If a 30/60/90-day plan is fine, would a 1-year plan be better?

I was recently asked this question by a pathology sales candidate:  “If bringing a 30/60/90-day plan to the interview is so impressive, would a 1-year plan be even better?”

Now that’s a go-getter!

But, my answer is:  Maybe, but probably not.

I can see where there’s a possibility that someone with tremendous amounts of experience who’s going for a very high-level executive job might wanna extend the plan out for a year, in the same way that someone who’s starting their own business would do–it’s a top deal.

A well-written 30/60/90-day plan is very gracious to hiring managers for a lot of reasons, and one of Them is that not many people take the time to create one.  So you’re already ahead of the game if you do. When you add in the advantages of your careful and thoughtful analysis for exactly how you’re going to be successful at this job (and make your new boss look great!) and the way it helps you turn the interview into a professional conversation rather than a question-and-answer session, you become a job-winning candidate.

I think the answer is that for most people in pharmaceutical or health care sales jobs, a 90-day plan is going to be as far out as you need to go.  You’re showing the manager how you’re going to transition into being a contributing, productive member of the team, and by 3 months in, you should be sailing along pretty well.  And you’ll have additional goals given to you from your boss and your boss’s boss that you can’t predict right now–so there’s no point.

What do you think?

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

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If a 30/60/90-day plan is good, would a 1-year plan be better?