What does career growth mean at IQVIA? Q&A with Diana Heres

We caught up with Diana Heres, a Service Development Executive at IQVIA Interface, on her career development journey with us so far. 

Diana shares her journey to help answer questions such as “How do I build up my career?” and “What does career growth mean?” to give a genuine, personal insight into IQVIA careers.

What motivated you to stay and develop your career at IQVIA?

As this was my first full-time job out of university, I was naturally considering my career development plan, unsure of where it would go. However, I knew that I wanted to be involved in helping people in some way. 

At IQVIA Interface, our Service Development Executives (SDEs) support GP practices by ensuring that their patients’ long-term conditions are managed via pharmacist-led reviews. 

I started as an SDE, as this was a way of fulfilling my goals by working with the NHS, and with the help of my manager, I have been able to shape my career and technical skills into a more people-based role that was better suited to my strengths. 

I now line-manage and support a team of our SDEs and work closely with the account manager for our biggest client ensuring we achieve our contractual obligations. Most importantly, I can do all of this whilst seeing the direct impact both myself and my team now have on NHS patients across the UK.

I’ve also been running the unofficial IQVIA Book Club since March of this year as a part of the wellbeing team! Initiatives like this make IQVIA a fantastic place to stay and develop your career.

Can you share a pivotal moment or project that has shaped your career growth at IQVIA?

A pivotal moment that has shaped my career growth was leading the development of the training process for our team. 

I took ownership of developing, testing, and improving the process over the last year, including developing training materials and SOPs with our training manager. 

This helped me realise that I wanted to explore a career path that was more people-based within the team and encouraged me to go for the more managerial role I am in now.

How does IQVIA recognise employee contributions and achievements, and how has this impacted your career progression?

Being recognised for my work and my successes led to the opportunity to work on increasingly complex tasks that challenged my problem-solving abilities and developed my skills, further allowing my first progression step into a Project Lead role. 

This opened the door to network across the UK and build strong relationships with Account Managers and our business development team.

In my first few months with the company, my region had a large area of the UK which was mostly naïve to us, so one of our development leads and I were tasked to break into the area. 

I managed to build a strong relationship and win a contract with one of the PCNs in this area. Due to my involvement in this, I was then asked to replicate the success in a different region and was trusted with more leading roles in larger-scale projects, therefore allowing me to step into the project role.

How does IQVIA encourage employees to take ownership of their career development and set their own meaningful goals?

Once I was fully comfortable in my role and achieving my targets to a good standard, I was able to focus some time on other areas in the business that interested me. 

When I took an interest in marketing, I was able to get involved with different tasks to support the marketing manager, which is something I still do alongside my current role.

I was given the opportunity to meet with people in IQVIA Interface who had roles that I wanted to know more about and get involved in projects that interested me, allowing me to focus on my career development plan. 

What role has mentorship played in your career development at IQVIA?

My manager has played a crucial role in my career development. Her encouragement has made me more confident in my strengths and her mentorship has helped me improve on my weaknesses. 

Whenever I was interested in a particular area, my manager advocated for me to progress into new roles and I have been given many opportunities to develop my skills to get me to where I am today.

What do you believe sets IQVIA apart for people looking to build a successful and rewarding career?

I believe that IQIVA is a place where you are trusted and given the freedom to explore different career paths, even if these are not within the area you start in. 

There are so many different departments in IQVIA and a place for everyone no matter where you begin your journey. 

When you start at IQVIA, you are given the same chance to develop your skills, identify the career best suited to you, and get to where you want to be with lots of support along the way.

Are you thinking “How do I build up my career?” Consider IQVIA jobs

If Diana’s journey has inspired you to search for a role with endless possibilities for career development, make sure to browse our available positions or read more of our insights.