Medical Sales Resume Example

This complete guide to a medical sales resume will equip you with the tools you need to compete in your applications. You'll learn how to show employers you've got the relevant qualities, skills and experience for the job, all presented in a format that employers prefer to see. The article also includes tips for formatting your resume according to your experience and strengths. Read on to access expert insights from Jobseeker that will help you create a winning medical sales resume.

Key sections for a medical sales resume

It's essential to include a few core sections in your medical sales resume, while there are also a few optional sections you can make use of to strengthen your application. If you're an entry-level candidate without much work experience, that section may be less prominent in your resume. You may focus instead on sections that showcase your skill set, such as education, projects, hobbies and hard and soft skills lists.

How you choose to present your resume is up to you. There are plenty of options for a professional resume layout and format, but every application should include the following:

Resume Header

Your medical sales resume header is the place to add your contact details. Start by adding your full name and underneath, include your email address, phone number and location. Adding your LinkedIn profile, if you have one, can help the employer get a better insight into your skills and industry expertise. You don't need to include any additional personal information or a photo. Be aware of the amount of space your resume header takes up. You don't want your contact details to take space away from the main content of your resume, so keep this section as brief as possible.

Make sure the email address you list in your header is professional-looking and doesn't contain any inappropriate content such as nicknames or unsuitable language. Opt for an email address based on your name or profession, or a combination of both. Finally, check your contact details before sending your resume, to ensure everything's up-to-date.

Resume Profile

Next, write a short paragraph to introduce yourself. You could also call this section 'resume summary' or 'personal profile'. In two or three sentences, explain your professional background, achievements and key skills. If you choose to write a resume summary, this focuses on your career experience to date. On the other hand, a resume objective addresses your future plans and career ambitions. Always make sure your summary reflects the job description and highlights some of the key skills required for medical salesman roles.

Alternatively, write a paragraph that concentrates on your career objectives and how this role fits with your wider ambitions and progression.

The best resume summaries reflect the job description and focus on qualities that are relevant to working as a medical salesman, while highlighting elements of your personality that make you an ideal candidate. They also quantify the information provided with evidence. See below for some great examples of what to include in your medical sales resume summary.

Alternatively, a poor resume summary would include bland, generic information that does little to prove your suitability for the role, while failing to provide any useful insights on you as a person or as a candidate. See above for some examples of things to avoid when writing your medical sales resume summary.

Hard and Soft Skills

The skills section is one of the main ways to show employers you've got the skills required for medical salesman roles. Whether your skills include CRM software proficiency, time management or any other useful skills for the role, you'll want to list them here. Once more, review the job description and pick out any key medical salesman skills listed that match yours. Focus on these skills and any other key transferable skills that make you a strong candidate for the job.

Listing hard skills on your medical sales resume

In your hard skills list, include any specific abilities related to the role you're applying for. These could be technical skills or industry knowledge that showcases your expertise in your chosen profession. Furthermore, your list of hard skills provides a strong indication to the reader of your expertise in medical salesman roles, and how well you'll fit into the position. If possible, add four or five hard skills that reflect the requirements of the job description. These will boost your chances of success in your applications.

For an effective resume hard skills section, focus on the technical skills that are most essential in the job description, and that match your specific expertise. Some examples of the best hard skills for a medical sales resume are listed below.

Showcasing your best soft skills

Your soft skills are the core qualities and personal characteristics that make you a good employee. They tend to apply to multiple professions and jobs, though the soft skills you'll require may change as you move from junior to senior positions. In fact, as technology develops, soft skills are growing in importance for recruiters and employers, so be sure to add several of these to your resume. In this section, add four of five transferable skills that match the job description.

A good soft skills section would include skills that match the job description, and also reflect your key strengths and qualities. See the graphic below for an indication of what to include in a strong soft skills section for a medical sales resume.

Education

Your resume's education section provides space for you to list your highest and most relevant qualifications for medical salesman roles.

If you're applying for medical salesman positions you'll typically need to have a degree. A Bachelor of Science in Business Administration will usually help your chances of success. You could also list any qualifications that demonstrate your sales strategy development or CRM software proficiency.

Enter the name and level of the qualification, the institution you studied at, its location and your dates of study or graduation. You can enhance this section by adding bullet points that show any outstanding grades, awards or achievements and any specialist subjects you studied. These details can make you stand out from other candidates.

Membership or leadership of any societies, clubs or causes while studying can also make a positive impression on hiring managers. Consider adding these to your education section for more insight into how you used your time as a student.

Licenses and Certifications

Your certifications section is the place to mention any relevant professional medical salesman certifications, licenses or qualifications. These could be official licenses required for the job or certifications that improve your employability. Therefore, include the details of any licenses and professional certifications required for medical salesman roles, along with completion dates so employers can see you're up-to-date.

Take a look at some example certifications for a medical sales resume below:

Work History

Your resume work experience section is the chance to show your relevant previous jobs and career achievements as a medical salesman. Add each previous employment in reverse-chronological order. This means starting from your current or most recent role and working back in time from there. Include your job title, the company name, the location of the job and your dates of employment.

Under each job entry, add several bullet points highlighting your responsibilities and achievements. Consult the job description for a list of the key requirements for the role and make sure your work experience section showcases how you meet these requirements.

A successful resume work experience section will always showcase skills and experience relevant to the job description, and how you put each to good use in your previous roles. Offering quantifiable evidence in a medical sales representative resume proves you're a strong candidate for the job, such as client feedback, project outcomes, KPIs or financial results. Take a look at the examples below for some guidance on what works best for your work experience section.

In the graphic above, you'll see some examples of less effective resume work experience sections. A bad resume work experience section might fail to address skills and achievements that relate directly to the job description. Falling back on clichés, vague descriptions and basic responsibilities, rather than showing the impact you made, is likely to disengage the reader.

Optional Sections

In addition to the core sections of a medical sales representative resume, there are several optional sections you could include to enhance your chances. Choose any optional sections that showcase essential or desirable skills or experience for medical salesman jobs.

Hobbies and Interests

Hobbies and interests can be a useful way of showing your skills and experience beyond your work and education. Your hobbies and interests are useful for a medical sales representative resume if you want to show a different side to your personality, or to stand out among other candidates. They can also be valuable if you're a junior candidate without much relevant work experience. If you're thinking about adding hobbies and interests, just make sure they add something unique to your application, and showcase your personality and interests in unique and interesting ways.

Volunteer Experience

Adding voluntary roles can be a useful way of showing relevant experience and skills for medical salesman roles beyond your main employment history. Write your volunteer section in a similar format to your work experience, including your role, the organization name, relevant dates and the details of your contribution.

References

It's not typical to include references in a medical sales resume, but some employers might ask for them. Don't add references unless requested by the employer. Before adding any referees to your resume, ask them for their assistance and prepare them for contact by the employer.

Best words to use in a medical sales resume

Using strong action words to make your resume resonate with the employer. Choose from the list of words below to increase the impact of your work experience section.

Jobseeker's clean, attractive resume formats can help your applications make a strong impression on employers. Check them out for help designing a winning resume, and see our cover letter templates to help win over recruiters and hiring managers.

Sample resume for medical salesman positions

Now that you know everything that needs to go into your medical sales resume, let's review an example resume that you can use as a guide when creating your own:

How to make an ATS-friendly resume

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) help recruiters and employers to manage their hiring process. They can handle some of the more time-consuming and resource-intensive jobs, such as initial screening of resumes. Employers often receive hundreds of applications per vacancy, and ATS software can quickly and accurately scan and rank resumes based on their likely suitability for any role. When drafting your medical sales resume, there are a few guidelines to follow to give you the best chance of passing the ATS screening stage and progressing with your application.

Follow these simple rules when writing your resume, to make sure it's ATS compliant:

• Adopt a traditional structure for your resume, such as a reverse-chronological format or a functional format. These are likely to be the easiest layouts for ATS software to scan.
• Use of job description keywords throughout your resume will help it rank higher in the ATS scanning stage, as it will more closely match the requirements laid out in the job description.
• Add each section with clear headings that match the established resume conventions, so ATS software can easily identify each part of your resume.
• Use design elements that help make your resume more readable. These might include white space, clear, professional fonts and subtle color accents to help certain elements stand out.
• Adopt simple, professional language to keep your resume as concise as possible. This tends to make your document more readable, and easier for ATS software to scan.

Takeaways for a winning medical sales resume

An effective resume is a concise, professional summary of your relevant skills and career achievements, showcased through a chronology of your career history. Pick a resume format that matches your experience levels, and tailor the content of your resume to reflect the details of the job description.

Jobseeker has a wealth of resume tools, including resume templates and examples, to help you create a winning job application. Sign up today to get started. Jobseeker's expert-designed cover letter generator can help your applications make a strong first impression on hiring managers. Find detailed cover letter examples to complement your resume and get your application noticed.

Sources:

(1) Writing a Resume, California Department of Human Resources: https://www.calhr.ca.gov/employees/Pages/resume-tips.aspx

(2) Resumes, Cover Letters and Job Applications, New York State Department of Labor: https://dol.ny.gov/resumes-cover-letters-and-job-applications