During my years as a medical sales recruiter, I was frequently asked by job-seekers if I could find them a medical sales job in a different state than they currently resided.  Candidates wanting to re-locate often attempted to provide solutions to the obvious obstacles of attempting to secure a sales job in a different state by stating that they “would pay their own re-location expenses.”  While this noble gesture of good faith may seem like a big concession by the candidate, it really had no impact as to why individuals wanting to re-locate had almost no chance of being successful in that quest.

The fact is, in my decade of medical sales search, I have never seen a candidate successfully get a sales position in another state, unless he had a personal relationship with someone who could negotiate that deal.  There are so many reasons why it is almost impossible to re-locate with a new company, without knowing someone at that company.

First, there are so many highly-qualified candidates living in the open territory.  Why would a hiring sales manager want to look outside of that city to hire?  Hiring an outsider would require the new representative to spend time “getting settled” in his new city, moving his family, perhaps buying a house, etc.  In addition, there would be a significant amount of time spent by this individual “learning the market”, locating the physician’s offices, finding the hospitals, learning where to park, negotiating the traffic patterns to effectively cover the territory, etc.  Even the interview process becomes an obstacle, because the candidate does not reside in the state in which the interview occurs.

In addition, the new sales representative would have no previous relationships with doctors, nurses, purchasing agents, or other ancillary personnel in that market.  In effect, the hiring company would sacrifice at least three months of productivity while the new sales person worked through these obstacles.

Finally, there may be a vast difference in selling cultures between the current market, and the market from which that sales representative came.  As an example, an individual who successfully sold medical products in his home town of New York City, may not be successful at all selling these products in Birmingham, Alabama.

In conclusion, I would offer one bit of advice to a medical sales representative who wants to re-locate to another state.  If you want to have a realistic chance at securing a new job in your destination state, quit your current job, and move to your state of choice.  After you have re-located, start our job search in your new location.  You will have a much better chance of succeeding.

It is the day of your job interview for a medical device sales position.  Your goal is to “nail” the interview and get the job offer.  How do you prepare?

Here is a great way to prepare for a medical device sales interview which utilizes behavioral techniques.

• Identify 6-8 examples from your past medical sales experience where you demonstrated top behaviors and skills that employers typically seek.  Think of examples that will exploit your top selling points.
• Make sure that half of your examples are totally positive, such as accomplishments or meeting sales goals.
• The other half should be situations that started out negatively, or precariously, but either ended positively, or you were able to make a bad situation better.
• Always use fairly recent examples.  Anything more than a couple of years old is too old.  Try to focus on examples from your medical sales selling experiences.

Finally, an hour before the interview, review your resume.  Most interviewers focus on things you have stated on your resume.  By re-reading your resume, you will be able to remember your achievements, and will not be surprised by a question asked about something you may have written on your resume many months earlier.

During the interview, listen carefully to each question.  Before rushing to answer, mull over in your mind what behavior the interviewer might be attempting to uncover.  Then, pull an example out of your pool of prepared “answers” that provides an appropriate description of how you demonstrated the desired behavior in your job as a medical device sales representative.  With practice, you will be able to tailor a finite set of prepared answers to almost any question answered.  Finally, do not forget to always answer your questions using the SAR technique.

In addition to the more general behavioral questions which are likely to be asked during your interview, they will no doubt be questions asked which will be more specific to medical sales.  Some examples could be:

1)    Tell me about a situation in which you made a physician upset during your sales presentation.
2)    Describe a time which you alienated a co-worker by your actions, and how you resolved this conflict.
3)    Tell me about a time when you withheld information requested by your sales manager, or company co-workers.
4)    Describe a situation when you used creative ways to make your sales quota.
5)    Tell me about a time when you had to “fire” a friend or subordinate
6)    Give me an example of how you solved a brewing conflict with your sales manager.

Next:   The Day of the Interview