Your initial contact with the recruiter can be by phone or email, and shortlisted applicants will then be invited for an initial interview. You should carefully prepare for the initial interview because it may spell winning the job or lose it.

Before going to your interview appointment, you should first research the company you’re applying for. Yo need to learn about its history and business. The internet provides tons of information to help get you started. How you present yourself to the interviewer is part of your overall package. Remember, you’re selling yourself here, and you want the other side to buy, thus you should work to present an attractive side of you. Wear something respectable. Go buy some new pants, long-sleeved shirts, and a necktie. Keep in mind that the interviewer wanted to know if you are fit for the job, hence, you should appear that you own the job.

In the interview proper, you should anticipate some of the questions the interviewer may throw at you. The interviewer may start with general questions then proceed to specific ones. Your preparation and research from the day before should help you with this. The trend nowadays is to ask applicants questions that will show their competencies. If you are asked with questions that sound like they want to uncover how you react or what you did in certain situations, you may want to follow the S.T.A.R.s pattern.

S.T.A.R.s or Situation, Task, Action, and Results aims to let you explain in detail your accomplishments, whether from schools or from previous companies, from each key competencies. As part of the interview process, interviewers wanted to have a deeper understanding of your competencies by asking you to provide a couple of past scenarios where you perform a function that suits some key competencies. You can start by describing to them the scenario back then (situation) and relay to them a set of strategies you have planned to pursue (task). Then, explain to them the detailed steps of how you accomplished the task (action), and provide the interviewer with the outcome (result).

Sometimes, interviewers throw some difficult and stressful questions. They may also throw some morally challenging questions to test your resolve, such as: “What if a doctor asks you for a date in return to helping you achieve your quota, will you accept it?” I myself had asked this many times to numerous applicants. Most applicants, eager to get the job, answered yes thinking that I will appreciate their show of eagerness. They are dead wrong!

The interview is only the first step. Other processes may follow, depending on a company’s program. If you have passed the initial interviews, they may subject you to an individual or group dynamics. With this, potential employers would want to know how you react in a simulated real-world scenario. They may also want to know how your mind works. They may ask you to sell a random and obscure item and test how creative you are. They may also subject you and the other applicants in a group activity to know who has what it takes to be a leader or to know if you assert yourself to others or not.

An applicant’s first tool to get the potential employer’s attention is the resume. Any job hunter knows a good resume is a key to an interview invitation. Aside from the chronological listings of experiences and achievements, resumes should contain a unique selling proposition to entice headhunters to contact you.

There are various types of resumes that you may use. There are simple and complex ones. The best resume should get the message across at a glance. The ideal thing to do is organize each item under specific categories, such as employment history, education, training, skills or other activities.

There are three types of resume: chronological, functional and combination. The chronological format is ideal for those who have experience working with other companies because it is organized by employment history. The functional format lists skills into categories and accomplishments over dates. The combination format merges the chronological and functional styles through the presentation of skills and abilities gained from work.

Your address and phone number are the most likely means of contacting you. Nowadays, email addresses and mobile phone numbers provide a much faster way of facilitating communication.
Placing an objective is optional. Some argue that objectives only provide obvious information. But those who favor the use of objectives reason that it helps the recruiters quickly identify if the applicant is fit for the company. Objectives may make a good initial impression, but being able to fit-in depends upon you, the applicant, once you’re in.

You should exercise good judgment on whatever information you place on your resume. You will want to put all relevant information to enable recruiters to judge your potential for the position you seek. Your job experience should completely reflect the jobs you had. Information such as the company name, company address, positions held, inclusive dates, responsibilities, and accomplishments should be included.

Any other information such as training, skills and organizational memberships should only be included if they relevant to the job applied. If not, you might as well omit them.

When you include anyone’s name as your reference, you should ask their permission first. We all know that you only want to put names as reference those who think highly of you. To avoid embarrassments, you should inform them so that they can prepare for it.

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A high-performance sales force is a strategic asset in a competitive market such as the Philippine pharmaceutical industry. The right people, promoting the right product, and armed with the right message, is a crucial component of the marketing mix. They identify the customer’s needs and act on it. They also provide information about the competition in order for the management to plan ahead.

Medical Representatives play an important role in the successful execution of marketing programs and strategies, new product launches. Rigorous training programs in various competencies are used by companies to enhance their people’s competitive level, and these same competencies are the basis for performance appraisals.

Different companies have different approaches, but typically, competency parameters in the pharmaceutical industry can be made up of five key attributes, each divided into several job competencies. Key attributes may include working effectively, the pursuit of customer satisfaction, establishing partnerships, building talent and taking ownership.

While competencies vary from jobs, levels or industries, they can be broken into two: professional competencies and behavioral competencies. Individual competencies include skills and behaviors that are expected of all sales representatives. It may include decision making, communication skills, customer focus, sales ability, teamwork, people development, and leadership.

Behavioral competencies, on the other hand, are the specifics behind the individual competencies. Examples may include: building relationships with key opinion leaders (KOLs) to help facilitate productive interactions; Understanding the sales and buying process as well as the product; territory management; planning and forecasting; teamwork and collaboration; influencing others as well as exhibiting leadership; and implementing solutions to overcome obstacles and accomplishing key objectives that have been set.

Pharmaceutical companies in the Philippines come in all shapes and sizes. And they have different approaches in how they operate their respective businesses. There are four types of business concepts that you may encounter: the Production Concept, the Sales Concept, the Trading Concept, the Accounting Concept and the Marketing Concept.

In companies who unknowingly adopt the Production Concept, they tend to focus more on their ability to produce many products without really understanding what the customer really wants. In the pharmaceutical industry, they may bombard the marketing and sales team with lots of products without understanding their limitation in delivering the products to the market.

In a company where the salespeople have more influence, the profitability suffers. Why? It’s because for salespeople, the higher the marketing support, the higher will be the sales. Or that’s what they claim they will produce if the management gives them more money to buy the demand. If a Sales guy runs the company, he may want more products to offer the market in order to drive sales. The success is short term because there is no brand focus. In the end, he may run out of new products to offer.

Companies who started the business with sub-distributors (Trading Concept) have a tendency to minimize expenses in order to maximize profitability. They don’t care about marketing or product development. They are happy and contented with buying a little, selling a little and making a little.

In an accounting-controlled company, the finance guys are in charge. The accountants are in control of the marketing and selling process, even though many of them have no actual field experience. They are more interested in numbers and not the product. If the activity does not immediately help the bottom line then it is not worth doing.

Many experts say that the previous four business orientation is inferior to the Marketing Concept. Identifying customer needs and satisfying those needs through product development is the focus of a marketing-oriented company. The buying process is thoroughly analyzed to identify the best course of action in delivering the product to customers more efficiently and effectively.

Multinational companies, having long years in the business, understand this, and so are few emerging Filipino companies. They have been able to balance all aspects to be able to support their marketing efforts and they have transcended from being a mediocre company into a great one. The problem with some start-ups is that too many opposing forces wanted to be in control.

So, the take away here is for you to find a company that has been in the industry long enough that it has found balance in its operation. Chances are, management is stable, they already have a great relationship with customers, and the brands are trusted. If you finally found one and you got accepted, it will be much easier to promote your products to doctors compared to companies who are just starting out.