A Transition Success Story

When Maaike Addicks, MD left Psychiatry practice in the Netherlands in 2002, she “had no idea” what to expect when she made a bold leap to industry, following her spouse who got a great job offer in Australia. “I didn’t understand my role, I didn’t understand what was expected of me, or how to meet those expectations” Maaike told me. “I had a great manager who was very supportive, but it was definitely a sink or swim moment.” She quickly learned to swim, but recalled “It can be a lonely experience, coming from being a competent, respected physician into a role that is far outside your comfort zone.” Maaike has since transitioned her experience to support physicians in their own career transitions to industry.

Her advice for physicians looking for Industry roles:

• “Hiring managers know that your expertise is helpful, but not critical” for medical positions in industry. “What is really important is openness and willingness to learn. We can teach just about anything, but without a willingness to learn, people struggle.” We see this in industry experts who assume their expertise applies to other domains, or whose learning has stopped for whatever reason. “But those who approach new challenges with openness and humility can grow very quickly!” To prepare for interviews, practice describing experiences where you had to step out of your own area of expertise or competence. You probably had to learn quickly how to approach a new challenge, and then overcome it – what was that like? Then reflect on what you learned about yourself along the way, and signal your openness to rising to those challenges again in your new role.
• “Find a buddy, ideally someone who made a similar transition recently.” In a previous post , Jamaal talked about the Buddy system as a strong success factor for NIBR . “Ask about the possibility of assigning a buddy when you are interviewing for a role, and ask the colleagues you interview with in your secondary (technical) interviews who were their buddies, and whether they are currently mentoring new hires themselves.”

Maaike’s favorite interview question for Medical roles is “Tell me how you anticipate working with your commercial colleagues.” You can anticipate how those who are open to the business realities of healthcare industry would be prepared to learn, while those who have not considered those aspects of the work may struggle. “Fulfilling your Medical role within your company and supporting your cross-functionally shared goal of making the right treatments available to the right patients can sometimes feel like a balancing act. If you can do this, you will be able to make the biggest impact for your patients, your HCPs and also your company.”

This article first appeared on the Leading Medical Affairs blog at leadingmedicalaffairs.com .