Land a Job in Pharmaceutical Sales:

Pharmaceutical companies only advertise the positions they can’t fill through word of mouth, and the positions they do advertise get huge responses—a minimum of 150 applicants. If you feel like you’re treading water in a shark tank, you’re probably not alone. But you can easily bypass the stress of applying and vying for a job against hundreds of people by networking with people who are already established in the pharmaceutical sales field. That way, when a job opens up, they’ll be calling you about the opening. Don’t know anyone who is a pharmaceutical sales rep? Ask around—chances are a neighbor or a friend of a friend is a rep for a pharmaceutical company. Also, get on meetup.com and search for “Sales rep”. There you’ll find networking groups for sales professionals that you can join, where you’ll be guaranteed to meet someone in the pharmaceutical field. If there isn’t one listed in your area, you can start one! Sales people love to network, so don’t be surprised if you get inundated with new contacts! Of course, just because your networking contact gets you an interview doesn’t guarantee you’ll get the job when you meet the boss. The competitive nature of the industry means there’s going to be a lot of rejection. Landing the job is going to take perseverance and pluck. Also, pharmaceutical companies, though they might not necessarily require that you have a degree in biology or medicine, want people who have an aptitude for science. So if this is really the job you want, spend some time reading medical journals and brushing up on your knowledge of science and the latest medical and pharmaceutical research. If you follow this advice, you’ll definitely have a leg up on the competition.