Ride alongs and ride withs? What are they? Are they important?
February 7th, 2007 by the medical sales recruiter
Have we discussed ride alongs or ride withs? These are some of the greatest opportunities to differentiate yourself from other candidates. How do you do this? Step 1: If you want a pharma sales job, call your family doctor and ask for a favor. Ask him for the contact information of a couple of sales reps that call on him. Step 2: Then call them and ask them for a favor. Will they let you tag along for a day or half a day to see what their life is like…..If you want a medical device job, ask the doctor for those types of representatives. If you want a laboratory sales job, go see a small laboratory and ask for a couple of contacts (folks who sell to them). And then repeat Step 2. When you do the ride along, ask a lot of questions. What do they like about the job, what do they hate, what skills are absolutely necessary, how did they get the job, etc. Then once you have do this, add the experience to your resume as a preceptorship. This communicates that you are willing to go the extra step, that you know how to make contacts and that you know what you are getting into….It helps the hiring manager see you in the job and that is what gets you a job.
