quantify your accomplishments and responsibilities. That is, use figures such as dollar values and percentages to give value to your experience.

For example, if you managed a marketing access account that contributed towards a 30% improvement in drug sales, then share and compare percentages to get your message across.

Once you’ve compiled your “marketing material,” you can use modern marketing strategies (such as social media) to network and advance your career.

Advance your market access career with IQVIA

Now that you know what’s required to climb the ladder in the medical market access sector, you can start to research available medical sales jobs to find the perfect fit.

For a bit more information you can find out what trends every market access manager must keep an eye on in our guide.

At IQVIA, our focus is to connect the best candidates to the best market access and medical sales vacancies. We do this so that we can ensure that patients across the globe are given the care they deserve. If you are driven and passionate about health and patient care, then we invite you to browse our latest market access manager jobs so that we can move healthcare forward together.