One of the most perplexing mysteries for any individual wanting to enter the lucrative world of medical sales, is “how can I ever get a medical sales job when I have no experience in medical sales”?

During my many years as a medical sales recruiter, and in my current role as Founder/CEO of GorillaMed.com, a leading job board for medical sales opportunities, I have been asked this question more than any question I can recall. While there is no sure-fire method of preparing to secure a job in medical device sales or pharmaceutical sales, there is a very popular entry method which has proved successful for thousands of individuals over the years.

First, you will need a minimum of two years of outside sales experience, selling a tangible product or service, in which your success is measured by your performance versus your sales quota. In other words, how effective were you in achieving sales success versus the sales success expected by your employer?

The types of products/services which medical companies covet in their potential sales candidates are such tangible items as office equipment, copiers, and office supplies. Such companies as Xerox, Canon, Toshiba, IKON, Pitney Bowes, Wallace, etc., are examples of the type of sales background which medical companies find attractive.

In addition, such industries as credit-card processing and consumer products are also in demand as target backgrounds for medical companies. Companies such as Cintas, Paychex, Coke, Pepsi, Gallo Wine, Hersheys, etc. are also a great background for making the transition into medical sales.

However, to really increase your odds of being able to land a job in medical sales, you must have a history of documented success in exceeding your sales quota and performing in the top 20% of your respective sales force within your company. Medical companies want only the very best non-medical sales representatives, and your sales history in your current occupation will be critical to landing a medical sales job.

So, if you are serious about entering the world of medical sales, I suggest you consider making a two-year investment in your career by selling one of the product-types listed above. Consider this an “apprenticeship” towards achieving your ultimate goal of becoming a medical sales representative.

The majority of medical sales jobs seekers do not really understand the process which recruiters use to fill jobs for their clients companies. The most common misunderstanding is that recruiters engage with a job-seeker, and actively work to match that candidates’ experience and skill set to a job opening.

The reality is that most medical sales recruiters do not find jobs for candidates. Rather, they find candidates for companies. In other words, recruiters are given “job orders” by a company to find a candidate who matches their hiring requirements for a job in a given market. The recruiter then conducts a search to identify potential candidates for that opening who match the qualifications outlined by the hiring company.

Many times, the candidate who actually secures the job does not even come from the recruiter who has been given the job order by the company. The phenomenon known as “Fee-Splitting” is a term used to explain how a job from “Recruiter A” is filled with a candidate from “Recruiter B”.

Fee-Splitting works exactly like real estate, where a fee is split between the listing agent and the selling agent. The total placement fee paid by the hiring company is split between the recruiter having the job order, and the recruiter providing the candidate who secures the job.

It becomes apparent that the recruiter who has knowledge of the strong candidates who may be looking for a new job hold the key to filling that medical sales opening. It is relatively easy for a recruiter to get job orders from a company. However, the real power to filling those openings is providing the right candidate. Thus, fee-splitting is a very popular method of filling pharmaceutical sales jobs and medical device sales jobs.

Most health care sales job openings handled by recruiters are given by the companies to several recruiters to work at the same time. Since these searches are almost always “contingency searches”, companies really have no incentive to limit their use of recruiters to just one.

However, some of the better recruiters have developed long-standing relationships with companies, or with individuals within the companies that allows them to gain an exclusive job order. This means that every candidate considered for interview must come through the one recruiter who has been granted that job order.

As a job-seeker, if you can identify recruiters who have exclusive job orders with companies, your chances of getting an interview are greatly enhanced.

NEXT: “Recruiters do not work for you, they work for the hiring companies”

Did you ever hear that you should never quit your current job until you have landed a new one?  Well, this old adage is true, and here is why.

Medical sales recruiters understand that most of their hiring managers prefer to hire a great sales rep away from another company.  So, when they are evaluating potential candidates to interview for a sales opening, they tend to favor those candidates who are currently employed.  Therefore, if a recruiter has been given only three interviewing slots by the hiring company, an unemployed candidate may be left out of the process in favor of one who is employed.

This phenomenon has been somewhat diminished in importance by the large number of high quality sales individuals who have been down-sized because of the economy.  However, make no mistake about it, most hiring managers are psychologically tuned to hiring a sales rep away from another company, rather than one who is currently unemployed.

The lesson here is that you should start your job search for a new sales position while you are still employed, if at all possible.  Never leave an unhappy situation to seek greener pastures without understanding that you may be reducing your opportunities for gaining a better position by being unemployed.

NEXT:    Try to use a Recruiter who has an Exclusive Job Order from a Company

Contingency medical sales recruiting (that is, where the recruiter does not get paid unless he fills a job) is an extremely competitive industry, in which 90% of the individuals who enter this field fail within the first year.  This business compares very closely with being a realtor, in that the 90% failure rate for recruiters and realtors is very similar.  New recruiters have to work for many weeks, or even months, before they may actually place a candidate, and generate income.  Therefore the fall-out rate for new recruiters is extremely high.

Furthermore, as in real estate sales, the old 80/20 rule certainly applies to medical sales recruiting.  That is, 80% of the medical sales positions are filled by 20% of the recruiters.  Why?  It is because the medical sales recruiters who are successful, stay in the business for many years, and slowly build their credibility and professional relationships with industry personnel over time.  It is very difficult for a new recruiter to get job orders from sales managers who have developed a long-term relationship with an established recruiter, and may be reluctant to compromise that relationship.

This fact is very important to the job seeker, since choosing who will represent you in your job search may be the difference in finding a new job or not. One quick barometer of evaluating a recruiter with whom you might consider engaging is to ask that recruiter how long he/she has been in business.  You may also want to secure a sample list of client companies which that recruiter has represented in the past.

In summary, when choosing a recruiter for your quest to find a job in medical sales, do your homework.  Ask colleagues and seasoned sales managers to recommend several high-quality recruiters with whom they have utilized in the past.  Choose two or three of these recruiters, and start developing a relationship with them.  Even if you are currently not seeking a new job, it always pays to have a close working relationship with a few quality recruiters.  Make this a priority as part of your overall career-building strategy.

NEXT TOPIC:   “Why Email Blasting Your Resume is a Waste of Time”

If you are preparing to interview for a medical sales or pharmaceutical sales position, the following discussion is of paramount importance to you!  Things have changed dramatically over the past few years in the interviewing process.  If you have not participated in an interview in several years, you may be totally unprepared for the types of questions you will be asked to answer during an interview now.

Behavioral Interviewing is a relatively new mode of job interviewing that first became popular more than 15 years ago in some industries.  This method of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a prospective employee was developed by psychologists who responded to the obvious need by industry to more accurately predict the potential success of a employee during the interview process.

It is no mystery why companies feel the need to more accurately predict future success.  Hiring mistakes are very costly to companies.  It has been estimated that the costs of employee turnover approximates almost one year of compensation for that particular position!

The basic premise behind behavioral interviewing is that the most accurate predictor of future performance, is an examination of past performance during similar situations.  Tigers rarely change their stripes, so to speak.  Thus, if a company can assess before hiring the past behaviors in given situations of a potential employee, they can more accurately predict how these situations may be handled by that employee in the future.

The following series of entries to this blog will provide an in-depth look at the many nuances of behavioral interviewing in the medical sales interview situation, including providing many sample questions which are likely to be asked of the candidate during the interview process.

Make no mistake about it, if you enter an interview in which behavioral interviewing techniques will be applied, without a previous understand of this method of interviewing, you can be assured that you will not perform well in this interview situation!

So, get ready for some real insights into the world of behavioral interviewing, as it applies to the medical sales environment, and prepare yourself to ace that interview and secure that job offer!