By WILLIAM H. SOKOLIC
Courier-Post staff

Candice Olszewski sells drugs -- legally.

So you won't find her on a street corner hustling for a score. Olszewski visits doctors' offices in Camden and Burlington counties pitching the latest pharmaceuticals for AstraZeneca.

Olszewski, 30, is among 6,000 sales people on the AstraZeneca payroll. While pharmaceuticals as an industry is in a state of flux, the sales end shows great promise, thanks to the aging baby boomer population.

“They're coming up with new drugs all the time for cancer and Alzheimer's to help that population base. While there's no real security in any job, pharmaceutical sales looks positive over the next 10 to 20 years,” said Carmen Johnson, president of the Charlotte-based PharmaReps, which works with pharmaceutical firms to recruit sales people.

Pharmaceuticals ranks as the No. 1 industry in New Jersey, with overall employment rising from 46,600 in 1995 to 50,900 in 2000, according to the state Department of Labor. Still, a lot of American companies many based here are going through consolidation, which impacts the sales force.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Roche Laboratories have had major layoffs. Some of the consolidation is offset by an influx of Japanese firms with deep pockets setting up shop in the United States, Johnson said.

And other companies are actually hiring.

“We have a strong pipeline and long patent life for most of currently available commercial products. This will translate into growth. . . not only for each rep. . . but likely growth for Wyeth in the number of reps we'll be able to hire,” said Doug Petkus, a spokesman for Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals.

The company has a sales force of about 4,600, with another 200 to 300 expected by the end of the year, Petkus said.

Except in rare instances, entry-level positions require a four-year degree, but the subject of the degree can vary, Johnson said.

“Companies usually require two years of outside sales, and they lean more and more to business-to-business sales,” he said.

Indeed, success in sales is far more relevant than a relationship within the medical field, said Matt Spirko, director of strategic staffing for AstraZeneca. “It could be real estate, avenues where you set goals and measure against those goals.”

Said Petkus, “There is flexibility on these requirements depending on the territory and district manager.”

Olszewski entered the field with a degree in biological anthropology, but no sales experience. She found a manager at GlaxoSmithKline willing to give her a break. Last May, she moved over to AstraZeneca.

Often, newcomers work with primary-care physicians and family practices. Experience counts more when it comes to taking on specialists and hospitals, Johnson said. Olszewski deals with neurologists and psychiatrists and some general practice doctors.

The annual salary for entry level employment can range from a base of $28,000 to as high as $40,000, depending on experience, Johnson said. But every company offers some type of incentive program.

“All our sales people have bonus targets as well,” Spirko said. Most also receive a car and a laptop computer.

“It's a great opportunity for someone interested in a medical-related field, but also someone looking for a challenge,”

Olszewski said. “And you don't need a medical background per se. You can have any background.”

The job itself entails a mix of research into drug interaction, and networking with and educating doctors, nurses and receptionists about those drugs.

“We research articles which compare ours with another drug,” Olszewski said. “You want doctors to know the positive things, but you need to tell them the negative as well.”