Land a Job in Pharmaceutical Sales:

The pharmaceutical market is expected to grow close to $900 billion dollars over the next five years. What does that mean? That means a career as a salesperson in the pharmaceutical industry is hotter than ever. Pharmaceutical sales careers are lucrative; the national mean salary for pharmaceutical sales reps is $56,000 not including bonuses. Reps are often given expense accounts, company cars, and have flexible schedules. Plus, with the market’s growth trend, the job promises security and prosperity. But sales jobs in the pharmaceutical industry can be hard to get. But we’ve got your cheat sheet right here. Read on:

There is some great advice in here about how to land a great sales job! We found this on a site called Black Collegian.com, a career site for students of color, however, we feel it’s good advice for anyone looking for a career in sales!

Retail Sales

Some people say that the art of selling is dead and that what this noble profession has evolved into is a bunch of "order-takers"!! I don't believe that. For students who truly want to pursue a career in selling, I applaud you and remind you that most of the benefits we enjoy today in our society of luxury, leisure, technology, and privilege have been brought about by the unique combination of "dreamers and communicators."

The "dreamers" are those people who have ideas… ideas that either revolutionize our standard of living or improve upon an existing product or service. "Communicators" are those people who take these ideas and present them to the marketplace… these are the SELLERS!

If you are considering entering the professional art of selling as a career, do so with the full knowledge that you are joining a fraternity of "achievers," and that your life will be dedicated to serving others by fulfilling their dreams with products, services, and customer satisfaction.

As students, you have taken courses in college for four or more years that have given you the skills and training for your particular degree, but while this knowledge and your specific degrees are vital to moving out into the business world, it is important for you to develop some other skills, your "social" skills, as you begin to look for careers in retail selling.

Social skills give you the ability to communicate your wants, needs, and desires. These are three key words: wants, needs, and desires. If you can communicate these three important principles in your job-search journeys, you will be halfway home to achieving the opportunities to establish yourself as PRIME CANDITATES for the careers of your choice, whether retail Sales or not.

What does it mean to be a PRIME CANDIDATE? For every job you apply for, there will be ten, twenty, perhaps a hundred other applicants applying for the same job! Yes… a HUNDRED other young, aggressive, confident, fortune-seeking young men and women who will try and take away the job YOU WANT!!

The question is… what makes you different? Why should an employer hire you over all the others? What can you do for the company that the others cannot? Why should the company invest their time, money, and training in you? These are the questions any prospective employer will have in their mind as you sit in front of them in your interview. So, if you think you can walk in "cold" and ace an interview without thorough preparation, excellent research, and total preparation, you are wrong!

RESEARCH…PREPARE…PRACTICE! (Say it over and over again to yourself, and then do it!)
RESEARCH… Don't just go to the "home page" of the company you are about to interview with and think you know all about them. Dig deep into the website. Who are the leaders? What is their vision for the company? Are they on the cutting edge? Are they financially solvent? Can you grow beyond your starting job?

PREPARE… Prepare questions you can ask in your interview. Have your notes about the company organized so you can talk about the strengths of their products/services. What growth opportunities the company is facing. How your talents and skills can contribute to this growth.

PRACTICE… Practice how to walk, talk and listen! Yes… you have to practice these things!

Most entry-level positions for retail sales require on-the-job training. You are going to have to be prepared to pay your dues, learn from others, and start at the bottom rung of the ladder. If the company has an Executive Training Program, this is an excellent way to "get your feet wet" in an environment that exposes you to a multitude of job functions in a relatively short time, and helps to "fast-track" you to the next level of sales responsibility.

Part of your "social skills" development is learning how to communicate with customers: Can you effectively communicate with customers to learn their wants, needs, and desires? Can you communicate your sincerity to gain the trust of your customers that you can provide the products and services to fulfill their want, needs, and desires? Can you create a bond with your customers that will live beyond the sale, and can you convince them that you will be there if and when they need you in the future?

Anyone can sell someone something ONCE! Gaining the respect, trust, and confidence of a customer for life takes a certain type of person. It takes a PROFESSIONAL!

The selling profession is wide open for those who have a passion to sell and want to serve others. But, you must WANT it! You have to eat it, sleep it, dream it, and, most of all, believe in yourself. You must commit to the principles of decency and honesty in everything you do. You must be prepared to accept rejection, disappointment, and losing to others who might have a better price, a better product, a deal the customer "can't" refuse, or who simply outsell you. But most of all, you have to have the faith in yourself, a "can-do" attitude, and the desire and will to succeed.

And this is what you must try and convey in your resume and in your personal interview. Your resume must reflect your work ethic and willingness to learn. Be proud of those part-time summer jobs you held as a waitress, working as a sales associate in the local retail store, or mowing lawns. The important thing to list is "what" you learned by doing these things, such as time management, customer relations and satisfaction, meeting a deadline, and fulfilling an obligation.