Many candidates make the mistake of thinking the interview alone is the most important part of finding a job in pharmaceutical
sales. It is not. Preparing for the interview is the most critical part of your search. In my book, How to Break Into Pharmaceutical Sales: A Headhunter’s Strategy, I’ll show you how to network and get the interviews themselves — but you need to do some preparatory research before you approach anyone. People either succeed or fail based on the amount of research and preparation they’ve done prior to the interview. Inadequate preparation and research can immediately handicap your chances before you even think of walking into an interview. The deciding factors — especially in this market when the competition is so stiff — will be these:
• Who has done the most thorough research?
• Which candidate does the best job of marshaling that research effectively during the interview and hiring process?
In our survey of district managers, most emphasized the crucial role of research. One of them put it this way: “I have interviewed people who
did not know anything beyond the name of the company and products they were potentially going to sell. If I see that they have not researched
the company’s products (and don’t have) at least a top-line understanding of the disease states, they are out of the running for me. Experienced in the
industry or not — they are out.”
A district manager and friend from a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company always asks candidates he interviews to tell him in great detail
exactly how they prepared for the interview. He strongly recommends that you role-play your answers to questions such as these. Before he broke into
the industry himself, he sat with his wife on the family couch for hours while she played interviewer, quizzing him so that he could role-play all his
responses. Another experienced executive I know in the industry recorded his voice and then played it back — something he learned in a speech class.
He was surprised to discover how quickly he spoke. Listen to your voice and work on your pacing. Notice how well you articulate your thoughts.
Is your inflection pitch-perfect — or a little off? Do you insert too many or too few — pauses?
Check back for my next entry, where I will give you a fail-proof course of action worth taking to ensure you are primed and ready to walk into each and every interview.
