Thanks for chiming in Godfather I really appreciate it. I have been considering getting an internship with a company upon graduating.
What would you consider as adequate sales experience?
I'm doing personal training at a franchise style gym making commission based off the packages I sell; would this be good experience or do I need to search out a different kind of experience?
As far as the industry being flooded with reps is that as in a whole or only in your area?
Also is it only flooded in pharma or is this also occurring in the medical devices field?
Sorry for all of the questions, just really trying to get some insight on everything and see what my options are.
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When pharma and medical companies list "sales experience" they speaking B2B sales experience. They do not consider gym sales, car sales, retail sales as "sales experience". Generally, most prefer several years of B2B sales experience to get into pharma or entry level medical sales job. Having said that, its a number game. Do not expect to send out 5 or 10 resumes and get a response. If you can relocate that will also help you out (im not sure where you live but if you live in a smaller city / state, its going to be hard to locate a job as people hold onto them).
The market in general is flooded, and is not location specific. Pharma is know to lay off a decent portion of their sales force every 5 years or so and acquire new employees for lower pay. Pharma is a great place to start. You can easily make $100k working under 35 hours a week. However, you are scripted in what you say and the vast majority of physicians hate you.
Medical sales is where its at. It's definitely harder unless you are with the top players in the market but the chances of getting a sales role with them right out of college is exactly 0%. If you try and go through medical sales recruiters they will probably say come back after you have 2-3 years of b2b sales.
Having said that, people do get lucky (such as myself). Your resume needs to look damn impressive in how you structure it along with a cover letter. Your best chances are to get hired with a start up that doesn't pay much but after a year you can jump ship and move on. Some companies offer internship programs but usually want you in school while doing them.
While I do not have a business degree (will be getting my MBA however), most prefer a business or Science degree.
B2B sales is not a bad start and I would not rule it out if pharma / medical is where you want to be. A lot of B2B sales jobs will offer an ok salary, company car, gas, cell phone, computer, benefits, bonus, etc. It's a good place to learn how to grow your own territory as most pharma and medical jobs are going to expect you to know how to run it already.
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