Dr J #9 – I made it to the land of the MSL!

Those of you who have read my blog posts might have wondered where Dr.J went. Wasn’t he on a mission to transition..? Did he lock himself in in the cold room, for a colleague to find him frozen to the floorboards on Monday morning? Go on and do yet another postdoc? Succumb to the challenge..?

No. None of that. Indeed, it has been a long time since my last post and a lot has happened in the meantime. I know I wrote a likewise sentence before, but it indeed has been a somewhat challenging year. Some personal developments have caused my delay.

But the good news now is that a final series of new interviews have now landed me a great MSL job!!! It all went really quick, actually. And on top, it felt truly natural somehow.

I saw the job posting online and applied for it. Company sounded great and the TA had a fit too. Within a week I was contacted for a first telephone interview, which went great. I even prepared a few questions of my own that hit ‘the right string’ apparently with the recruiter. He called me back the following day to let me know I would be talking to the hiring manager the following week. I was beyond happy, and prepared intensely for that round – again wrote down some in-depth questions myself too. Also during this interview, there was a good chemistry: the initial planned 45 minutes quickly extended into a 2-hour discussion on the pipeline and the trial landscape. It nearly emptied my phone’s battery...

There truly was a good feel to it. In contrast to my earlier interviews, this time it felt natural and I mastered the MSL mindset much easier.

Of course, even though the interview felt good, I still awaited any feedback with healthy nerves – you never know your competition and I am still new to the field. It took some time, (which did put those nerves to good use) but then I was invited for an on-site assessment at HQ.

Without going into detail these assessments are truly intense. You really need to know your facts, be the MSL you aspire to be, master the TA and know what the company and its products stand for, and prepare for a grilling.

Then on top, I met the senior management team for an additional interview round – a very productive discussion, with embedded very tough questions. Two days later I was contacted with an offer..! Yes! Truly amazing..!!

Now I am so happy to have finally made it to the land of the MSLs! What this last series of interviews also show I think, is that you should never give up the job search, no matter delays or other circumstances. You will find that company and job that has the right chemistry and feel just right. Also, the FSTP MSL training course provided me with superb support and training, exactly what I needed to land the job offer. The fact that I did the training also resonated very well with the hiring manager. The course provided me with essential insights into the industry I never had before, like product life cycle, how the MSL job fits into the industry and the MSL mindset. And last (but most definitely not least) how to prepare a successful industry CV! Without that, one never even makes it past the recruiter’s desktop or profile-filter...

Soon I will start my work as an MSL, and I can’t wait to do so!

Thanks to all of you who have read my posts, my thoughts and occasional struggles. My next post will concern how I quit my current job, very noteworthy sharing that good experience. And in the near future, I will be updating you on my first days as a novice MSL! I hope to meet you in the field one day!

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