Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals
and be strategically targeted not only to pharmaceutical sales, but to the company and opening you’re after. Yes, that means you will need to tweak your resume for every pharmaceutical sales job you apply for. The appearance of job-hopping and gaps in employ- ment can be seen as negatives by phar- maceutical employers, and of course, the best way to avoid those on your re- sume is to have a steady employment record. If you don’t, you may want to enlist the assistance of a professional resume writer in de-emphasizing the negatives. In fact, several experts on breaking into the field cite professional resume writers as an essential invest- ment no matter what your job record is like. All resumes should be accomplish- ments-driven, but one for pharma sales should especially be so. Noting that he is “continually amazed at how many candidates understate vital aspects of their career on their resume because they are too close to their career or they do not know how to say it with power,” Riley recommends a great-looking re- sume loaded with “accomplishments, accomplishments, accomplishments.” See our article, For Job-Hunting Suc- cess: Track and Leverage Your Accom- plishments. An effective pharmaceutical-sales
resume also must have the right key- words.
Networking Networking is a huge advantage in
getting into pharmaceutical sales be- cause most firms advertise vacancies only when they are unable to fill them by word of mouth. Tell everyone you know you’re interested in getting into the field. Talk to doctors and pharma- cists and ask them for names of reps. Riley singles out talking with pharma- ceutical sales reps and district manag- ers as the absolute best way to break into the business, noting that a refer- ral from a rep to his or her manager is “golden,” carrying “more weight than a resume from any other source.”
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“Riley singles out talking with pharmaceutical sales reps and district managers as the absolute best way to break into the business”
Establish relationships with recruit-
ers who specialize in the pharmaceuti- cal field. Keep your eye open for pharma-
ceutical job fairs, as pharma firms fre- quently use these for recruiting.
Applying through Pharmaceutical Company Web Sites
While networking is the best bet in
landing a job in this field, another way in is through applying on pharma- ceutical company Web sites. (See our Quintessential Directory of Company Career Centers: Pharmaceutical Com- panies, updated with dozens of phar- maceutical firms). But as Riley cau- tions, the rigorous screening process begins at this point because you do not simply submit a resume; you undergo a screening and ranking test. A better strategy, Riley advises, may be to use your networking contacts to obtain names of people to whom to send your resume.
Brag Books
Many pharmaceutical firms expect candidates to bring a portfolio known as a “brag book” to interviews. Since you don’t know which hiring manag- ers want to see these books and which don’t, you really need to have one ready. You can find more than one an- ecdote on pharmaceutical-sales discus-
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Interviewing The drug companies want to make
sure they get it right when they hire be- cause they typically invest a lot in train- ing new reps. Thus, interviewing for a pharmaceutical sales position is typi- cally a multi-interview process spread out over several months. We’ve read reports of as many as 15 interviews be- fore the candidate landed the job. Riley calls the process “probably the biggest series of exams you will ever take.” The process often begins with a tele- phone interview to screen candidates and whittle down a large pool of appli- cants. See our article, Phone Interview Etiquette Can Propel You to the Next Step in the Hiring Process. The heart of the interview process is
with the district manager who hires for his or her district, and interviews over meals may be part of the mix. Solid preparation is always advis-
able before job interviews, but for phar- maceutical sales, you may want to kick your preparation up several notches. Job-shadowing, also known as doing a ride-along or preceptorship, with a working rep can be enormously benefi- cial, as can informational interviewing. Ride-alongs are also frequently part of the interview process; be sure in that situation to observe everything care- fully and ask the rep questions, as you in turn will be questioned by a hiring manager about what you learned dur- ing the experience.
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sion boards about candidates with brag books who were hired over those with- out one. Teena Rose, author of Cracking the Code to Pharmaceutical Sales, writes that a brag book can contain recent awards, recognition letters from supe- riors, recommendation letters from pre- vious employers, detailed lists of sales achievements beyond what’s in your resume, continuing-education certifi- cates, and personally cultivated sales spreadsheets (as long as they aren’t confidential). Ask other pharmaceuti- cal reps if you can see their brag books to get a feel for how to do yours.
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