Pharmaceutical sales – aka pharma sales – is the business of selling drugs and pharmaceutical supplies to doctors and hospitals. It's one of the few areas of sales that is considered recession-proof because no matter what the economy is doing, doctors and patients still need their meds. The pharmaceutical industry is huge and growing ever larger, so there's an endlessly growing need for more pharmaceutical sales reps.
Of course, pharma sales has a few requirements that aren't part of other sales jobs. Most pharmaceutical companies will only hire reps with a bachelor's degree. A few of the larger companies recruit new graduates, but most prefer reps with some sales experience – particularly B2B sales experience. Candidates who have no sales experience but have worked in the healthcare industry also have a fair chance of securing a pharmaceutical sales job.
Pharmaceutical sales reps are expected to keep abreast of medical developments, to learn at least the basics of their company's products, and to have enough technical knowledge to successfully pitch to doctors. If you hate science and don't like always having something new to learn, pharma sales isn't for you.
Other attributes of successful pharmaceutical sales reps include self-motivation, ability to work both independently and as a team member, integrity, assertiveness, creativity, and excellent communication skills. Pharmaceutical companies look for exceptionally bright people to sell their products – after all, they've invested millions of dollars and several years of R&D to develop those products! You'll also need good physical stamina, since pharmaceutical sales requires you to spend hours on your feet while lugging a heavy samples case with you.
Let's say you have all the above qualifications. So how do you get that first pharmaceutical sales job? For starters, you'll need to polish up your resume. Given the level of competition, it's not a bad idea to hire a professional resume writer... preferably one who has worked on pharma sales resumes before.
If you insist on doing your own resume, be careful to present a solid employment background. Pharmaceutical companies spend a lot of time and effort training their sales reps, so they won't hire someone who's done a lot of job-hopping in the past. Any gaps on your resume will raise a serious red flag to hiring managers.
Be sure to emphasize your past accomplishments in your resume, being as specific as possible. This is even more critical if you're thin on sales experience. Cite instances where you demonstrated that you have the attributes listed above. Talk about awards you've won, praise you've received from customers, even highlights from your performance reviews.
If you're a recent graduate with little to no experience, consider applying for an internship in a pharmaceutical company. That gives you a chance to show your stuff, and also lets you see what the job is like from the inside. The drawback, of course, is that it's a significant investment of time and effort for which you are paid exactly nothing (except the chance of a real job with the company). Still, if you really want to break into the pharma sales profession, an internship gives you a much better chance to land the job.
