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.

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