Ask the Experts: Finding a Pharmaceutical Sales Position
Question:
I have a great deal of work experience in marketing and am completing an MBA. I’d like to find a pharmaceutical sales position, but am worried about
competing against younger candidates who have several years of B2B / outside
sales experience. I have limited outside sales experience but a good
education and personal attributes that will help me success in outside
sales. Is my career goal unrealistic?
First Answer:
Unrealistic? Maybe not. Popular? Wildly! Everywhere I turn, I encounter people who want to go into pharmaceutical sales. And who
can blame them? Pharmaceutical firms are doing extremely well, and
their advertising pervades the airwaves. The point here is that you
will have a lot of competition, but there’s also a lot of
opportunity. While an MBA is a plus in many professions, it is not as
much of a plus in pharmaceutical sales as it is in other fields. If
you study employment ads and job postings for pharmaceutical sales,
you will rarely if ever see an MBA as a required or even desirable
qualification. A better qualification would be if your undergrad
degree happened to be in a scientific area.
But the fact that you’ve had at least some sales experience is a big plus. It’s very possible that you could fashion your strong
experience and personal characteristics into a set of qualifications
that would appeal to the pharmaceutical firms. I’d suggest you study
plenty of pharmaceutical sales employment ads to get a better idea
what is being sought so you can frame your sales and marketing
experience in a way that aligns with what the firms are looking for.
I just wrote an article on how to identify
the best keywords to use in your resume for a given job, and one of
the examples I used dealt with pharmaceutical sales.
You might also want to contact a recruiter who specializes in pharmaceutical sales and get that professional’s take on how
attractive you are as a candidate.
You could very well have a chance to achieve your career goal; just remember, the competition will be fierce!
— Katharine Hansen, former speechwriter and college instructor who provides content for the Web site, Quintessential Careers, edits QuintZine, an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and prepares job-search correspondence as chief writer for Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters
Second Answer:
Pharmaceutical sales is one of the most competitive career fields. Many individuals with life science background including pharmacists and nurses are seeking opportunities in this area. WIthout knowing anything about your credentials, I would hesitate to render an opinion about the possibilities for you to not only obtain a position, but to be a successful rep. I just wanted to caution you that this is a high-demand job market and be prepared for a tough path to achieve this goal. Perhaps you should contact your career or alumni office and get the name of someone who is pharmaceutical rep and get the “lay of the land” from them so that you can establish realistic expectations and understand the career from the insider’s viewpoint.
— Debra Feldman, founder of JobWhiz, creator of the JOBWHIZQUIZ, and specialist in cyber savvy strategic job search consultations
Third Answer:
Bottom line: Your career goal is NOT unrealistic! Here is why:
You meet the basic requirements i.e. college degree and sales experience
Major Pharmaceutical Companies are increasing the number of sales reps and are interviewing more and more non-traditional candidates.
Hiring managers hire people they like.
How do you compete?
You must work smarter; leverage your unique skill set and INTERVIEW BETTER!
WORKING SMARTER means that you have a targeted pharmaceutical resume, you have personally met a local recruiter or two, you have personally met with local pharmaceutical sales representatives or hiring managers, and you know how to work the job boards.
LEVERAGING YOUR UNIQUE SKILL set means that you must learn to create value for your unique skill set. Hiring mangers think in terms of ROI (return on investment…I like to use the terms Dollars, Numbers and Percents)… You must create value for your skill set by quantifying the results. For instance with you MBA, illustrate how one of your marketing projects increased sales or revenue.
INTERVIEWING BETTER means that you are an expert at the following pieces of information BEFORE the interview. You must know your resume (what questions will be asked from your resume), must have researched the company and its’ products, must have role-played with sample interview questions, must know how to close the interview and finally, you must have excellent follow up skills.
In order to compete you must be better than average, you must cover all your bases. You can’t just “wing-it”. Don’t hide behind your resume or blindly submit your resume to a job board or company web site. Take the imitative and pick up the phone and talk to people who can get you the interview. Talk to recruiters, tell your friends about your intentions, ask them who they know, talk to local pharmaceutical representatives. Heck, buy these influential people lunch; it is amazing what a free lunch will get you these days!
— Pat Riley, Founder, 10 Abbott Street and PharmaceuticalInterviewQuestions.com
