Questions You Should Know about Pharmaceutical Intermediate Service

There are hundreds of students and even, experienced professionals from the Pharmaceutical industry look for a job or job change. They should be all-set to face off a volley of questions confidently while answering boldly. For this reason, you should be prepared prior.

Please visit our website for more information on this topic.

Top 15 Questions that May Be Asked in Pharmaceutical Interviews

Here are some common questions that can be asked in your pharmaceutical interview:

Tell us about yourself.

This is a typical opening question for any type of job. To answer this, you should start with your name, place, education, job experience, and family details in brief.

It should be like this: I'm ''.(name).. living in Delhi. I put up here and did a master's in Pharmacy from''university. I've two beautiful kids and parents. As per work experience, I have spent 8 valuable years in a pharmaceutical company while ensuring quality.

Why should we hire you?

Respond to this question by offering details of your knowledge, working experience, and professional skills. These reasons can go on like this: As far as my work experience is concerned, I have fulfilled all requirements that were necessary and expected from my job role. Because of my expertise, openness to learning attitude, and efficiency, your company would never feel regret for a bad hire.

What are your biggest strengths?

Answer it by disclosing your professional traits and how they are beneficial to leverage for maximizing corporate revenue, customer experience, and scalability.

It can go like this: There are a number of things that I call my strength. My honesty, self-motivation, hard-working attitude, flexibility, adaptability, and positivity represent my biggest strengths in my career and personal life. 

What are some of your weaknesses?

However, weaknesses should be avoided by denying that you would come across them soon if there are any.

But, you may include 2 or 3 traits from your sensitivity. You may say that I don't trust or easily trust people, which results in grudges or distractions.

What are you looking for in your next role?

Answer it with confidence, saying something that is related to the improved or enhanced version of the role or courses related to the profile in the Pharma industry.

Add on to it that it's your privilege to work with a reputed employer. It's a blessing to share professional skills here and how your contribution can benefit the company.

What type of working environment do you prefer?

Say everything positive about the ideal working environment that breeds an incredible ecosystem to work in.

Share it like this: I love working in a positive environment where employees have a great scope to reach heights by position, salary package, and personality grooming. The company culture should be customer-centric and highly supportive, where trust is a building block.

What do you know about this company?

To answer this type of question, you should prepare yourself via internet research. Find out all about the company details, products, branches, innovations, current problems, and the number of people working there.

It should be answered as: This is one of the fastest-growing companies, with excellent working conditions. It can be anyone's dream place to work here. The range of products that it deals in is world-class, which you import or export.

Why do you want to change your job?

Start with a thank-giving note to the previous company for the experience that it offered you. Connect it with your ambitions and skyrocketing growth.

Say: I'm really thankful for the previous company that taught me how to start my professional journey, scale-up, and achieve heights. Now, I'm ready to take on more challenges that may be tougher than before. Without change, it won't be possible. And I want limitless learning, skills, and financial stability with growth. So, I'm here.

What are your salary expectations?

You may disclose your previous CTC, but it should not be exactly.

Say like this: I have an experience of a decade in pharmaceutical quality assurance and my current CTC is over 5 hundred thousand per annum. However, it won't be a big deal for me as I expect it as per the norm of the company that can justify my qualification, experience, and innovation.

What are your career goals?

Define long and short-term goals. Make sure that these are related to this domain only.

You may say that enhancing my skills and improving my professional position in a reputed pharmaceutical company is your goal. Later on, I would like to earn more reputation via innovation and my positive attitude.

How do you deal with pressure?

Answer with positivity when it comes to answering this question.

A positive approach and never giving-up attitude help me to deal with pressure. Although, I won't work with stress because I believe in reducing or overcoming causes that integrate stress.

How do you organise your workload?

Explain it by defining priorities and how you overcome them sequentially.

Brief as it goes: When there is a workload, I prefer to make a to-do list of prior things to do. I regularly review the load, concentrate more on quality, fast TAT with efficiency, set realistic timelines for deliveries, and communicate transparently.

How do you prioritise tasks?

Explain everything with confidence that you follow a process. Brief it later.

It can be like this: I start with preparing a list of tasks but align them as per priorities while understanding true goals. Highlight what is urgent and align tasks accordingly. Avoid competition while doing so. Focus on benchmark quality and timely deliveries while reviewing constantly.

What motivates you?

Answer it with transparency and boldness. It can be your ambition or inspiration that motivates you.

Do you want to ask anything?

Start with thanking the panel to invite you for screening. You may raise a question about working hours, job location, transportation, and salary structure.

Summary

Aspirants, freshers, and existing employees of pharmaceutical industry should prepare themselves for the top questions being asked during an interview in any pharmaceutical company. They can be related to your interest, habit, CTC, growth perspectives, company profile or work experience and expectations.

Featured content:
7 Key Benefits of Drug Substance CDMO Services for Pharmaceutical Companies

For more information, please visit Lianhe Aigen.

Whether you're leading the interview ' or on the receiving end ' these top 10 interview questions in the pharmaceutical industry can help you assess the match between the applicant and the job role.

For Pharmaceutical Industry employers and HR/interviewing teams

• These pharmaceutical industry interview questions are worth asking.
• They can also highlight GMP compliance areas where an applicant might require GMP training or GMP refresher training prior to fulfilling their new position.

And for pharmaceutical job applicants and life-science graduates?

These top 10 pharmaceutical industry interview questions are worth 'getting right'. But it is equally important to remain honest about specific GMP compliance areas where you'll need further GMP training & professional development support.

• Don't be afraid to request further training as part of the interviewing/hiring process (it also shows you are keen to upskill). It's a competitive hiring market!
• You can also pursue GMP certificate training courses, online, by clicking here, prior to an interview.

These certificate GMP training courses will show your dedication and knowledge of important GMP compliance topics, such as CAPA requirements, Data Integrity, Deviations Management, and Pharmacovigilance.

Life sciences job interview questions

While the questions below are best asked during Pharmaceutical manufacturing industry job interviews, they can be adapted for other life science sectors, e.g. the Medical Device manufacturing sector, Veterinary Medicine Manufacturers, and biological medicines.

For industry-specific GMP training courses including compliance with ISO standards for medical device manufacturing, visit: https://www.onlinegmptraining.com/.

Top 10 Interview Questions in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Interview Question 1: Why do you want this particular job role?

• While this question is asked across most industries, this isn't a 'throw away' interview question when it comes to pharmaceutical industry job interviews.
• That's because the required traits to excel in Pharmaceutical industry jobs include:
  • A passion for public health and safety
  • A commitment to product quality & safety
  • Consistent adherence to the company's quality systems/manufacturing procedures

This question helps uncover the applicant's motives for a GMP industry role (or industry career change), helping hiring panels assess the person's 'compliance culture' commitment levels and dedication to ensuring product safety, and reveals a bit about how the applicant communicates important information.

Read the top 5 skills/traits needed to work in the Pharmaceutical Industry.

Interview Question 2: What do you know about this Pharmaceutical company?

Another commonly asked question across all sectors, but a particularly important interview question in the pharmaceutical industry.

• This interview question reveals the applicant's understanding of the company's product types, potential challenges, and role needs.
• It may also reveal which personnel they know personally (current employees) and what they've heard about the company through the grapevine (it's a big industry, but a small world).
• This question highlights the applicant's time management skills, research capacity, and role preparation skills.
• As did the 1st interview question for pharmaceutical job roles, it also helps uncover the level of motivation for the job role, and their knowledge of GMP compliance and/or GMP audit findings (where such findings are published for public browsing).

If a job applicant has a good grasp of the company's products, past or current challenges, and job responsibilities, it shows the following two things:

• They know the value of 'being prepared'
• They can communicate with clarity (another important industry skill)
• They won't be walking into a company or position 'blindly' (helping to reduce attrition given pharmaceutical industry talent is difficult to attract, due to life science & GMP personnel shortages)

What specific company knowledge should Pharmaceutical Job applicants have prior to an interview?

Applicants should have adequately researched (and be able to clearly express) the following information:

• The company's history of production (bonus knowledge: patent expiration dates and new products in the pipeline)
• Key product or product names
• Current expansion plans (when publically available)
• Recent challenges or product recalls
• Members of the management team, including their backgrounds, expertise and/or industry passions
• Aspects of the company's culture
  • Has the company won any awards?
  • Is the company ISO certified?
  • Have there been any positive news stories or social media traction about the company, perhaps for its work on a novel drug, or for volunteer work or donations by its employees?

Interview Question 3: What regulatory compliance responsibilities did you fulfil in your past job roles?

This question should be modified to suit the job role and level of responsibility. Alternative questions might include:

• What were your key compliance responsibilities in your past role?
• What are the 10 rules of GMP? (Name as many as you can.)
• Have you participated in a GMP audit?
  • What was your role during the Audit and/or Audit Preparation stage?
  • Were there any Audit findings?
• What do you understand about CAPAs?
• When was your last pharmaceutical product recalls training session?
• Do you have any current GMP training certificates?
• Do you regularly participate in Pharmaceutical Professional Development courses?
• Have you recently attended any industry forums, such as the TGA's, FDA's, or PharmOut GMP Forums?

Interview Question 4: What can you tell me about batch manufacturing & batch release recordkeeping?

Asking an open question about manufacturing recordkeeping, such as what a batch record should contain, who is responsible for batch release, what happens to incoming materials/intermediates products, etc., will reveal the person's experience with:

• Quality assurance terms
• Manufacturing processes
• Batch traceability
• GMP compliance including Pharmacovigilance

Interview Question 5: Which 'in-process check' parameters are you familiar with (or helped establish)?

This question should be adapted to the product type (or key product types). Examples of answers for solid (oral dose) product manufacturing might include the following:

• Visual/appearance, diameter, thickness, hardness
• Uniformity of weight (group weight, individual weight variations)
• Disintegration time
• Compaction force, die fill depth, etc.

Interview Question 6: What are some of the potential defects in a product type?

This question should be adapted to the company's specific pharmaceutical product type(s) and role responsibilities. Examples include:

Potential defects in compressed tablets (oral dose):

• Weight variation
• Picking, sticking, capping, laminating, broken, chipped
• Rough Surface, Rough edges
• Double compressed
• Powdery
• Incorrect Description
• Oil spot
• Foreign Product
• Debossing/ Embossing

Potential defects in capsules:

• Weight variation
• Empty, cracked, dented or 'telescopic'
• Unlocked or partially locked
• Long or Short caps
• Powdery
• Printing defects

If the person seems unfamiliar with identifying product defects, consider they may also require training in the Management of Deviations and Non-Conformances in pharmaceutical manufacturing/medical device manufacturing environments.

Interview Question 7: What is the proper gowning technique for a Grade A cleanroom?

This question applies to sterile manufacturing but can be adapted to other health and hygiene requirements. This question can reveal an applicant's:

• Attention to detail
• Knowledge of industry requirements for health and hygiene
• Familiarity with GMP gowning requirements in PIC/S Annex 1
• Communications skills (ability to precisely describe a rigorous procedure in detail)

Read more about what skills, traits, and GMP knowledge are required for jobs in the life sciences/pharmaceutical manufacturing sector.

Interview Question 8: What do the following industry terms represent?

Pharmaceutical industry terms may vary according to the applicant's previous experience in the industry, and their desired role. That noted, most life science industry job applicants should know the meanings of the following industry terms. They should also be able to clearly communicate what each term means (if asked).

• Qualification
• Validation
• Supplier Qualification (GMP industry Supplier Management requirements)
• Quality Risk Management (e.g. ISO QRM for Medical Devices)
• Risk Assessments (Risk Matrix)
• Responsibilities of the Responsible Person/Authorised Person for Batch Release (PIC/S Annex 16)
• Batch recordkeeping requirements and good recordkeeping/good documentation
• Good laboratory practice (GLP) non-clinical
• CAPA
• Sterile Manufacturing requirements and cleanroom behaviours (refer to PIC/S Annex 1)
• Cleanroom air quality monitoring / HVAC requirements (Pharmaceutical engineering)
• Pharmacovigilance requirements
• Wet granulation / Dry granulation
• Mottling
• Disintegration test (disintegration time)
• Friability Test / Calculations
• Computerised Systems (GxP requirements) and/or Life Sciences Data Integrity rules
• Managing a non-conformance or other pharmaceutical manufacturing deviation

Interview Question 9: What is the most challenging aspect of working in the Pharmaceutical Industry or Medical Device manufacturing industry?

For this question, 'let the applicant roll' and keep the open-ended questioning going.

In other words, probe! Pay attention to how the applicant uses discretion when discussing sensitive topics. They are likely under confidentiality agreements, and honouring those agreements is a good sign they will do so for another firm.

That noted'you do want real-life examples.

• If an applicant is reluctant to express a challenge they faced, in a prior or current role, this could signal a lack of integrity.
• While most companies don't want to hire someone who speaks negatively about their past employer/s (especially if they do so in an overly enthusiastic way), candidness about a job applicant's prior ' or current ' role challenges, is valuable.
• Candidness about GMP compliance issues (while respecting the confidentiality of prior employers):
  • Indicates insightfulness
  • Reveals an 'appreciation' of life science role challenges
  • Highlights compliance culture experiences and relationship-building skills
• Every role, every person, and every company has challenges, and candidness indicates a realistic understanding of challenges

Interview Question 10: What questions do you have about our company and the job role?

This is the most important question to ask (and to allow adequate time for) to further assess the applicant's suitability for:

• The company's culture
• The specific job role
• The GMP compliance responsibilities for your product types/services

Retaining Employees & Skill Shortages in the Life Sciences Sectors

It's crucial that an applicant is the 'right fit' for your company and the role (and that you also provide them with adequate professional development). This helps improve employee retention, which is important given:

• The ongoing shortage of talented life science/experienced GMP-trained personnel
• The high costs of attrition
• The impact and disruption of personnel attrition
• The global competition for highly-skilled personnel

This question requires probing and open-ended questions. So be sure to allow time for this, do NOT rush an interview where this question has only a few minutes to spare).

Why is it important to allow adequate time for job applicants to ask the hiring team important questions during an interview?

• You'd hate to lose a good candidate (who decides NOT to take your job offer) simply because they were unclear about something and didn't have time to ask about it!
• The applicant's questions or concerns will help you form an attractive job offer.
• You want to ensure the person is the right fit (this generally takes more than one interview, of course, but the first interview can give you a fairly good sense of the role fit/company culture fit).
• Giving the applicant 'question time' is a sign of respect for their time and acknowledges you understand they have choices in terms of job offers.

Industry Interview Questions ' Quick Summary

In summary, it is generally best to conduct several shorter interviews (50 to 90 minutes each) than a 2 or 3-hour interview, which can be tiring in the early stages of interviewing.

Pace yourself. Respect the applicant's/interviewer's time.

• Asking role-specific questions, as well as compliance culture & company culture 'fit' questions, can yield more about an applicant (and about your company, to the applicant) than asking standard interview questions.
• Be sure to also ask questions (where applicable) about the applicant's data interpretation skills, blockchain knowledge, technology transfer experience, leadership skills, management skills, project management approaches, etc.).

But if you spot talent? Once you conduct your due diligence, don't let good talent get swooped up by another manufacturer/life sciences group! Ensure your job offer includes Professional Development, ongoing training options, and compliance-culture 'positive' communications.

And if you need consultancy support during a big project? Review industry experts in the Life Sciences & GMP Manufacturing Sectors, including cleanroom architects/engineers, technical writers for SOPs, pharmaceutical engineers, validation experts, and more.

GMP training options

• Online GMP training
• Publically available GMP courses including ZOOM or classroom style (1-day intensive GMP courses, topic-specific)
• Onsite GMP training (1-day intensives, based on availability for large groups)

Recommended reading

Need a consultant? How to get the best out of your SMEs (Subject Matter Experts)

Pharmaceutical Industry Jobs: 5 Essential Skills

GMP Industry Services including Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

Top 10 GMP courses: online GMP training

Deloitte Life Sciences Trends Report ()

CSBI Life Sciences Industry Report including Life Sciences Employment Shortages

TGA Supplier Management Guidance

Medical Device Regulations ' Industry Training Courses

Similar Posts

World's greatest GMP trainer: the best in GMP education

By

The votes for the World's Greatest GMP Trainer are in! PharmOut's Learning & Development Director, Maria Mylonas, has'

EU GMP Online Training | Pharmaceutical Employees

By

Do you have Pharmaceutical employees who need EU cGMP training, including validation, recordkeeping (GDocP) and GDP? Or perhaps'

GMP Audits: Regulatory Authorities List

By

Who regulates GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice)? Who conducts GMP audits? Answer: Regulatory Authorities vary from country to country'.

GMP Education Programs

By

GMP Education Programs: Why is repeated GMP training (as part of your PQS) so important for sustaining a 'GMP compliance culture?:

Medical Device Design

By

Medical device design should consider ' at the earliest of design stages ' manufacturing licence application requirements, regulatory compliance requirements, material supply chains and reactivity, and manufacturing at scale.

Lights, Camera, Action' 4 ways to use video for GMP Training

By

Remember the days where training was something that only happened in the classroom? Well the learning landscape has'

Want more information on Pharmaceutical Intermediate Service? Feel free to contact us.