1. Work with the right recruiting firm. It is important to find a firm that meets your needs. Interview the recruiting firm and get references from some of their past clients. It is also important to select a firm that specializes within your industry, such as medical sales recruiters.
2. Develop a partnership with a recruiting firm that specializes in your industry.
3. If you are not committed to hiring, don’t involve a search firm. Contingency recruiters work on a “commission-only” basis. Job orders are taken very seriously. Many hours go into the search and recruitment process to locate qualified candidates.
4. Provide a job description and accurate job order information to your recruiter.
5. Provide your recruiter with the hiring manager’s name and contact information. It is extremely difficult for a recruiter to recruit staff for a manager they have never spoken to.
6. Keep track of the candidates presented to you by a recruiter. Many companies utilize multiple recruiting firms on the same position. Recruiters earn their commission when a candidate they source is hired. Nothing upsets the process more than two recruiters presenting the same candidate for the same position. Candidates often think this helps their case but companies may become upset when the process becomes confusing.
7. Provide feedback to your recruiter when you receive a resume or interview a candidate. Your company and the recruiting firm are best represented when prompt feedback is provided to interested candidates.

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 .