The job is actually as simple as it sounds: you sell medication to hospitals and doctors offices. You will need a vehicle, and you will need a clean driving record so you can visit all of your prospective clients. For the most part you will be spending your days in hospitals, discussing the different benefits of new medications. You may even be required to host meetings, talking about the latest drug on the market and why every medical establishment should have it in it's arsenal.
In order to obtain a job like this you will need to have a background in sales. Typically a company will prefer that you have at least two years of sales experience before they will consider you, but a sales background is not all there is to getting into pharmaceutical sales jobs. You need to have a clean record first of all, and you need to be drug free. You are handing a controlled substance the majority of the time, and that means you need to be trustworthy. They need to know that you aren't going to run off and use the product or even sell it on the street.
In addition to this, you will need a college degree. Believe it or not, most pharmaceutical companies will no touch you if you do not at least have a two year degree in business or science. That's not to say it's entirely impossible to land a sales job without a college degree. It HAS happened in the past, but you should never assume that you will be the exception to the rule.
You probably understand by this point that this is a job you will need to work and work hard for. It will be extremely difficult to get in if you are just starting out, but there are many pharmaceutical companies offering internships to aspiring pharmaceutical sales representatives. If you want to get your foot in the door however, you will need a good resume.
Your resume will need to list your experience and education. As we said before, you will need to have at least some college, and hopefully a degree. This will all need to be listed on your resume, and if you have any employment gaps for the last five years you need to take care of them before you can even consider landing a pharmaceutical sales job. If you find yourself unable to take care of the employment gaps it would be a good idea to consult an expert to fix your resume. It is not always possible to fix these gaps, but it is possible to hide them if you know what you're doing.
Make sure your resume has a good cover letter! This is likely one of the most important parts of the entire process! A good cover letter will let the potential employer know who you are and what you will bring to the company. That being said, you need to bring an awful lot to the table. You need to know what the company is doing, who they are working with, and what new products are being released. Knowing these things, and demonstrating the knowledge will show that you care about the company, and caring can take you a long way. It will demonstrate to the employer that you have what it takes to work for the company and pay attention to the current events that may or may not affect your sales in the field. These however, are only a few of the factors that may affect your interview and your operation in the field.
You need to become familiar with a number of different protocols and rules, and above all, you need to be ready for anything. This can be a very unpredictable job in which you may have to change your strategy at the drop of a hat. Once you get that apprenticeship and start to move up in pharmaceutical sales, you will be able to decide whether or not this is the job for you.
