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Written by Peggy McKee - the medical sales recruiter
Get top medical sales candidates at PHC Consulting
| How to Get Into Medical Sales Learn how to get into this great field - insider secrets & tips. | 30/60/90 Day Sales Plans |
Job Interview Tip: How to Answer the “Team Player” Question
“Are you a team player?”
You’ll almost certainly get asked this question in your next job interview. Always answer “Yes.”
But, there’s a catch.
In this video, I will explain:
- What kinds of examples to give to support your team player status (they need to be specific)
- Why you shouldn’t come across as too much of a team player, especially if you’re interviewing for a job in medical or health care sales
Written by Peggy McKee - the medical sales recruiter
Get top medical sales candidates at PHC Consulting
| How to Get Into Medical Sales Learn how to get into this great field - insider secrets & tips. | 30/60/90 Day Sales Plans |
Laid-Off Pharma Reps: Get a Reference Even Though the Managers at Schering, Merck, or Wyeth Say You Can’t Have One
It’s rough out there: tens of thousands of pharma sales reps have gotten laid off in the last 2 years, and pharma layoffs are only getting worse. Not only are all these thousands of pharma reps flooding the job market in medical/healthcare/pharmaceutical sales, many pharma companies are telling the former sales managers of these reps that they aren’t allowed to give a reference–even if it was a company-wide layoff and the rep was great. Company policy restricts them to name, rank, and serial number only: what the candidate did, how long he worked there, and why he exited the company. That’s not a job-winning reference for any candidate.
A lot of candidates just accept this situation because, “Hey, it’s company policy…what can you do?” But that’s just not OK. If you’ve worked hard for someone and done a great job, they ought to give you a great reference, no matter what the company says.
And there is something you can do. Watch this video so I can show you exactly what to say to get your former manager to give you a reference, even if the company has told him not to. If you know that it was a good working relationship, that you did a fantastic job, and that it would be a great reference for you, then it’s worth trying one more time to get it. Be sure and take the poll below the video about this.
And if you have a comment or a story of how this has impacted you, would you add it in the comment section?
Peggy
Written by Peggy McKee - the medical sales recruiter
Get top medical sales candidates at PHC Consulting
| How to Get Into Medical Sales Learn how to get into this great field - insider secrets & tips. | 30/60/90 Day Sales Plans |
Interviews: How to Answer the Job References Question
Your job references are important to your job search success. They’re the last step in the interview process, and you have to take just as much care with them as you do with anything else–like your resume, your interview skills, your brag book, or your 30/60/90-day plan. A great reference could easily be what convinces a hiring manager who’s on the fence about you to go ahead and hire you. And a bad one can knock you out of the running faster than you can blink. Recommendations carry a lot of weight.
When you are asked in a job interview about your references, don’t lead off your answer with a list of names. Get to the meat of what the hiring manager or recruiter wants to know by talking about what kind of references you have: titles, positions, and so on. Which references are the best ones? Former managers are always at the top of the list of desirable references for any job seeker. If your last job situation was less-than-ideal, you might have to get a little more creative to get a good reference. For instance, you could ask a high-level client, a colleague, or a manager you didn’t directly work for but who knows your work.
But it’s not just job titles that come into play when choosing a reference that will make you look good. You have to choose someone you know thinks a lot of you, someone who knows about the job you’re going for so that they can speak to your strengths, and someone who can express himself or herself well.
If you’ve got a lineup of good references, you need to know some job-reference etiquette: (1) Keep your references updated with regular e-mails about your career and pass on things that might be helpful to them, just like you do with the rest of your network; (2) give them a heads-up when they are about to be called for a reference, and use that time to tell them about the job and what skills they might focus on; and (3) be sure to thank them for helping you out.
Written by Peggy McKee - the medical sales recruiter
Get top medical sales candidates at PHC Consulting
| How to Get Into Medical Sales Learn how to get into this great field - insider secrets & tips. | 30/60/90 Day Sales Plans |
Job Interview Strategy….or not
This is hilarious:
Written by Peggy McKee - the medical sales recruiter
Get top medical sales candidates at PHC Consulting
| How to Get Into Medical Sales Learn how to get into this great field - insider secrets & tips. | 30/60/90 Day Sales Plans |
Resume Objective Statements: Tell the Hiring Manager Why He Should Read the Rest of Your Resume
Don’t be fooled by people who tell you that resume objective statements are optional, or that you shouldn’t have one at all. Their reasoning is usually that objective statements fence you in and limit your job-seeking focus.
I’m here to tell you that you need an objective statement on your resume. Why?
- An objective statement tells me why I should keep reading the rest of your resume.
It’s advertising, basically. It’s the teaser that will draw me in to reading the rest of your resume. (The cover letter won’t do it. Recruiters don’t generally have the time to read a cover letter–we go straight to the resume. So, make sure the first few lines of your resume make me want to read more.) Read about how to craft a compelling objective statement. At it’s core, it’s about creating a statement that fits your capabilities to fulfilling the needs of the organization. What are a few of your key qualities that will make you a good fit for this job? Be careful that you don’t make this too generic (boring).
- An objective statement makes it easier for me to figure out who you are and what you want.
Don’t be vague: Think of your resume objective as a Personal Branding Statement (thanks, Phil Rosenburg of reCareered). It’s not only saying what you want, but it’s also indicating what problems you can solve and how you can bring value to the organization. In that way, it’s tailored to the job you’re applying for. Jessica Holbrook’s article on Career Rocketeer agrees: Don’t start off by telling the hiring manager what you want, tell the hiring manager what you can do for the company.
Don’t worry: a well-crafted, tailored objective statement won’t stop you from being considered for other jobs. For instance, as a medical sales recruiter, I’m always looking for the best candidate to submit to my clients for consideration for jobs in medical sales, laboratory sales, medical device sales, health care IT, and more. If your objective statement has led me to read the rest of your resume to see what you can do (and what you have done), I’m going to think about you for any job you might be a good fit for because that’s what’s in the best interests of me and my client companies.
Written by Peggy McKee - the medical sales recruiter
Get top medical sales candidates at PHC Consulting
| How to Get Into Medical Sales Learn how to get into this great field - insider secrets & tips. | 30/60/90 Day Sales Plans |
Create a 30/60/90-Day Plan Now To Boost Your Job Search in the Future
A 30/60/90-day sales plan is a written outline for exactly what you’ll do in the first 3 months on a new job. It’s the goals you’ve set for yourself as a new employee for the first 30 days, the first 60 days, and the first 90 days. A 30/60/90-day sales plan is tremendously impressive to a hiring manager because it takes a lot of effort to write one, and requires that you research the company and the job very well in order to be specific in your goals. (It takes the idea of “doing your homework” to a whole new level.) Very few people put this kind of effort into a job they haven’t even gotten yet. When a hiring manager sees a candidate with one of these plans, they think at least two things: (1) “This person knows exactly what I need here, and he can hit the ground running…I can see him doing well in this job” and (2) “Wow. If this candidate will work this hard before she gets the job, imagine what a go-getter she’ll be on my team.” (Either one means great things for you.)
If you’ve got lots of experience, your 30/60/90-day plan will show the hiring manger your energy, enthusiasm, drive, determination, and knowledge, setting you apart from the pack.
If you have little experience, a 30/60/90-day plan will show the hiring manger that you do, in fact, know what it takes to be successful at this job, and it’s not going to be a risk to hire you. (Click here for more tools to help you get into medical sales.)
OK. I said all that to say this:
Don’t throw away your 30/60/90-day sales plan after you get the job.
First of all, you’ll need to use it on the job. If it’s a good 30/60/90-day plan, actually following it WILL make you more successful.
Second, unless you’re already flirting with retirement, the job you’ve got probably isn’t going to be your last stop….so job searching, interviewing, and 30/60/90-day plans will still be a part of your future.
With that in mind, here’s my big tip for the day: make notes on what worked for you in your 30/60/90-day plan and start a “Job Search” folder, where you keep notes on interesting companies, recruiter contacts, “attaboy” (or girl) emails, etc.–and put your 30/60/90-day sales plan in there for future job searches. Like a brag book folder, it’s going to be a personalized resource for you. You won’t need to start from scratch on your job search or your 30/60/90-day sales plan if you find yourself suddenly in the market for a new job. And, you can use what you’ve learned to improve your plan for each job you interview for….you’ll be more efficient, and you’ll become a better candidate.
Written by Peggy McKee - the medical sales recruiter
Get top medical sales candidates at PHC Consulting
| How to Get Into Medical Sales Learn how to get into this great field - insider secrets & tips. | 30/60/90 Day Sales Plans |
How to Calm Job Interview Nerves
Does the thought of your upcoming medical sales job interview make you nervous?
Job interviews affect almost everyone that way…but it’s the candidate who’s confident as well as competent who’s going to get the job. (Nothing like a little added pressure, huh?) But fear not…I have a few tips for you to get past your nervousness as the interviewee:
Prepare for the Interview
Practice Your Answers
Use Relaxation Exercises
Watch the video for more details:
Written by Peggy McKee - the medical sales recruiter
Get top medical sales candidates at PHC Consulting
| How to Get Into Medical Sales Learn how to get into this great field - insider secrets & tips. | 30/60/90 Day Sales Plans |
PHC Consulting: Recruiting Medical and Health Care Sales and Marketing Talent
PHC Consulting is an executive search firm that specializes in finding top sales, sales management, technical support and marketing talent for the medical and healthcare industries. We specialize in laboratory, medical device, healthcare IT, health care and hospital administration, and health care supply. Our clients include companies that are on the Fortune 5, 50, and 500 list, as well as Fortune 100 Fastest-Growing companies. Our clients’ call points are the pharmacy, hospital administration, laboratory (both clinical and research), and the physician or surgeon. Our clients say that we provide the most pre-screened, pre-qualified candidates and talent that they receive. They love our follow-up, and they love the fact that we listen to what they truly need, and identify and exceed their goals in the candidate search. Our candidates say that we listen to what they are looking for in a career–that we help them find the best positions that are truly a long-term fit, and that we help make a stressful job search a little easier.
Hiring Managers: See our corporate website at www.phcconsulting.com, go to our Employer Services page for more detailed information, or call me at 1-888-263-5688. I’d love to talk to you.
Candidates: Check out our Medical Sales Jobs page for our currently available opportunities, or submit your resume here.
If you know of someone who is looking to build or expand a great sales, marketing, or technical support team; or if you know of a fantastic sales rep who might be looking for a new opportunity, do that person a favor and forward this video to them.
Written by Peggy McKee - the medical sales recruiter
Get top medical sales candidates at PHC Consulting
| How to Get Into Medical Sales Learn how to get into this great field - insider secrets & tips. | 30/60/90 Day Sales Plans |
What To Do With A Stalled Job Interview Process
A Job Candidate’s Situation:
A recuiter called a medical sales candidate about a job, gave him the name of the company and the manager, said that he had submitted his resume for consideration, and had the phone interview set up. Then, the recruiter called back to tell him that the phone interview wasn’t going to happen, that the interview was on hold, and that he’d be in touch. After more than a week with no phone call, the candidate called me for help.
A Medical Sales Recruiter’s Advice:
This candidate should contact the hiring manager directly. If the recruiter has already submitted him to the company, and he approaches the company in a VERY professional way, then I don’t think a recruiter would be upset by that. I know I certainly wouldn’t be. Contacting the company to make sure the job didn’t go dead shows the candidate’s guts, determination, follow-through, and that he cares about the job (all desirable qualities to have in a medical sales candidate). The candidate must have been close enough to the job for it to work out, so it’s not like it would be a shot in the dark. He found the manager on LinkedIn, so I advised him to write a nice note to the manager on LinkedIn, saying something along the lines of “So-and-so submitted my resume for such-and-such opportunity and I’m so excited about it. I know we’re on hold right now for the phone interview, but I just wanted to let you know that it looks like a position I could really excel at, and where I could provide some value for you and I’d like to chat with you about it as soon as possible.”
See? It’s polite and professional, but shows positive go-getter qualities about this candidate that will almost certainly get the attention of a hiring manager.
Written by Peggy McKee - the medical sales recruiter
Get top medical sales candidates at PHC Consulting
| How to Get Into Medical Sales Learn how to get into this great field - insider secrets & tips. | 30/60/90 Day Sales Plans |
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