Tips for Landing a Medical Revenue Career opportunity

The term “pharmaceutical sales” covers a lot of area: clinical laboratory device revenue, pharmaceutical sales, clinical diagnostics sales, biotechnology sales, imaging sales, medical laboratory sales, pharmaceutical sales, and tons of other niche areas of health care revenue. Even though there are strong differences in style (capital vs. consumable revenue, for instance), there are several basic, bedrock things you need to know if you’re going to land a position in one of these areas.  They all have to do with background, experience, and candidate preparation.

Background

Ideally, you need a science degree. There are people who will tell you that you don’t need a science degree to be successful in pharmaceutical revenue, but that’s only partially true. In some cases, candidates with very strong revenue backgrounds have gotten by with it, but they almost always have science classes under their belts (beyond just the minimum they needed to graduate).  You need to know what you’re talking about in order to sell with credibility and confidence–so if you wanna be successful selling medicine, science, and technology, you’ve to know medicine, science, and technology.  Clinical revenue training programs can be helpful (in the way that all training is worthwhile), but won’t help an otherwise bad candidate.

Experience

• You need revenue experience and sales skills in order to land a job in pharmaceutical sales.  However, you don’t necessarily got to have clinical sales experience.  What you must be able to do is demonstrate how the revenue process you’re nice at will translate into your desired area of health care sales.

• Complete a field preceptorship (career opportunity shadowing).  It shows that you’re willing to do something that you won’t get paid for in order to land this position.  It demonstrates your initiative, determination, and strategic thinking.  If you’re short on experience, it helps fill in some of the weak areas.  It’s great for your CV, because it furnishes you with handy keywords that will get your CV noticed.

• Read revenue books and get sales training.  These will help you in the interview, and if you can communicate that you’ve done those things, it will highlight your commitment to getting into medical revenue.

• Discover medical sales reps or managers who will give you an informational interview.  It’s a worthy line to walk, because you don’t want to take advantage and turn it into asking for a position, but a precious informational interview will give you tremendous insight into the field.

Presenting yourself as a top-quality candidate

• Use your network. Work the network you already have, and establish a profile on LinkedIn.  Join groups that are relevant to the laboratory sales areas you’re interested in, and participate.  Follow influential recruiters on Twitter.

• Pay attention to your CV.  Go beyond the basics of having an gracious, easy-to-read, professional CV.  You must have the right keywords on your CV (that will get picked up by the Applicant Tracking Systems of laboratory sales recruiters), as well as a strong CV objective.  Highlight your technical degree, if you have one.

• Improve your interview skills.  Polish your interview skills.  Be ready for behavioral interview questions by having stories willing that highlight your skills.  Do your homework before the interview so that you have questions of your own to ask, costume appropriately and watch your body language, and use your sales skills to close the interview for the position.

• Write a 30/60/90-Day Plan.  Prepare a 30/60/90-Day Plan to show your interviewer that you know what it takes to be successful at this job.  A 30/60/90-Day plan requires that you analyze the position as well as the company, and set goals for success.  Its an outline for what you will do when you start the position.  This kind of effort before you even get the job impresses hiring managers.  You become less of a risk to hire, because they can see that you will be able to hit the ground running as an asset to the company.

• Consider hiring a pharmaceutical sales headhunter for custom consulting. It’s the quickest way available for you to find out what it’s that you have to do to land a pharma sales career opportunity.  This kind of career coaching will also show you how to highlight your best assets, and how to deal with potential drawbacks (or even turn ‘em into an advantage).

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized pharma and medical revenue recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

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Tips for Landing a Medical Sales Job