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As originally asked by Mark Bauman.
Since I joined this group, I have applied, via the recruiters, for about 5 or 6 positions in the Philadelphia area.
I am a former podiatrist with additional background with my own medical device. I have no sales experience; many of the sales reps that I have dealt with thru the years have limited “wiggle room” outside of knowledge of their devices. Any problems- they have to bail until they can get help.
Some companies hire pre-post sales support for people like me with technical background to support the sales people- either in presentations or in the O.R. After all, if you were having a joint replaced, would you rather have a doctor advising the surgeon or a salesman?
No disrespect to excellent salespeople, but if more companies opened their eyes for this type of candidate, especially when many good docs are leaving practice at an earlier age, perhaps more good people would be able to get decent positions.
Michael Tomasovich, MS RAC
Even though you have the technical background, the lack of direct sales experience will often make you seem to be a “high risk” candidate. There are some great books and people that I would recommend your research, buy and read which can help you prepare for a career change. Some suggestions include Who Moved My Cheese, What Color is Your Parachute, and Ramit Sehti (writer and blogger, more geared to Gen Y and younger, but great advice for job searchers of all ages).
Debra from Medcepts referred me to your discussion. Are you looking for an employment position or contract consulting position? FT/PT? Compensation needs and terms?
I am organizing a national network of consulting clinicians, researchers and ancillary consultants. I realized there was a need for them when I searched for my own business eons ago. Eventually, I met up with Debra. I didn’t realize how many other companies are out there that need specialty consultants from development to market, nor did I realize the compensation in the industry. I am hoping to pull our resources together for a well rounded clinical and research support system. This is a new adventure for me but I am receiving tremendous support from Medcepts’ team members.
I welcome your connection and/or reply privately.
I wasn’t even on Linkedin at that time, let alone the Med Device subgroup. That was quite an interesting discussion.
I am actually in, perhaps, a unique situation: I am trying to find a position now, and at the same time, I am developing an interesting medical device myself.
A few members recommended Indeed.com as a potential source of positions. I went on that site yesterday and found about 10 out of 160 positions (many repeats) to apply to. I hadn’t seen any of these on other sites. But I am not a quitter. An adviser “buried” my device about 9 years ago- I am closer to fruition now than i have ever been.
Thanks again for your guidance. I appreciate all positive comments and suggestions.
There are many companies seeking licensed professionals for sales, consulting and contract opportunities, from the new idea to concept and distribution. (Research, development, sales) If you are searching for sales opportunities, remember the recruiter is seeking to meet the needs of their client – a very specific candidate profile. (Mark, was on target with that.) In short – if sales is your focus, read job descriptions carefully and present your resume very specific to the needs identified in the job listing. Let the first words identify your “fit” for the position, allowing the “DPM” entry as an added value – and not the other way around. (Recognize in many situations, recruiters are paid on results. They absolutely need to fill the clients needs. It takes an extremely talented recruiter to “think outside the box” for placing “outside the profile.”)
In all honesty, I can imagine the frustrations you are having relative to your qualifications for positions you are applying. I suspect, a reasonable analysis – as a podiatrist you would not be applying to a cardiology position. Right? Perhaps, one might ask – as a podiatrist what are your qualifications for sales? (Trust me, from deep within my core, I say this with the utmost respect of your qualifications.) Again, look at your CV, perhaps a focus on your business development talents or other specific information that qualifies you for “closing sales” is warranted – in addition to your education background. If you seek outside the sales role, such as clinical support, research, development – then your edu is certainly a solid entity. I suspect that may be your shoe-in.
We have 20+ independent recruiters on our team, each in their own specialty “niche” area. (From development to sales distribution.) Not only might you look for opportunities in your niche specialty but for recruiters in that same niche.
I hope this helps some.
I think Joerg’s right. Research the companies where you can add value, and approach them directly…as you would any customer in a sales process.
In your case I’d find out the correct job title(s) for the positions, not sure if it’s still application specialist. Then hunt directly, not just via recruiters. But this will only work if there is a serious need for post-sales training like there often is with medical electronics.
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