Clinical Field Specialist or Medical Product Sales

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I would like to become a clinical field specialist for a medical device or product. I would also consider being a medical device salesperson. What is the best way to get started? I have over four years experience as a NICU nurse. I have not yet had any luck getting a medical device sales or clinical field specialist job due to my lack of experience in sales. I would appreciate any and all advice on transition from being a bedside nurse to becoming a product rep or educator. I love to travel. Thanks!

mommy2boysaz

288 Posts

Specializes in OB.

I have always been interested in this, too. Wish Allnurses had a separate specialty category for this! I love to travel, but am not quite ready to travel as much as is necessary for most of these jobs. In a few years, when my kids are grown, YES! I have been able to get a few leads on these positions from asking sales reps/educators that have come into my facility about openings in their companies. Good Luck!

Do you have a specific device in mind?

These jobs are HARD to come by. I'm friends with several device reps, some in sales and some in specialist positions. Some nurses before, some not. They make a lot of money but it's demanding. I used to want to do it, but the idea of 24/7 call isn't in the cards for me right now.

NedRN

1 Article; 5,773 Posts

I work in the OR and see a lot of reps. Mostly they were recruited, they did not apply. Some were simply friends of someone in the company who recommended them.

That said, one of my many careers before becoming a nurse was in sales. I was put off for the job I wanted in sales so I thought I would dabble in car sales just to get my feet wet and get some training. Easy to get job - warm body basically. I knew I didn't want to sell cars and only lasted a few weeks. But I finally had some insight as to why I wasn't hired by the job I wanted. I failed to sell him on hiring me. So I went back and put him in a "box" (a sales term worth looking up) which worked because the hard sell was what was needed for this particular job.

Persistence can work for many jobs, and perhaps this one. You need to do some research about your target company, what they sell, and what you can bring to the table. Read a few books about sales and what kind of people are good at it. Generally medical sales is rather low key. It is more about the relationship with the doctor or provider and the service provided rather than the product. You need the ability to talk to physicians or executives. Some of the same relationship skills you use with physicians and families currently will apply. Technical aptitude is a requirement of course.

jhayroe

30 Posts

One year later and here is my follow up:

I finally did secure a job in the medical device industry. Here was my experience: I applied to about 50 different jobs utilizing Job Search engines: Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, exc. One job I was particularly interested was as a Clinical Educator at a fairly large medical device company. This position requires 90% nationwide travel and is strictly medical device training, and no sales. For this job, I go to hospitals that have purchased usually IV catheters or pumps from our company and I conduct classes for groups of 1-20 nurses over the course of 3-4 days during 10-12 hr shifts. We have a product "go-live" and we circulate throughout the hospital to help troubleshoot with nursing staff. There are 24 people who work at my company full time, but there is a fair amount of turnover because it is a lot of traveling, which can definitely be tiring.

I applied for this job on March 2015. I didn't hear anything for about 2 months. I then randomly got a call in May about the position. I then scheduled an interview that I flew out for in June. I interviewed with 5 people in the course of 4 hours then flew home. The interview went very well and I started the job July 6, 2015. So all in all, this process took 4 months from application to start date, and it required luck and a lot of applications, since I didn't know anyone on the business. It is not easy to get your foot in the door! Just about every hospital I visit, nurses ask me how did we get this job.

Like any job, there are pros and cons and some things to consider.

The pros:

It really is pretty easy, with a fair amount of down time.

You will typically get an hour lunch break or more, and the company pays for your food while you are away from home ($75/day!)

My company offers a lot of perks, for example, being able to keep all my airline miles and access to an airline lounge.

Cons:

My job does require working evenings and rare all night shifts (I've done a total of 3 in 9 months), and fairly frequent weekends

Traveling all the time is very exhausting and draining on your social and family life. I definitely would not recommend to anyone with small children. I don't even have pets.

You need to be comfortable talking in front of people, you constantly give presentations to groups of 20.

This job is repetative! I repeat the same 15 or 1hr long schpiel about 20 times a day! Then come back and do the same thing every day.

I also have to help the same issues over and over again with products.

Nurses hate change and love to complain!! They take all their frustration about their hospital changing out on us. So if you wanted to change careers because you are tired of hearing patient's complain, you may want to consider other options.

There are companies that have educator positions that are part time - if the travel is too much for you - for example, Novasyte. However, I submitted a few applications to Novasyte and from what I have heard, they are so inundated, like me, you will probably never hear back from them. I recommend you apply to companies that you already use the products for and really like. Networking and "knowing" someone is probably the easiest way to get your foot in the door. And once its in, you have a lot more doors open for you.

NedRN

1 Article; 5,773 Posts

Nice post! How does the compensation compare to acute care nursing?

jhayroe

30 Posts

Difficult to say because nursing salaries vary completely by where you are based in the country. I know as a travel nurse, nurses in the Southeast make very low salaries (unfortunately) while nurses in California make some of the highest salaries. This current job is a salary job, versus hourly wage that I am used to. We also get quarterly bonuses based off the sales team (which really don't have much control over). Not to brag, but starting salary before bonuses is 75K. I keep close track of my hours, and since this is a salary job and sometimes my assignments get cancelled at the last minute, I am working generally less than 40 hours a week, so being salary has worked out in my favor. We also get 3 weeks paid vacation with this company, and they pay for us to go to a conference. Again, a really nice perk.

NedRN

1 Article; 5,773 Posts

Not so hard if you just compare it to what you would make where you already live. That is your baseline compensation, right?

The problem with comparing local pay to the top pay in San Francisco or Boston is that the housing costs completely skew everything.

Specializes in Ambulatory Care, Rheumatology.

You can start cultivating relationships now...a suggestion...take a look at the jobs... look at the companies who are hiring ( just for an idea) ...go to their website....if they have a newsletter sign up....follow them on all of their social platforms...like share engage with their content....( your are learning a ton) ...Also check out the Medical Device Groups on LinkedIn....listen to the conversations...do the same ( like share engage with the content there) ....there is SO much you can do while you are waiting for kids to grow up. When you are ready to start applying jobs...your Personal Brand could be well on it's way!

Specializes in Ambulatory Care, Rheumatology.

For one of our Pharm Reps....you pretty much quoted her story. She has no medical background at all. She just knew the person who was hiring + had sales background.

morrisnurse

5 Posts

Just curious, what company do you work for. I am interested in that kind of position.

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