I need career advice. I jumped into pharma from consumer at the beginning of covid, right after I was promoted to a mid-level copy role. My current team is a disaster (crazy hours, lots of incompetence, nightmare client). I was recently offered a senior level position at another pharma agency, but I miss consumer and ultimately want to get back to it. Is it dumb to turn down this job given that I'm so unhappy where I am? Should I stay where I am and keep looking for consumer roles?

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The more time you spend in pharma it will get harder to transition back to consumer. Once you get comfortable with pay and stability it will get tough for you to personally to go back. If consumer is what you want to do and keeps you happy choose that (you really haven't spent too much time in pharma yet).
Agree with response above but do what makes you happy and evaluate your trade-offs accordingly. Teams change and Brands change every year or two so even if you jump, that may last only so much before another change comes through, so if you are not ok with how pharma agencies typically function then make the tough choice. Good luck!

likesmart

Definitely take the senior level position at the other pharma agency. Agencies (and even teams) within pharma vary considerably and it’s entirely possible that you’ll love the new place. The door to consumer won’t close if you want to go back in another 6-12 months. Good luck.

likehelpful

I agree with Havas. I was in a similar position with bad client, unorganized team, and received an offer from another company. I didn’t take it and ultimately my company had layoffs while the company I could have jumped to continued to grow. Join the other team and keep looking for consumer opps if that’s your passion, leveraging your new title!

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I also think it could be easy to write things off as the world were living in right now. Hoping to two jobs within a year isn’t bad as long as you’ve been at other places longer and/or stay at the third place (consumer hopefully for you) longer. If you move, I wouldn’t move again until you got that consumer job back though.

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I agree with VP and Art Director above as well. 😊

1. Do what you ❤️. Ultimately, that’s what will keep you happy in the long run. For some, the pay and stability of pharma is preferable to the fun/excitement of the CPG world, but it’s definitely a trade-off.

2. Job hopping is forgiveable in the current environment, but don’t make a habit of it. Do it too often and it will be held against you.

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I think you owe it to yourself to try pharma someplace else to make sure you don’t like it. All pharma agencies are not created equal. The job jump is easily explainable as a “bad fit” once, maybe twice.

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Pharma isn’t for everyone. But it is one of the specialties that is somewhat recession proof. If you know you like consumer then find your way back. Ultimately you need to decide if you want a job or a career.

Move and keep looking.

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