To help you, here’s a link to a video that I made about how to handle behavioral interviews.  Some of the main things to keep in mind are to have lots of stories ready that highlight how skilled you are, and it’s important that you are able to quantify your examples whenever possible.  (What happened when you had an unhappy customer?  How did you increase sales and by how much?  How did you save the company X amount of dollars?)  I’ve also provided a link to How to Survive a Behavioral Interview for more tips, and a lengthy list of possible behavioral interview questions for you to think about. 

Important tip:  make sure you have a brag book and a 30/60/90-day plan ready to go.  A brag book will demonstrate how you handled particular situations, since you’ll hopefully include letters or e-mails from satisfied customers or happy managers, successfully completed projects, and lists/charts of how much money you’ve saved or made for the company.  A brag book covers what you’ve done in the past…a 30/60/90-day plan covers what you’ll do in the (immediate) future.  It’s a list, segmented in 30-day time spans, of what you’ll do to get trained and up-to-speed in your new company so that you can be a successful hire for them as fast as possible.  For more information, click here.  For a template of exactly how to do one, click here.

Good luck.

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What do you get for your $17.00?

• What a brag book is
• Why it definitely helps you shine in the interview and stand out over other candidates
• How to make one–with specific examples, in great detail
• When to introduce it in the interview–what to say, and how to say it, even if you’re not directly asked to show it

How important is your job interview?  BREAK THE GLASS!

PODCASTS

Polish Up Your Brag Book

Once you purchase the podcast, a link to it will be sent to your email.

See you at the top.

Peggy

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Follow up phone calls can only get you so far.  What you need are the right keywords on your resume.

The right keywords on your resume will flag you in a search.  So, if you are looking for a management position in a diagnostics sales force (and you aren’t currently in that position or your company has some wacky title system), you need to consider putting a list of keywords across the bottom of your resume that would show up when a recruiter runs a keyword search on their ATS (Applicant Tracking System).  For example:  “regional sales manager,” “clinical diagnostics”, “sales”, “management”, etc. would be a good place to start.

If you’re interested in going into Surgical Sales (and aren’t there now), you may want to add “OR”, “operating room”, “surgical”, “surgeon”, “physician”, and so on.  Get the idea?  You might ask how a recruiter would view this addition to your resume…I can tell you that I appreciate innovative ways that candidates separate themselves from the pack!

For more extensive resume help, as well as an experienced recruiter’s advice on cover letters, references, brag books, technology sheets, and 30/60/90-day sales plans, click here.

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Aaron Stahl e-mailed me recently to bring my attention to his website (www.e-shadow.com) that prints interviews with people who work in particular fields.  He’s got one with a medical device sales rep and one with a pharmaceutical sales rep.  There’s some very candid, what’s-a-typical-day-like information, as well as advice on what steps you can take to enter this field…like taking a few classes in anatomy and physiology or medical terminology if your background is not in science.  They also point out how hard it is to get your foot in the door…the pharmaceutical sales rep says that it took him over a year to get hired because of the heavy competition.  All the more reason to have The Medical Sales Recruiter on your side!  (if I could do Superman music here, I would)

Want more help from the Medical Sales Recruiter?  Try audio coaching–this product covers every aspect of your bid to get a great job in medical sales, from how to build your resume with the proper keywords, to which documents to bring to the interview (like a brag book, a technology sheet, and a 30/60/90-day sales plan).

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(Want to find out more about how to successfully transfer to medical sales?  See How to Get Into Medical Sales – Volume I:  The Documents.  Audio coaching from Peggy McKee will help you understand why medical sales is a great place to be, and how to use the samples and templates provided for resumes and cover letters, technology sheets, brag books, and 30/60/90-day plans.  These are the things that will help you “wow” interviewers.)

And why do I think that almost any area of medical sales (imaging sales, pathology sales, clinical diagnostics sales, research lab sales, medical device sales) is better than pharma sales?  The one area of medical sales that does tend to be tied to the economy is pharmaceutical sales.  Fortune magazine had an article recently on layoffs in pharma sales.  Also, there are perception issues with pharma reps that don’t affect, say, research or clinical sales reps (which I also discuss in the podcast).  Medical schools even have a few issues with pharma reps.

Gabcast! Peggy McKee – the medical sales recruiter… #2 – Why Healthcare, medical or laboratory sales? Why not pharma?

Hear more on these issues in today’s podcast and other nuggets of medical sales wisdom in podcasts with Peggy! 

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Behavioral interviews focus on past job behavior and performance (what did you do in a given situation) with the idea that this information will predict your future behavior and performance.  Behavioral interviews are really much more informative for employers than a “what do you know how to do?” interview, and more and more hiring managers are using some version of it.  (Here’s a previous post on STAR Interviews.)

What do you need to know? 

1)  Have stories or examples ready that explain your skills/performance in many different situations.  What happened when you had an unhappy customer?  How have you increased sales?  How did you deal with _____________?  Here’s a link to sample behavioral interview questions. 

2)  Quantify your examples whenever possible.  You increased sales by how much?  You were responsible for bringing in _______ dollars in revenue.  You saved the company _______ dollars by doing/changing/introducing _________________.   Salespeople (in all areas of medical sales, pharmaceutical sales, laboratory sales, clinical diagnostics sales, DNA products sales, biotechnology sales, imaging sales, pathology sales, or medical supplies and equipment sales) are good at having these numbers at hand, but people in marketing, tech support or service areas in healthcare will need to work harder.

Behavioral interviews are excellent opportunities for those job seekers with a brag book.  Brag books are collections of examples that illustrate your stories:  letters from happy customers or managers, awards, sales training certificates, projects you’ve completed, etc.  How to Get Into Medical Sales – Volume I:  The Documents explains brag books in more detail, and also teaches you about other critical aspects of your job search and interview process (like resumes and cover letters, technology sheets, and 30/60/90-day sales plans) so that all your work results in the job offer you want.

This video will explain all of this in more detail.  I hope it helps you have a successful job interview.

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It not always necessary to have some background in the sciences to get a job in medical sales, laboratory sales, medical supplies sales, hospital equipment sales, clinical diagnostics sales, pharmaceutical sales, imaging sales, pathology sales, cellular and molecular sales, and biotechnology sales.  But if you’ve got it, it helps.

For more information about technology sheets and other secrets to success in getting a medical sales job, see How to Get Into Medical Sales – Volume I:  The Documents.  It’s full of samples and templates of resumes, cover letters, technology sheets, brag books, 30/60/90-day sales plans, thank you notes, and more–it also includes over an hour of audio coaching from the Sales Recruiter to show you how to use these documents to your greatest advantage in your job search and interviews!

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medical sales laboratory hiring personal brand

 

In the grocery store of life, you have to figure out why someone would pick you up off the shelf,” says Andrea Nierenberg, president of the Nierenberg Group, a business communication-consulting firm in New York. “Are you new and improved? Are you repackaged? What are you doing to get that competitive edge? What you want to do is position yourself as you would a product.”

I LOVE this.  If each of us spent as much time thinking about our career as much as the major food manufacturers think about product placement on a shelf, what could be the consequences?  (Do you even realize how much thought and energy goes into exactly where that box of cereal should be in your line of vision?  It’s mind-boggling.) 

Personal branding works the same way.  What’s the first impression people have of you?  Why should a hiring manager choose you over the other brand?  How can you market yourself in your industry so that others know who you are?  Personal Branding Basics is a great place to start thinking about how to make this work for you.

In all areas of medical sales, laboratory sales, biotech sales, clinical diagnostics sales, medical software sales, medical equipment sales, medical device sales, hospital equipment sales, imaging sales, pathology sales, DNA products sales, and pharmaceutical sales, you need to think about where you are (and where you want to be) in the market. 

To package all this up for maximum impact on a hiring manager, see How to Get Into Medical Sales – Volume I:  The Documents.  Get over an hour of audio coaching plus templates and samples for resumes, cover letters, technology sheets, brag books, 30/60/90-day sales plans, thank you notes, and advice on references. 

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sales, medical, laboratory, internships, college students, entry-level

Internships can be tremendously valuable to college students looking for that resume experience, but I recently came across an article about how some college students are paying for the privilege. Bad idea. There are better ways to spend your money…like custom consulting from a recruiter in the industry you’re heading for. You can learn what specific actions you can take that will provide immediate as well as long-term benefits, and you can learn about how to position yourself for long-term success in medical sales, laboratory sales, clinical diagnostics sales, biotechnology sales, medical device sales, hospital equipment sales, imaging sales, pathology sales, DNA products sales, and healthcare sales, management, and marketing.

Another option:  enter medical sales like a pro with a 30/60/90-day sales plan and audio coaching on everything you need for interviews…a winning resume and cover letter, a brag book, a technology sheet, an impressive sales plan, quality references, and well-written thank you notes.

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Of course, knowing that you need one and actually putting one together are two different things.  A little internet research can get you access to free templates, which can make you think you’re home free.    However, you need to remember the old adage:  You get what you pay for.

The 30/60/90-day sales plans available online aren’t really templates; they’re only samples.  You take what you can get from it and create your own plan that you hope is good enough to attract the attention of a hiring manager.  What’s the difference between that and a true template?  Quality.  Why does it matter?  Well, how important is your career? 

What do you really need?

·         You need an actual template—one that you can plug your own information into with minimal time and effort that still results in a quality product you’d be proud and confident to show to any hiring manager.

·         You need a mentor.  Someone with an insider perspective and 15 years of experience in sales, sales management, and sales recruiting who can coach you—tell you how to put together a winning sales plan and how to present it in your interview. 

Where can you get it?

The Sales Recruiter has put together everything you’ll need to get the sales job you want:  a true sales plan template plus over 30 minutes of audio coaching that will boost your confidence and give you the edge you need. 

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