Why Should I Join LinkedIn?
If you haven’t joined LinkedIn by now, you should. There are over 65 million professionals involved in LinkedIn, making it the most significant online business network around. Don’t make the mistake of thinking of it in the same terms as Facebook or Twitter (although they have their place). And don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s only for job searchers (but it’s fantastic for that). LinkedIn is a rock-solid, uniquely valuable, free tool for your medical sales, laboratory sales, pharmaceutical sales, or medical device sales career.
How can LinkedIn benefit you?
- Networking - You know how important a good network is. A well-maintained business and social network will serve you well throughout your life, and I would never discount the power of old-school person-to-person connections. But LinkedIn is “a rolodex on steriods.” It exponentially increases your networking opportunities by providing an avenue for making connections in a much bigger arena than you’d ever be able to create on your own. Because those connections are built on introductions and recommendations, they are regarded as legitimate, credible business contacts. And, because people tend to keep their information up-to-date, you don’t lose track of them.
Another way to use LinkedIn effectively to make connections is by joining groups. Start with Sales Cafe for medical sales reps! Find groups that are relevant to your career, and join the discussions. If you’re making quality contributions to group discussions, it will make others more interested in knowing you and creating a connection.
- Career Development - Even if you’re not job hunting now, LinkedIn is a convenient, efficient way to keep up with what’s going on in your industry. LinkedIn has a feature for following companies, who keep corporate profiles. You can also research executives within those companies and keep up with who’s moving up, who’s moving on, what the trends are, and what the competition is doing. The groups you’re involved in will have discussions on topics that are relevant and necessary for your success.
- Job Search – I can’t say enough about how LinkedIn can jump-start your job search. If you’ve taken the time to build a network while you’re still employed, you’re already ahead of the game. Over 80% of employers and recruiters search for candidates on LinkedIn. The more connections you have, the much more likely it will be that you’re contacted by one of them. (How nice would that be, to be contacted by someone interested in offering you a job?) By keeping an up-to-date profile, you’re putting your best foot forward, and setting yourself up for success.
For an active job search, you can use LinkedIn to contact hiring managers directly, bypassing HR departments and online applications. It’s a very effective method for setting yourself apart from other candidates, and creates a much better chance at landing the interview.
- Interview Preparation - If you’ve landed the interview, LinkedIn is an absolute gold mine of information to help you nail it. Your ability to research the company will be a valuable resource for creating your 30/60/90-day plan (a written outline for what steps you’ll take to get up to speed and become a contributing member of the team–VERY impressive). Checking out the LinkedIn profiles of people you’ll be interviewing with will give you a better idea of who they are and what their focus will likely be, and will maybe even show you something you have in common that will assist you in creating rapport.
You need a great profile on LinkedIn to make the most of what it can offer you. Check out this LinkedIn profile Tutorial to get started.
Best of luck to you.
Skip Online Applications and HR and Send Straight to the Hiring Manager
You should read this terrific article from Ask A Manager: Are online application processes avoidable? A reader who has been frustrated by the black hole of online applications processes asks if the way to go is to contact the hiring manager with some attention-grabbing subject line or graphics in the email. The answer (in the article) is that “it depends.” Some companies are going to want you to go through the process they ask you to go through and will be annoyed if you don’t; and some companies are fine with your bypassing the HR process entirely to get to the hiring manager. (There’s also several terrific comments from job hunters about their experiences both ways–but most are getting their best results by skipping HR.)
The upshot of it is that you are likely to have a better result by contacting the hiring manager directly, especially if you’re transitioning into a new career area (HR’s looking for specific keywords, not transferable skills)…but to be careful of “gimmicks” in your email, which can take a bad turn into obnoxiousness pretty easily. Overall, the best way to go is to grab the attention of the hiring manager is to find a connection to the person or the company and get a recommendation from them. (That’s why your network is so important.)
So what’s your take-away from this for your medical sales or health care sales job search? It’s what I’ve been saying all along–learn to harness the power of LinkedIn to bypass HR and contact the hiring manager directly. And that doesn’t mean you only have to find the name and send your information. Use LinkedIn to build those connections, participate in those conversations, and get your name out there so that when you do contact the hiring manager, it’s not a cold call. Make it easy to be found by having a great LinkedIn profile that showcases you as a desirable hire. LinkedIn is not the only social media you can utilize to get the job, but I think it’s the best one. Be proactive and get results.
Do you have anything to add to this discussion? What’s been your experience?
Informational Interviews Using LinkedIn
One of the many, many fantastic applications of LinkedIn is that you can use it to land informational interviews. Informational interviews are just what they sound like: they are interviews that you conduct to gather information, usually about a job or a career field you’re interested in. They last 20-30 minutes, and give you an opportunity to get answers about what a typical day is like, what the person likes or dislikes about the field, and what it takes to be successful. You can also use it as a mentoring session and ask for their advice on your situation and your best career/job search moves. Research tips for informational interviews to help you compile your list of questions. Informational interviews are strictly for you to get the “inside scoop” from someone who knows, and they help you to expand your network. (FYI: If you’re lucky, you might get a job lead, but it’s bad form to go into the interview expecting this person to help you get a job.)
But how do you go about setting up an informational interview if you can’t do it through your current contacts?
Use LinkedIn. Once you create a profile, you can make connections and introduce yourself to people on LinkedIn, and then ask them directly for an informational interview. Most people are flattered to be asked, and won’t mind talking to you for 20 minutes. If they’re really pressed for time, they might offer to answer questions by email–which you should definitely follow through on. Also, you can join groups and participate in discussions, and post your questions there. This can be an especially effective tactic for entry-level job seekers. I’ve seen some really great LinkedIn discussions packed with valuable information for job seekers.
LinkedIn pages are tremendous sources of information on people you’d like to interview and companies you’re interested in. Once you’ve set up your interview, use LinkedIn to prepare for it just as thoroughly as you would for a job interview. Get all your ducks in a row so that you don’t waste that person’s time by asking questions you can look up the answers to. Coming to the interview prepared with background knowledge and intelligent questions leaves them with a great impression of you as a confident, competent go-getter they will remember (in case they run across a job opportunity for you later).
After the interview, remember to send a thank you letter. If you can, include a relevant article or a solution to a company problem–something helpful to them. Then, include them in your network by routinely contacting them every few months. A successful informational interview gains you valuable information and an expanded professional network–and who knows where that might lead?
If you’re actively job hunting, check out these LinkedIn Ninja Tricks for contacting hiring managers directly. It will show you how to use LinkedIn to specifically contact hiring managers so that you can bypass HR and get an interview with the decision-maker, so that you can get the job.
Skip HR and Contact the Hiring Manager
Do you feel like you’re sending your resume down endless black holes? Not getting interviews? They might be getting hung up in HR–which means you need to go to the source: the hiring manager.
Contacting the hiring manager directly sets you apart as a go-getter. It’s a concrete demonstration that you can do what it takes to overcome an obstacle and get something done. It gives you a chance to present your case (helpful if you’re transitioning into the field) that you might not get if you’re weeded out by HR.
How do you do that? LinkedIn is an excellent source for gathering information on companies and hiring managers. Implement a few LinkedIn Ninja Tricks to Bypass HR and get the job.
If you decide to contact the hiring manager by sending a copy of your resume (with a killer cover letter that’s not an attachment, but is the body of your email), and that doesn’t get you anywhere, try sending a copy of your 30/60/90-day plan. That’s an attention-getter that might work for you as a last-ditch effort.
As always, if you’re not getting anywhere in your job search even though you’re trying out-of-the-box techniques, find a career coach. There could be some small thing you’re not even aware of that’s killing your chances. An experienced career coach can also help you to identify what makes you unique and train you in fine-tuning your brand so that you can sell yourself as a candidate more effectively–and get the job.
Advantages of LinkedIn for Jobseekers
Every jobseeker in medical sales, health care sales, medical device sales, laboratory sales, or pharmaceutical sales should be on LinkedIn. It’s an essential element of your networking and job searching strategy.
Why?
LinkedIn provides several advantages for you:
- LinkedIn is a way to get your name out there. (Personal branding, anyone?) Your LinkedIn profile is an online resume for you, and it’s a way for you to get your resume in front of people without actually sending it. That means, then, that the quality of your LinkedIn profile is critical. Make sure it’s professional and easy to skim to get what’s important about you–a bullet-point presentation is great.
- LinkedIn is a way to reconnect with people you’ve lost track of, and also to meet new people. Making connections is what LinkedIn is all about. Joining groups is a great way to do that. (Check out Sales Cafe, a group for sales reps–we’ve had some great discussions and advice for jobseekers lately.) Find groups that are focused on your particular area, and you’ll not only make connections, you’ll be up on what’s going on in your industry–trends and people. No professional networking effort is complete without it.
- LinkedIn is a fantastic source for learning about companies you’re interested in. Companies often maintain LinkedIn pages that are more informative than their official corporate pages for someone who wants to know about working there. Executives at these companies have pages, too.
- LinkedIn is one avenue you can take to contact hiring managers directly about jobs you’re interested in. Career Confidential’s LinkedIn Ninja Tricks to bypass HR and get the job has specific strategies you can use to do just that.
- Recruiters search LinkedIn all the time for candidates when they have a job to fill. Make sure they can find you.
LinkedIn Discussion: What’s your opinion on the American Institute of Medical Sales Academy?
Are you on LinkedIn? If not, you should be. Not only is LinkedIn an invaluable component of your professional network, it’s an amazing resource for information about medical and health care sales.
For example, in the Sales Café group, this is a discussion:
What’s your opinion of the American Institute of Medical Sales Academy?
The discussion started with a question from a recent college graduate interested in medical sales and was wondering if medical sales training programs were a worthwhile opportunity for someone with the degree, but no experience.
He got several responses from health care industry executives, sales reps, and others, including me (the medical sales recruiter), and generated a few more questions from more experienced jobseekers who do have the sales experience, just not the medical sales experience. (Just looking at the caliber of the people in the discussion will show you how valuable it is to participate in LinkedIn groups.)
The trend of the discussion seems to be that medical sales training programs are a big investment with questionable value, and that employers focus more on hiring sales reps with a good attitude, communication skills, and interpersonal skills, along with the technical knowledge. Although it’s acknowledged that medical sales can be a hard field to break into, and candidates are looking for an edge.
My input was that since I’ve never participated in a training program, I don’t know how valuable they are. As a career coach, I see value in training and job preparation, although I don’t know if that’s what would give you the edge in a job offer. As a medical sales recruiter, I’ve never had a client company ask for a candidate with those certifications, and I’ve never had a candidate win the job based on having gone through a course…so I don’t think candidates should expect a hot pursuit if they do.
The advice I always give to people trying to break into medical sales is to (1) do job shadowing, which provides you with experience, resume keywords, and sets you apart; (2) get a career coach who can show you how to present yourself as a top candidate and give the best interview of your life; (3) and research–read everything you can on getting into medical sales (this blog has hundreds of articles for you), and watch YouTube videos on job hunting and medical sales (I have a Medical Sales Recruiter channel, and there are many other great ones with specific information).
Let’s continue the discussion here: Have you participated in a medical sales training program? Did you find that it was helpful to your medical sales job search?
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.
LinkedIn Group for Medical Sales Reps
What LinkedIn Sales Group should you join?
Ours!!!
Sales Café: Sales Rep Careers
This group is all about the sales representative. We will provide cutting edge tips, tools and information about the sales rep and how they can take their career to the next level. Our topics will include training, tools, jobs, interviews, career management, and more.
Here’s the link:
http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/2416658/
I look forward to connecting with you there!
LinkedIn Profile Tip for Medical Sales Reps
I’ve talked a lot lately about LinkedIn profiles…it’s so important that you be on LinkedIn, have an attractive, professional profile, and present yourself well. Your LinkedIn profile is going to be the first impression of you for countless people (maybe your next job lead!) in your industry. If you’ve taken the time to create a profile, join the right groups, and make the right connections to boost your career in medical sales, don’t drop the ball on your LinkedIn photo. In this video, I’ll tell you what you need to keep in mind for a great LinkedIn profile photo:
Did you know that 80% of employers and recruiters use LinkedIn to scout for new hires? Find out how to create a LinkedIn profile that will get you noticed with the LinkedIn Profile Tutorial. A great profile with a great picture will set you up for success!
Is Your Medical Sales Career Worth an Hour of Your Time?
Obviously, the answer to this simple question is a resounding “Yes!” After all, careers represent achievement and financial security. Giving up an hour of your time is an insignificant sacrifice considering the benefits that it can provide. The next question: How should you utilize that hour in order to maximize your results?
For this question, the best move you can make is to create a LinkedIn profile to increase your access to business opportunities in medical sales, laboratory sales, biotechnology sales, medical device sales, imaging sales, pathology sales, pharmaceutical sales, or healthcare sales. LinkedIn allows others to view your professional information online. For users, this means that you can control which details you want to show and make it easier to get in touch with others. The whole process takes no more than an hour, which makes creating a LinkedIn profile extremely convenient and efficient.
The first thing you should do is to create an account. Just like other networking sites, this involves entering certain professional and personal information and clicking a button to join. This will register you into LinkedIn and allow you to create and modify your page. Click here for LinkedIn Tips for medical sales.
The part that takes up the most time in joining LinkedIn is actually placing the details that you want to appear on the profile page. Input the important details and stick to an outline or bullet-type format. A good rule of thumb is that if it takes too long to write, then it will take too long to read. The idea is to provide your professional contacts a concise and accurate snapshot of what you have to offer.
LinkedIn has a feature that allows its users to customize the appearance of their URL. You can decide between using a designated URL, or changing it to your preference. If you choose a customized option, make sure to stick to a professional sounding name to create a good first impression.
Do you want to really make the most of your hour? Don’t waste time trying to reinvent the wheel. Get an expert’s advice and start out with the kind of profile that will get you noticed. Click here for the LinkedIn Profile Tutorial for Jobseekers.
If you’re using your LinkedIn profile as part of your job search, learn how to use it to maximum advantage. Click here for our LinkedIn Ninja tricks on bypassing HR and getting the job.
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