How to Become a Pharmaceutical Sales Rep

If you want to become a pharmaceutical sales rep, you will need to comply with the educational requirements. Obtaining a high school diploma is enough but if you want to be one of the most competitive sales reps, try to finish your college education.

You will also need to receive the required training and keep yourself abreast with the current trends in the field.

Educational Requirements

You will need to have a high school diploma if you want to become a pharmaceutical sales rep. However, most of today’s employers want to hire individuals who earned bachelor’s degrees. College graduates are therefore at a great advantage. If you think you can’t finish your college education, try to finish at least two years because the company or the potential employer can provide the needed training. The selection of trainees is usually based on the person’s social and verbal skills. The training will involve intensive studies and organized field work.

To become an asset of a certain pharmaceutical company, you will need to determine the latest medical info. You also need to know a great deal about the products being sold in the market. Product info is usually obtained from regular meetings and you’re required to attend them. If there are any advances in the field of medicine, you also need to be aware of it. Companies tend to provide correspondence courses. Certifications are also obtained from the Certified Medical Representatives.

The hours of work of pharmaceutical sales reps vary – it can be at lunch, in the evening, early morning, or based on a doctor’s schedule. Most sales reps travel to see doctors and with the increasing competitiveness in the industry, you must learn to cope with the stressful situations you may encounter. The earnings of sales reps can also vary and this will depend on their commissions from the drugs they have sold to doctors. Roughly, the salary of sales reps can reach as high as $60,130 annually and this will already include the commissions. At times, they can be given travel expenses and free cars.

Advancement in the Field

If you want to land on a job, you can start by inquiring at your college office about possible job openings that suit your qualifications. You’re quite lucky if you can find reps visiting your college campus because you can ask them about the employment requirements. You can also send out resumes and application requests to drug companies. You can also request for an interview. The good thing about being a sales rep is that there are advancement possibilities. You can stay in the same field if you like or you can undergo advanced trainings to obtain supervisory positions. Planning posts and administrative positions are also available if you can qualify. More and more sales reps are needed in the industry and so you can expect to be hired after you finish education and the necessary training.

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