How to Negotiate your Salary in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Negotiating your salary in the pharmaceutical sector follows similar principles to general salary negotiations, but there are specific factors to consider due to the industry's unique characteristics that can make the process a little tricker than expected. I did a poll with my own LinkedIn network here where I asked about how much of a % of an increase would they need to increase their salary in order to maintain their current lifestyle (2023). 92% of participants (173 sample size) said more than 5%. This flies in the face of the traditional 3-4% that you would get from industry and highlights the need to be able to advocate for yourself when negotiating your salary increases.

I have negotiated lots of salaries for people in the pharmaceutical sector. Here are some tips for negotiating salary in the pharmaceutical sector: Find out your worth, find out what your limits are and be confident to walk away if not suitable. Here is how you go on that journey:

Understand the Pharmaceutical Industry

Familiarise yourself with the pharmaceutical industry's current trends, challenges, and regulatory environment. This knowledge will help you articulate how your skills and experience align with the sector's specific needs. At the end of the day, you are looking to add value to a business and solve their problems.

Why should someone invest €65,000 in your specific skills vs someone else who can solve what they are looking for with a price tag of €45,000? Knowing how to market yourself is key and in order to do that, you need to understand where your skills like in the supply and demand spectrum.

Online Salary Research Websites

Utilise reputable websites such as Glassdoor, Payscale, Indeed, and Salary.com. These platforms aggregate salary data from employees who voluntarily share their salary information anonymously. You can search for specific job titles or roles within the pharmaceutical sector to get a sense of the salary range.

Personally, I don’t really rate this method as I find that the data is often skewed in the extreme of what I would find the market to be from my recruitment campaigns. However, this is a great place to start and will start to give you ideas of what sort of ranges are out there and how your expectations fall within those ranges if you genuinely don’t know what you should be looking for.

Industry Surveys & Reports

Keep an eye out for industry-specific salary surveys and reports published by reputable organisations or consulting firms. These reports often provide detailed insights into compensation trends and benchmarks within the pharmaceutical sector. Many agency recruiters do salary surveys and are often publicly available.

These can be great ways to get more specific salary ranges. Keep in mind however, that the salary surveys have limited scope and are usually restricted to whatever roles the agency tends to work on. So if you have a more niche role or are looking to get into a more niche role, this may not be the best method for you. However, it may open your eyes to roles in your sector that you had not heard of before or you may see your role being described in a new way and could be another search term when looking for a new role.

Professional Associations & Networks

Join pharmaceutical industry-related professional associations and networking groups. Engaging with industry peers can give you access to salary discussions and surveys conducted within these circles. There are many online forums for this, personally I quite like Reddit and LinkedIn. LinkedIn for obvious reasons but to take it a step further, there are many groups on LinkedIn for specific needs.

For example, if you are an automation engineer who only works in sterile facilities, there is likely a LinkedIn group for that, and you can create your own network within that group and get salary information. Reddit is a little more general and you certainly need to go digging. However, when you find a group that works for you, you can really personal and get a more “real” answer about salary expectations that you may not get on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Salary Insights

LinkedIn provides salary insights for various job titles based on the information shared by its members. You can find this data on job postings or by using LinkedIn's Salary Insights feature. This has its uses but again I often find that the data doesn’t reflect the reality. One role that I work on a lot is a QC Chemist and at the time of writing this, a typical QC Chemist with a couple of years’ experience can expect to get in the range of €35,000 to €40,000. If I was to look at

Company Career Pages

Explore career pages of pharmaceutical companies you are interested in to see if they provide salary information for specific roles. Some companies may disclose salary ranges to attract potential candidates. There has been a massive shift in recent years where many companies are showing their salaries. Some of it is for legal reasons and some is for candidate attraction. This can be a great way to collect salaries.

Direct Contact with Recruiters

If you're working with recruiters for job opportunities, they can provide you with salary information for specific roles they are handling. Recruiters have insights into current market trends and salary expectations. This can be a great way to get more current information. Generally, they will only produce salary surveys once a year as they are time consuming to produce. You can also tailor your questions to what you need the recruiter to answer.

One word of caution however, if you are talking to an agency recruiter, they will more likely have the knowledge that you are looking for, but they are constantly under pressure to preform (been there) and so make sure that you make it worth their while to engage with you.

Networking & Informational Interviews

Reach out to professionals working in the pharmaceutical industry for informational interviews. During these conversations, you can inquire about salary ranges for specific roles and gain valuable insights. I have personally done this for when I was considering what courses I was looking to do in university. It is a little nerve-wracking to do it, I won’t lie but I have found that most people want to help and will lend 10/15 mins to help. Be sincere and know what information you are looking for from these professionals and you can’t go too far wrong.

Attend Industry Events & Webinars

Participate in pharmaceutical industry events, webinars, and seminars where salary discussions and compensation trends may be addressed. This is an extension of my above point; you can get much more out of an in-person interaction than you can from online. There is of course an element of unpredictability from it, but once you overcome the initial unease, it can actually be quite fun!

HR & Hiring Managers

If you have progressed through the interview process with a potential employer, it is acceptable to ask about the salary range during the later stages of the interview. Many companies will be transparent about this information when they are seriously considering you for the position. Now all your hard work will start to bear fruit. You have done your due diligence and know what figure that you are looking for. You can confidently state what you are looking for and begin negotiating.

Highlight Relevant Pharmaceutical & Commercial Experience

Emphasise any previous experience you have in the pharmaceutical industry, such as specific drug development phases, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Quality Control (QC) processes, and regulatory compliance. I would also take it a step further and showcase the commercial value of what you do. For example, do you know the value of the batches that you work on? What happens if that batch fails the QC check? What are the complications if the QC and/or QA is not done properly? Really lay it out for the interviewer the value that your skills can either make or save for their company.

It may also be worth mentioning that the first interaction with a company may actually be with a recruiter, either an internal recruiter or an agency recruiter. Often these recruiters have not worked directly within the sector itself and won’t have a full grasp of the intricacies of your role in previous roles. However, it’s important to have them be your advocate when they are presenting you to their hiring manager. And how to do this? Time and money are universal languages across commerce. Showcase how your skills have made or saved money, saved time and you will attract the attention of the recruiter and will be in a much stronger position to negotiate.

Be Mindful of Confidentiality

Keep in mind that certain information, such as salaries of other employees, may be confidential within the company. Avoid pressuring the employer to share sensitive information during the negotiation process. Focus on what you are looking for.

Remember, negotiating your salary is a chance to showcase your value and secure a fair compensation package. Do your research, be confident in your abilities, and communicate how your skills align with the pharmaceutical industry's requirements.