As a Human Resources or Talent Acquisition partner in your organization, you are more than likely faced with a barrage of calls, e-mails, brochures, etc. from agencies vying for your business.

The rhetoric is the same in the medical sales arena, “We have had great success in finding…blah…blah…blah, and that’s where the ole *7 (delete) command happens in the voice mail system.

Why? It’s because you’re hearing from another vendor with an unsubstantiated claim trying to obtain your business. This type of “cold call” has long been the norm for those of us in the medical sales recruiting industry. Unfortunately, in the previous example, there was no value or need, which initiated any action on behalf of your organization, the potential client company.

I’m not saying that the above solicitation is bad; we’re all just trying to make a living in today’s tough medical sales economy. What I would venture to say is that the impactful nature of those calls is just not there. It appears the recruiter has made no review of your company’s website and no possesses no “baseline” knowledge of your organization or its products or services

My point is this…to be great at recruiting in the medical or pharmaceutical sales market; a medical sales recruiter must have a solid medical and sales background. An understanding of the marketplace and knowledge of current changes in reimbursement or other relevant trends is critical. I guess at this point your question might be, “How can I expect you to help me if you don’t understand my needs in medical sales?”

Here are a few questions to consider in finding a “Great” medical or pharmaceutical sales recruiter:

1. Does the recruiting agency specialize in the niche field of finding medical salespeople? Will they take the time to research and truly understand my needs?
2. Will the submitted candidates be of high quality and specific to my needs in medical sales? How do they determine a high quality candidate?
3. Does the agency have a specific and established recruiting process defined? What is it?
4. Does the recruiter have references? How long have they been in business?
5. How long does it take for the recruiter to find individuals to present (sourcing speed)?
6. How is the agency unique relative to finding talent versus simply using the job boards?
7. What is the “longevity” of placements made through the firm?

Hopefully, these questions will help you find that “Great” partner in efforts in the recruitment of top talent. You may agree that finding the very best salespeople can be a challenge in today’s medical sales world.

Randy Wilkerson, MBA has worked for three fortune 500 medical sales companies and is currently a medical sales consultant and Business Development Manager at Global Edge Recruiting Associates, LLC .

Virtually all sales managers want to hire very assertive, high-energy performers when they look at new additions to their teams. And why not, typically these folks are the ones that can make the biggest impact on the bottom line. Which of course, is to produce great numbers that can propel their team’s rankings and potentially enhance the manager’s career. However as we look toward locating talented sales representatives, we also need to consider the “amiable” side of a candidate’s personality. These are the tendencies that will help the individual thrive in a team or “POD” environment and build the talents of others alongside their own. Additionally, these amiable drivers many times aspire and are successful in management roles. These individuals are hard workers, major influencers and are experts in promoting the agenda at hand. Yes, maybe the predominant personality of your next hire should be a driver, but let us not overlook what makes a representative enduring both in personality and tenure. Strong relationship skills and the sincere desire and ability to win create a winning team for all! True drivers with amiable tendencies are not easy to find. You’ll need to have examples during the interview process such as you do with the performance section of your interview. Yes, your battery probably has these questions, but many times they are overshadowed by the desire to look at “performance only”. Astute managers are looking at their recruits in totality. Assessing the “whole package” prior to hiring can save you much grief in dealing interpersonal issues along with helping you continue to build your dynamic team!