In the last year, many people 45 years of age or older have reached out to the ACMA or me personally about the job hunting difficulties they are facing as they report there seems to be a greater demand to hire younger professionals in the medical science liaison (MSL) role or within medical affairs in general. Although the medical affairs profession and the MSL role has grown by over 300% in the last 10 years, competition has also grown as awareness about these opportunities has increased tremendously with the advent of the information age and internet. And although MSL and medical affairs roles offer the potential for great prosperity for individuals, middle age professionals are facing barriers similar to those with no experience as MSLs or in the pharmaceutical industry in general.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the older working age population, those between the ages of 45-64, makes up more than 25% of the population. Anecdotally, many report age discrimination by hiring managers looking for MSLs in particular -and many have been told by recruiters to remove their graduation year from school on their resumes to avoid revealing their age. It’s a taboo topic that no one really talks about, but the issue is real. With the COVID-19 pandemic, many employers are even using COVID as a cover for age discrimination according to a recently published article in the Financial Times.

What are the challenges these older professionals face?

1. They typically are looking for a higher base salary. Unfortunately, many times it boils down to dollars and cents. Those with more experience are expecting to be compensated more for that experience and unfortunately this can sometimes be a barrier to landing an MSL or medical affairs interview when younger professionals who are looking to build their professional experience are willing to take a lower compensation package. This can be especially true for smaller start ups in biotech.

2. Physically attractive workers are considered more able by employers. The reality for most of us is that as we age, our looks fade. A 2005 experiment which sought to model the hiring process found that when shown photographs of more attractive people, would-be employers were more willing to give higher salaries and offer them the job over unattractive people. As a matter of fact a 2011 Harvard study found that women who wore makeup were deemed more competent and trustworthy. 

Historically, in the pharmaceutical industry we have tended to focus on the industry hiring young, attractive pharmaceutical sales reps- but this phenomenon has grown within the MSL profession according to many MSL and medical affairs recruiters with the advent of LinkedIn and profile pictures.

3. Adaptation & Flexibility. Another common reason older professionals face a harder time is that many hiring managers indicate that they aren’t as flexible or adaptable to new ways of doing things. For example, consider the fact that the majority of Board Certified Medical Affairs professionals are within the 27-43 year old bracket. When Board Certification for Medical Affairs and MSLs was first introduced in 2015, the group that was most resistant were those 50 years or older, who had on average more than 15 years of experience in the industry because they believed that they mostly “knew it all.” Moreover, the expanding use of digital technology in the pharmaceutical industry and in particular within medical affairs, means that older MSLs and medical affairs professionals need to adapt and incorporate these tools into their day-to-day planning and strategic imperatives.

Summary

The more open we can be as a community about the value and importance that older MSL and medical affairs professionals bring to the industry, the better able we will be as an industry in ensuring that there are equal and fair opportunities across the board regardless of age. Or as the famed American comic Jack Benny once put it, “Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

About the Author

William Soliman is the Founder, CEO of the ACMA, with 15+ years of pharmaceutical industry experience and is considered by many a pharma industry futurist who is frequently featured as a subject matter expert on pharma industry news in the media. He can be reached at william@acmainfo.org