The Secret to Standing Out In Your Medical Sales Job Search – Part III

Welcome to part 3 of my 6-part series on how to stand out in your pharma sales position search.  Pharmaceutical sales has always been a competitive sales arena, but it’s even more so these days with an influx of candidates from harder-hit areas of sales.  So, you really need to bring your game to stand out when competing for career opportunities in health care revenue, laboratory sales, medical device sales, medical sales, surgical sales, and more, which led to this series.  I started off with Tip #1, Rethink Your Job Search, and Tip #2, Using Social Media Effectively.  Today, we’re at Tip #3:

Learn to Use Interview Tools That Impress Hiring Managers

The single most important interview tool you can use is the 30/60/90-Day Plan.  It’s an outline for the specific tasks you’ll perform in the first Thirty days, the first Sixty days, and the first Ninety days on the career opportunity.  Those are usually focused on training, getting to know your customers and market, and penetrating new territory and gaining new business. The more detailed you can be by doing things like naming the training you’ll need or knowing the names of their major accounts and competition, the better.

Having a written plan like this for how you’ll attack the job in the first 90 days is guaranteed to make a powerful impression on the hiring manager.  It shows that you understand the job (or you never would have been able to create the plan), that you want the career opportunity (it takes some effort to put one together and requires significant research), and that you can do the job (you know what it’s going to take to be successful).  It’s especially useful for when you’re new to the business and have no experience because it helps the hiring manager “see” you in the career opportunity.

Another effective tool is the brag book.  While a 30/60/90-day plan is a forward look at what you can do for your employer, a brag book is a historical look at what you’ve been able to accomplish in your career.  Organized into a binder, it would include things like project summaries, brochures you’ve created, any complimentary letters from customers or rewards letters from supervisors, performance statistics, reference letters, or similar things.  One candidate of mine created a huge brag book and then highlighted several things to point out to the interviewer.  It was a worthwhile move for her and contributed to her getting the offer.  But any past “evidence” of what you’ve done contributes to the hiring manager’s comfort level in hiring you.

These tools go beyond the expected CV and interview preparation that are the basics for all candidates–which is exactly why they’re gracious.  The fact that you are willing to put this kind of effort into the job before you even get the offer says volumes about your dedication, your work ethic, and the likelihood of your success.  It takes the risk out of the hiring decision for the manager and makes you seem like a safe bet and a desirable component of the team.

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

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The Secret to Standing Out In Your Medical Sales Job Search – Part III