Pharmaceutical Question:

If you don't have any experience in the field, it's reasonable to expect your search to last 6 to 12 months, start to finish. It will probably take a minimum of 3 months to land your first interview, and more like 6 months if you don't have any connections. The interview process - from the time you have your first interview until you are offered a job - takes a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks.

In my case, it took a long time. I sent out 170 resumes. I got four or five interviews. I saved my stack of rejection letters for a long time. Apparently, I had " outstanding skills and qualifications, however there were candidates that were more suitable" than I was. Be prepared to get a whole bunch of rejection letters (if they even bother to send you a rejection letter, which they don't always).