Sally Tinker* can relate to the many job seekers who contact her with a burning desire to work in pharmaceutical sales.  After all, it wasn't too long ago that she was in their shoes.

Tinker, who went to work at one of the top three pharmaceutical companies after graduating from the University of Washington in August, 2000, launched an aggressive hunt for a pharmaceutical sales job at the beginning of her senior year.  During her employment campaign, she interviewed with nine companies and received three job offers.

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"I got into the industry during a really good year, because the job market was tight," Tinker says.  Many pharmaceutical companies don't actively seek out new graduates, so breaking into the industry straight out of college requires tenacity, assertiveness, and a little luck, according to Miss Tinker.

Tinker lined up her interviews through networking and attending career fairs, she says.  Friends and acquaintances gave her the names of people in the field, and she gathered sales reps' cards from her local pharmacy.  Tinker also attended both college-sponsored career fairs and "sales talent" career fairs in the area, she says. 

New grads have to be bold in cold-calling strangers to express their interest in the industry, and in introducing themselves to potential employers at career fairs, she says.  "If you just post your resume on a website, it probably won't get looked at," Tinker says.

While many new grads who get hired by pharmaceutical sales companies have science backgrounds, Tinker had a double major in political science and communications.  However, she had a public relations internship under her belt, and she had taken her junior year off to work for a stockbroker. 

Although she had to double her course load senior year to graduate on schedule, both work experiences beefed up her resume.  "Internships always help, because pharmaceutical companies want to know that you can succeed in a corporate setting," she says.  Tinker, who also sold memberships for a health club for a short time, says any experience in "hard selling" - from telemarketing to selling newspapers on campus - will set a college student apart. 

The interviewing process is rigorous for pharmaceutical sales candidates, says Tinker, who interviewed at her current company six times before getting hired.  Students should do their homework and be able to clearly articulate their reasons for wanting to work at a particular company, Tinkert says.

Tinker always investigated what her potential employer had in the development "pipeline," because she knew that's what she'd be selling at that company in the future, she says.  In addition, she "closed the deal" at the conclusion of each meeting by explicitly asking for a chance to come back for the next round of interviewing.  "I got three offers, and in all of them I said 'Will you hire me for this job?'  If you don't ask for the job in pharmaceutical sales, nine times out of ten they won't give it to you," Tinker says.

Basic etiquette issues - like tailoring cover letters to specific employers and writing prompt thank-you notes - are essential when looking for a job in the pharmaceutical industry, Tinker says.  And if you get passed over for a position, don't be afraid to call an interviewer back and ask what you need to do to get hired there, Tinker says, because he or she may offer valuable advice about steps you can take to make yourself more marketable. 

Sometimes a good candidate isn't hired simply because the timing is wrong, Tinker adds.  One of her colleagues was hired two years after he initially interviewed for a position, she notes. 

He had kept himself on the company's radar screen by checking in several times over the years, and when a spot finally became available he was hired, she says.  "The key is to be really persistent, and to show the same values that they'd want you to have as an employee," Tinker says.  There is no prototype for a successful pharmaceutical sales representative, she says, but boldness, flexibility, and good time management skills are characteristics shared by many in the field. 

Tinker says she has learned a lot - and kept exceedingly busy - during her first year in the industry.  She works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and often puts in several more hours in the evening at home.  "There's so much information to grasp," she says, including learning about the drugs she represents and the sales process.  "To be successful in this job, you have to want to keep learning."     

*not her real name


See Also> Case History #1- Network, Network, Network.
See Also> Case History #2 - Newspaper Ads and Brain Picking



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