Medical Sales Recruiter - Tips & Quips

I have warned healthcare sales candidates about being too free with their Facebook or MySpace pages, because of the very real possiblity that potential medical sales employers will go looking for all the information they can find on candidates they’re thinking about hiring.  The other day, I found an article about employees turning the tables on employers by researching the company, the hiring manager, and future co-workers to dig up any dirt you might need to know before you commit.  It’s got a laundry list of sites to use to get information, and plenty of “nightmare” scenarios to scare you into looking. 

I did post a comment on this article, but the gist of what I said is this:  This kind of dirt-digging is more likely to muddy the interview waters than clear them up. 

1.  Hiring managers from the companies I work with are too professional to post any negative or positive thoughts on specific candidates in such a public forum. 

2.  The kind of candid information candidates would be looking for on sites (like  http://www.cafepharma.com/and http://www.biofind.com/for my industry) is likely to have been posted by disgruntled employees or those who have been already fired! They don’t have a job, so they spend their time bashing their past employer or any other employer that represents “the man” that is holding them down! I know of a fantastic company in the clinical diagnostics arena that is haunted by one poster who has a sole mission in life of saying outrageous statements about their former employer (including sexual harrasment allegations, illegal activities, etc.). Because of the anonymity of these sites, there is no recourse for the employer.  I would hate to have any candidate turn down an opportunity with this company because of one bad egg.

There are plenty of helpful, professional and comprehensive sites for medical sales candidates to use when researching companies they are interviewing with.  I suggest you stick with those.