Some positions do require a medical or science background, for example, sales to specific specialties, such as oncology or infectious disease, but it is not necessary for many positions.

Relevant skills, which demands that a candidate provide a resume that clearly demonstrates applicable skill sets. People are often frustrated by the failure of placement companies and headhunters to respond, but it is often due to receiving resumes that are insufficient relevant to either format or content.

What skills are these companies looking for?

Applicable skills, so it is incumbent on the candidate to provide relatable skill sets and also character traits that indicate superior future performance. An emphasis on business skills is very important. The current medical industry is more focused on business than medicine.

Who is hiring?

Numerous companies are hiring for a variety of reasons. The current areas of growth are centered on small to medium pharmaceutical companies that have developed treatments for specific disease states.

Also, Medtronic, Olympus, Ethicon, DuPuys, Steris, Synthes, Integra Life Sciences, Applied Medical, Applied Cardiac, Boston Scientific, Cook Medical, Guidant (now a subsidiary of Boston Scientific), Smith & Nephew and Stryker are either hiring or have new product approvals on the horizon.

The growth in both pharmaceutical and medical equipment is based on new product approvals and increased reimbursement from Medicare and/or private health insurance carriers for certain medical procedures. A number of the new pharmaceutical formulations and medical devices are aimed at the emerging "baby boomer" market.

• Pharmaceutical representatives call on a combination of family physicians and specialists to promote very well-known medications.
• A specialty pharmaceutical representative calls primarily on specialists to promote a drug
• A disposable goods representative calls on hospitals and promotes items such as, gowns, gloves, sterilization formulations and chemicals. Any goods that are “disposable”.
• A surgical representative promotes all devices and equipment used in an operating room.
• A capital goods representative promotes major equipment such as MRI’s, bone scan machines and diagnostic equipment.
  This can be the best long-term position in the industry. Many representatives average $175,000 to $300,000 annually, depending on service time..
• A biotechnology representative generally markets a new product directly to a drug manufacturer. Due to recent developments in DNA mapping this could potentially be the fastest growing sector of the entire industry.

Click the following link to access over 500 pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies. Pharcorlinks.

Do I need to possess prior experience?

In many cases it is required, but these companies also hire people without prior experience from many backgrounds. Why? While many people with experience will perform very well with a new company due to possessing extensive knowledge within specific medical disciplines, it is not necessary for success in various segments of the industry.

They also hire people from other industries as they have recently discovered that at the end of the year, when they distribute sales awards, a number of new hires from other industries (or recent graduates) are often the recipients. They bring a work ethic from other businesses and have a great desire to "make a mark", whch can result in great prodution.

Pharmaceutical can sometimes be a faster hire due to the industry being more consolidated. Medical equipment is more lucrative, but there are more than 600 companies, which can require negotiations with a much larger number of hiring departments. While there are fewer pharmaceutical companies they have larger sales teams. Conversely, there are a larger number of medical equipment companies with smaller sales forces per company.

Recent Medicare expenditures will result in a shift in spending to specific elements within the medical industry. While this has reduced the sales forces of some well-known entities, it has also demanded growth at a large number of innovative companies.

A recent number of approvals have also led to companies having to devolop an entire sales force to promote new product lines. New government mandated Medicare programs will ultimately distribute over 500 billion dollars to this industry over the next five years. This fact, in addition to the obvious aging of America, translates into increased marketing budgets and expanded sales forces at many companies.