Finding a job as a rep

Lies, damned lies and job applications

So you still want to become a medical rep despite everything you've just read?

There are a few alternative routes into this business. However, before you set out on any of the routes into repping, you must be sure of one thing. You really want to be a rep.

A lot of pharmaceutical firms use the University 'milk round' to employ graduates directly. Another common route is via a recruitment agency, usually following a reply to an ad in a broadsheet newspaper. Thursday's Daily Telegraph can often be seen lying on the passenger seat of vehicles in hospital car parks.

And of course, there is the ubiquitous Internet. I used to give a few pointers to recruitment sites but over the years Google and other search engines, along with Linked in mean your pursuit of opportunities is much easier.

Many representatives begin their career by leaving their chosen vocation within the health service to go to work for a commercial organisation. Frustration at lack of career development and the lure of greater financial rewards means there is a ready trained supply of labour for the companies to draw upon.

Sometimes people are approached directly by a company after a recommendation from a present employee who has recognised their potential whilst working alongside them in the field. This method of recruitment works well for the company because they are buying into the knowledge and experience of the recruit. They don't have to teach the employee new concepts and they are comfortable in the hospital environment. This means they are effective soon after entering the field and the company will get a return on its investment more quickly.

Once you are employed within the industry, you'll find opportunities to move between companies arise fairly regularly. Your customer base and the relationships are very valuable commodities, and if your selling skills are good you'll be sought after.

When I decided I wanted to get a job within the industry, I looked around the X-ray department and decided which was the best kit I worked with, whether capital equipment or consumable. I thought that if I believed in the products, then the job would be easier in the early days.

I then drew up my own shortlist of prospective employers by researching each of those companies. I asked others for their opinions about the products and company. I asked radiologists and radiographers if they saw a future for the technology that each company was promoting. I tried to speak to someone already working for the company so I could get an insight into how the organisation worked and what career development I could expect. If possible I spent a day on the road with a company representative to see what it was really like. After all, changing career and leaving the safe, comfortable environment of a hospital is a major step you shouldn't undertake lightly.

Having drawn up a shortlist, I then wrote to the chosen companies enclosing a CV and covering letter, asking if there were any suitable opportunities available. My first round of letters didn't elicit much feedback, so I wrote again. Slowly, replies started to come back and interviews followed. Eventually, I got a job as a hospital representative for a pharmaceutical firm.

Basically, it was persistence that did it. This was also a good way for me to vet my prospective employers too. Some didn't even bother to reply to my letters.

Would you like to work for a company who couldn't be bothered to do something as simple as that?

I get a lot of people asking me very specific questions with regard to obtaining a job as a medical rep. I wish I could answer them all accurately, or say there was a right answer! Unfortunately, the answers I give can only be general because not every company is looking for the same type of person. 90% of it is down to you!