March 12, 2019, by Noor Syuhada
I Love Pharmacy: Follow Your Passion; I Did!
By, Puvaindran Rajandran (Bsc (Hons) Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences).
Little bit about myself, I have been working for close to 6 years now since graduating from University of Nottingham, School of Pharmacy. I graduated with Bsc (Hons) Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences from University of Nottingham in 2013. I am currently pursuing my Masters of Philosophy under School of Pharmacy, which expected to be completed in June 2020.
My career journey has begun..
I started my career journey in 2013 before graduating. While working on my final year project during final semester, I begin career hunt in March/April 2013. I went through career website of several MNC pharmaceutical companies and applied for the job roles that I was keen. Right after graduating, I started working in Pfizer. I was really interested in getting my hands and knowledge on pharmaceutical industry. The position I received allowed me to apply my knowledge of pharmacy and problem- and problem-solving skills while working towards the career goal.
I am currently with Johnson & Johnson as Regional Pharmacovigilance Compliance Lead. I am handling the Asia Pacific region compliance for marketing activities, clinical studies ensuring pharmacovigilance criteria are met. I was reached out by Johnson & Johnson recruiter through LinkedIn. I had 3 rounds of interviews for this role. The first was with the HR, second was with the hiring manager and team directors. Then after, I had short interview with HR once I successfully landed the role through interview.
What I’ve learnt in the University is related to my current job as it is pretty much into understanding the medical terms. And with my masters, as I am working on safety risk assessment of vaccine; I can venture into different role within the pharmacovigilance field such as safety-risk assessment, aggregate report writing etc.
Reasons I chose this career path
I had almost 5 years of experience in field of pharmacovigilance prior to landing current role. I begun my career as Pharmacovigilance Executive in Pfizer for 3 years. Then, I decided to look for something more challenging and took up the role as Regional Pharmacovigilance Manager in AJ Biologics for 2 years. Throughout the 5 years of experience, I have good knowledge of pharmacovigilance along with experience in audits and inspections, which led to my current position. Most significant contributing experience in this current job would be to ensure pharmacovigilance practices are well done to avoid critical findings in future audits or regulatory inspection. Other than that, I feel that my interest and soft skills such as team player, meticulous, good speaking skills are relevant to my current job.
Opinions about career options
I’m currently doing something that is related to my knowledge, skills and interest. However, do not stop to only one option in your job searching. You can explore on alternative career path, which I think it is something people should investigate. If you are unhappy with the job you are doing, or it do not match your skills or strength, I highly encourage people to pursue their dreams and choose the right career. For example; some science graduates are working as business consultants.
Dear future graduates..
Analyze your skills and strengths, explore some options and choose the career you see yourself working. You can always take a job and analyze after seeing what other opportunities you can explore. Do not be comfortable with a job because it gives easy salary, easy access to work etc. Find something challenging when you begin feeling like in a comfort zone. You only live once; do what you love, follow your passion.
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