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Don't worry about keeping your resume limited to one page. It is more important you emphasize the success you have had as a sales rep. The longer the itemized list, the better! You should make an effort to list achievements accounting for every year you are at your position...that is one of the main things hiring managers look for.
Make sure you include certain keywords in your resume as well. This will increase your chances of securing an interview with a prospective company. Nowadays, most companies and recruiters use automated software to find your resume within their database. So include your call points (ie: hospitals, cardiovascular surgeons, primary care physicians, specific therapeutic areas) as well as what you're selling (ie: DME / durable medical capital equipment, surgical medical devices, brand names of pharmaceuticals) to ensure having your resume returned in their search results.
Your resume will determine and increase the odds of you securing an interview. So put forth the effort, make your resume shine and the results will pay off!
Here is a resume sample:
A brag book is a portfolio of your sales success. It is a useful tool in marketing yourself to potential employers and is often REQUIRED to interview with some companies. It also instills confidence in the hiring authority that they are making a good hire in seeing proof that you have been successful in the past and should be successful with them as well. More than likely the other candidates you're competing against will have a brag book, and you don't want to lose out just because you don't have one.
HOW TO CREATE A BRAG BOOK
The book should be professional looking, with neat tabs. Buy a 3-ring binder and some clear sheet protectors which you can use to insert and preserve your documentation.
The information in this binder should consist of awards, achievements, quota numbers, rankings, certificates, performance reviews, emails from colleagues and clients commending you on your work. We recommend that if possible, you should also include letters of recommendation, W2's, copies of college diploma(s)/college transcripts and any other documentation that shows accomplishment, achievement or accolade. If it is a trophy or a plaque, sometimes they can be put on a copier and copied. If not, then take a digital photo and use that. Screen shots of documentation on your computer will work too if there is not an option to print. Screen shots will save it as usually a jpg file (digital photo) and then you can print that.
How you sort this information is entirely up to you. When discussing your accomplishments, you should be able to show and access this information quickly, so we suggest the following ways:
- #1 Sort by categories, for example Awards, Quotas, Rankings, Performance/Manager Reviews, Letter of Recommendation/Reference, College, W2's.
- #2 Sort chronologically by job.
We recommend having your resume as the first section of your brag book. We also recommend putting together a "mini" version of your brag book to leave behind after the interview. A nice-looking folder that will hold this information or a professionally bound version will suffice. Often decisions on who to move forward in the interviewing process is made after all the candidates have been met. If the hiring authority has your resume and copies of your sales success (mini-brag book) it is much more impressive and it may separate yourself from the other applicants.
Always continue updating your brag book, and ALWAYS take your brag book to the interview! Making a digital version of your brag book is also helpful.
*NOTE: remove any sensitive information from your brag book such as your social security number
PHONE INTERVIEWS:
Expect and prepare for the following for your phone interview:
- Have a copy of your resume in front of you for the phone interview. Make sure you have rehearsed running through your resume.
- Continue researching the company, products, and their competition!
- Be personable, smile (they will not see it, but they can HEAR it), be enthusiastic!
- Be prepared to highlight ANY RELEVANT experience.
- Be prepared to discuss your successes (your present ranking, your accomplishments, etc.)
- Be prepared to discuss your job changes. Keep things POSITIVE when discussing the changes and make sure your explanations make sense and don't pose a concern.
- At the end of the interview, ask if there is anything to prevent you from moving forward (this is your opportunity to overcome any objections they may have).
- Close and verbalize your interest level in moving the interviewing process forward.
- Ask what the next step is.
- Thank them for their time.
FACE-TO-FACE INTERVIEWS:
Here is some information to help you prepare for your face-to-face interview.
- Take enough copies of your resume for everyone that will be at the interviewing, including yourself.
- Make sure you have rehearsed running through your resume and are able to offer good explanations on your transition from one position to the next position.
- Take your brag book (I would suggest making a mini version of your brag book to give to the manager to review and keep).
- Be personable, energetic, enthusiastic, and positive! People skills directly relate to relationship selling skills.
- Every hiring manager loves "fire in the belly"... show passion, passion, passion!
- Probe and ask good questions about the products and company
- Highlight all of your RELEVANT experience for this position.
- Be prepared to talk about any relevant relationships and product experience you may have that is relative to this position.
- Be prepared to discuss your background, why you want to work for this company and what you have to offer. WHY YOU and WHY THEM?
- Be prepared to discuss your successes (your present ranking, your accomplishments, etc.)
- Verbalize your interest level, close them, and ask for the next step in the process.
- Get the interviewer’s business card so you can promptly send a thank you/follow up email.
If you have a desire to enter the medical or pharmaceutical industry as a sales rep, here are a few suggestions:
- #1. It is much easier to obtain a medical or pharmaceutical sales position if you have actual outside sales experience. The best places to get that type of experience pharmaceutical companies look for is by selling office equipment (i.e.: IKON, Lanier, Pitney Bowes), or any type of product or service sales to BUSINESSES (i.e.: Paychex, ADP). Keep track of your sales success there (i.e.: rankings, quotas, or any type of achievement, accolade, or accomplishment)
- #2. While gaining sales experience, make sure you keep documentation of all achievements, awards, and accomplishments. Create a "brag book" for yourself. You can do this by buying a binder and then use that binder to keep and sort all your documents. Keep EVERYTHING including emails commending you on a job well done, reference letters, management reviews, pictures of plaques/trophies/awards, rankings, quotas, achievements, accolades, accomplishments or anything that shows proof of a job well done.