Defining Your Path When MedTech Career Frameworks Do Not Exist

Career progression in MedTech doesn't always follow a neat ladder.

Job titles vary enormously between companies. A Territory Manager in one business may have responsibilities that look more like a Key Account Manager role somewhere else. A senior title doesn't always mean greater responsibility, and a sideways move can sometimes do more for your career than a promotion.

That can make it difficult to answer a fairly simple question: am I actually progressing?

You don't need a rigid five or ten-year career plan to answer it. But having some idea of what you want more of, and what experience you need to gain next, can help you make better decisions about the opportunities that come your way.

Being Good at Your Job Isn't the Same as Having a Career Direction

Without a clear career structure, it's very easy to become useful.

You say yes. You solve problems. You step into gaps. You take on extra responsibilities. People know they can rely on you.

Those are all good things.

But being valued by your employer doesn't automatically mean your career is developing in the direction you want it to.

You can be performing well, earning good money and receiving positive feedback while still reaching a point where you're not quite sure where all that experience is taking you.

That's when it's useful to look beyond your job title and think about what has actually changed.

Measure Progression by More Than Your Job Title

A promotion and pay rise are obvious signs of progression, but they're not the only ones.

Think about how your role has developed in terms of:

• Scope: Are you responsible for more than you were previously?
• Complexity: Are you handling more challenging products, customers, accounts or situations?
• Autonomy: Are you trusted to make more decisions without needing approval?
• Commercial impact: Are you influencing more significant business or contributing more widely?
• Knowledge: Have you developed expertise that colleagues or customers increasingly rely on?
• Leadership: Are you starting to influence, support or develop other people, even if you don't formally manage them?

If those things are increasing, your career may be progressing even if your job title hasn't changed.

Equally, a more impressive title doesn't necessarily represent progress if the role itself isn't giving you anything new.

Work Out What You Want More Of

You don't have to decide today exactly where you want to be in ten years.

Start with something much simpler.

What would you like more of in your next stage?

That could be:

• Greater responsibility
• Higher earning potential
• Larger or more strategic accounts
• A different therapy area
• More complex products
• Greater clinical involvement
• Management experience
• Product launch experience
• International responsibility
• A move towards marketing or product management
• More autonomy
• Less travel or a smaller territory

It's equally useful to know what you don't want more of.

Perhaps you've discovered that managing people isn't for you. Maybe you enjoy the clinical side of your role far more than the commercial side, or vice versa. You might have reached a point where covering an enormous territory no longer suits you.

Career direction isn't only about identifying what you're good at. It's also about deciding which parts of your experience you actually want to build on.

Not Every Good Career Move Is Upwards

It's easy to judge a potential move by asking whether the title and salary are better.

Sometimes that's exactly the right measure.

But a move that looks sideways on paper can give you experience that isn't available in your current role.

For example, you might move:

• From a distributor to a manufacturer
• Into a different therapy or product area
• From smaller accounts into more complex strategic accounts
• From a purely sales role into one with greater clinical involvement
• From sales towards marketing or product management
• Into a role that gives you your first experience of managing or mentoring others

None of those moves is automatically the right one.

The useful question is:

What will I be able to do after this role that I can't do now?

If the answer is something that moves you towards the kind of career you want, a sideways move may be anything but sideways in the longer term.

Look at the Experience Behind the Job You Want

If you have an idea of where you'd like to go next, look at the people already doing that kind of work.

Don't concentrate only on their current job titles. Look at how they got there.

If you'd eventually like to become a Sales Manager, what experience do employers typically look for before giving somebody their first management opportunity?

If you're interested in moving from sales into marketing, how have other people made that transition?

If you want to move into key accounts, commercial leadership or another specialist area, what experience tends to sit between your current role and the one you're aiming for?

There won't be one route that everybody follows.

But looking at real career paths can help you identify experience you may need to build rather than simply waiting for the right job title to appear.

Use Your Current Role to Build Useful Experience

Development doesn't always require changing jobs.

Once you know what you'd like to develop, look at whether there are opportunities to gain some of that experience where you are.

That might mean:

• Taking responsibility for a challenging account or territory
• Getting involved in a product launch
• Mentoring or supporting a newer colleague
• Leading a project
• Taking greater ownership of customer meetings
• Working more closely with marketing, clinical or another internal team
• Getting involved with larger or more complex customers

Formal training can help too, particularly where there is a genuine knowledge or skills gap.

But being able to demonstrate that you've actually used a skill or taken on greater responsibility can be particularly valuable when you eventually look for your next role.

Keep Track of What You've Actually Achieved

As your role evolves, keep a record of what has changed.

It's surprisingly easy to forget how much responsibility you've accumulated when it has happened gradually.

Think about:

• Accounts or territories you've grown or developed
• Targets and results you've achieved
• New products you've launched
• Projects you've taken responsibility for
• Customers or stakeholders you've developed relationships with
• Problems you've been trusted to resolve
• People you've trained, mentored or supported
• Additional responsibilities you've taken on

This isn't only useful for updating your CV.

It gives you a much clearer picture of whether you're continuing to develop or simply doing more of the same.

Get an Outside View

When you've spent several years with one company, it can be difficult to know how your experience translates into the wider market.

Your employer may use different job titles from other businesses. You may have responsibilities that aren't obvious from your title, or you may be considering a move without knowing whether employers will see your experience as relevant.

Talk to people who understand the part of MedTech you're interested in.

That might include a mentor, former colleague, manager or somebody already doing the type of role you're considering.

A specialist MedTech recruiter can also give you a useful external view of what employers are currently looking for, the experience they're asking for and how people with backgrounds similar to yours are moving between roles.

That doesn't mean you need to be actively looking for a job.

Sometimes understanding how the market sees your experience is enough to help you decide what you need to develop next.

You Don't Need the Whole Career Mapped Out

A career without a clearly defined ladder isn't necessarily a career without progression.

The important thing is to avoid drifting simply because you're busy and doing well.

Every so often, look at what has changed.

Are you taking on greater responsibility? Are you learning something useful? Are you becoming better at work you actually want to keep doing? Is your experience opening up the kinds of opportunities you'd like to have next?

If it is, you may be moving in exactly the right direction even if your job title hasn't changed.

If it isn't, you don't need to have the next ten years mapped out before doing something about it.

You just need enough clarity to decide what you'd like your next step to give you that your current one doesn't.