To ask medical / pharmaceutical reps to give me some advice?

[Tetrapanex]

Posting here for traffic.

I’d be grateful for some advice from anyone with any experience working in this industry.

I’m currently out of permanent work and am doing some admin temping. This is due to various reasons I won’t bore you with. I want to go back into full time permanent work.

My background is in sales. I’ve got around 12 years experience of sales / client account management. 9 years in the hotel industry selling to hotels. And 3 years in the drinks industry managing key accounts. Both jobs were field based.

I also have a Biology degree.

I have a couple of friends who work as medical reps - one in wound care and one in medical devices. Their jobs are appealing to me and I’m interested in trying to break into this industry.

I’d like to hear from anyone who does this sort of work on how to best go about this.

• Are there any particular agencies who it is best to approach? (I’m in the North West).

• will my lack of experience in the medical industry be a large obstacle? Or does the sales experience mean that this is not a concern?

• what is a realistic salary for me to achieve with my experience and qualifications?

• does the level of degree achieved matter? I did graduate with a Biology degree in 2000 but with just a pass. In all honesty I was capable of so much more (got v good A Level results) but did not knuckle down and put the work in. I am now avery hard worker.

• my friend has offered for me to shadow her at work for a few days. Although this will mean losing my temp salary for a few days which I can ill afford at the moment. But I am willing to do it if it would be beneficial in the eyes of potential employers. Thoughts on this?

Many thanks for reading this long post!

Medical sales are very different to others. You will be interacting with both clinicians and commissioners. Clinicians priorities are different to the commissioners that will be paying the bill. I would advise getting some experience in a healthcare based field. It will be much harder for you to talk about products without clinical background. You will need to become aufait with medical trials and research protocols for the area your looking to work in.

Thank you @hoppybunny Are there many entry level positions though where training is provided on the job? Or is it the norm for all reps to come from an established health care background? My friend who works in wound care was formerly a geography graduate who then did teacher training. So I assumed there were some roles where experience is not as important.

I don’t mind putting work into studying / gaining relevant experience but I just want to ensure I’m going in the right direction and not wasting my time.

The worst bit is begging for appointments. Soul destroying :/

Definately do the shadowing tho. That will be very beneficial to you.

The ABPI website is your friend...
careers.abpi.org.uk/working-in-the-industry/commercial/Pages/sales-marketing.aspx#entry

Thanks for your responses @redfallleaf @bringonthescience