Great Opportunities as a Part-Time Medical Representative

Part-time employment can offer many opportunities for people who are busy in other areas of their lives. Pharmaceutical sales is an area that is open to part-time employment, or working with reduced hours. Employers are recognizing the benefits that employing a part-time staff can bring. There are a variety of part-time options open to people seeking to work in the pharmaceutical sales market. Many companies prefer that you work three full days of the week, while others opt for you to work five shortened work days in a week.

Some companies have both full-time and part-time staff doing the same job, while some other companies operate with complete teams of part-time people, the advantage being that it is often easier to manage employees who are working under the same employment contract and hours. Companies that mix their full-timers and part-timers may find advantages in retaining staff through their flexible policies.

Part-time opportunities in pharmaceutical sales have been available since the late 1980s. Sales organizations such as Innovex spearheaded the move towards working part-time within the world of pharmaceutical sales. The notion of part-time medical representatives really took off, and many companies have part-time staff as part of their overall work force. These companies acknowledge the different needs and commitments of individuals at different times in their careers and home lives. A reduced-hours schedule enables individuals to balance a professional career with other commitments.

Part-time jobs as medical representatives tend to be found with two main types of organizations: contract sales organizations and pharmaceutical companies. Contract organizations will offer the most part-time work. The most common part-time schedule is five reduced days, usually 8:00am to 2:00pm. Many times people accept part-time jobs to acquire valuable experience, even if they would prefer a full-time job. Since the contract organizations often have the most part-time jobs available, they can be a good starting place for many people. Many pharmaceutical companies actively seek part-time staff for specific jobs. Pfizer is one of the biggest recruiters for part-time staff, but several other companies have a number of part-timers, too: GSK, Solvay, and Schwarz, to name a few.

Various types of people become medical sales representatives. More than 70% are returnees to work after a break to have a family. Other people drawn to part-time sales work include serious sports people, people studying to further their education, people with a time-consuming hobby, those who have made a lifestyle decision to work shorter hours, and people in the last years of pre-retirement.

The job itself basically entails field sales and is markedly different than a part-time job in an office or in retail. The essence of the work is, however, like that of any other field sales career. You are constantly measured against personal targets. You are expected to be seeing customers every day. You work on your own most of the time. And not everyone wants to see you; it’s up to you to persuade them. Meanwhile, the perks of working part-time as a medical rep are:

You’ll be working in a challenging environment and dealing with professionals.
You’ll get to manage your own time and be part of a regional team under the umbrella of a regional business manager.
You’ll receive training in sales and pharmaceutical products, and the benefits package usually includes a car, pension, health insurance, bonus, and generous holiday allowance.

The normal part-time working hours are from 8:00am to 2:00pm. Field sales, however, usually involve more hours than are actually in your contract, especially in the beginning while you’re learning the job. Like any other professional job, there’s a lot of learning in the first three to six months. Learning the territory, products, communication systems, and how to be a successful salesman in this area will take some time. The job can demand significant flexibility. For instance, your first call at 8:00am might be two miles away or 32. Your last call of the day might be a half-hour journey, or it might be just down the street. From time to time you may have to work late. Being that you are a sales professional, you are left to manage your time and your calls. With more experience, you can juggle your time and manage your calls more effectively, and as long as the job is done and your business objectives are achieved, there is enormous flexibility as to how you deliver your results.

When you start with a new company, you will first receive some training, and this usually starts with a residential training course that could be up to four weeks long. The course teaches you all you need to know so that you can go out and talk to customers intelligently and effectively. After the initial training there may be other overnight stays for:

Conferences (usually one to two times per year for up to five nights away from home) — These are sales meetings and are sometimes held in exotic locations as a reward for your hard work.
New product training (duration varies) — Might be local or national, and frequency will depend on how often the products you sell change.
Development training (duration varies)

As a medical sales representative, part-time or full-time, you have to commit to study for the ABPI test. The ABPI is an examination which you must pass within two years of becoming a medical representative. You can’t continue beyond two years unless you have passed. The level of the syllabus is between A-level and degree standard. You will have been acquiring a lot of information in your training, so you’re not studying something you have no knowledge about. You’ll probably need to study for this exam at home or in another quiet place. The company you work for may provide assistance through a mentoring system and correspondence course, and by paying for all examination fees.

Your office is basically your car. You will need to prepare an area for the storage of promotional items which are essential to your success. You will have items in the trunk of your car, but having storage space for additional boxes is helpful. Since you will be spending a majority of time in your car, you will want to have some luxuries included, and you’ll probably be on your phone and laptop quite a bit.

In short, you can have a successful, interesting, and rewarding career working part-time as a pharmaceutical or medical representative. And if you enjoy the work and are successful at doing it, promotions to full-time positions are common, if that’s what you seek. It’s a sales career. Yes, it has shorter hours than a normal sales job, but it’s still sales, and it demands hard work, huge amounts of effort, and a resilient approach. It works well for people who want a professional job on a part-time basis, and is especially suitable for people returning to work, sports people, people who’ve gone back to school part-time, and those who’ve made lifestyle-based decisions.

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Great Opportunities as a Part-Time Medical Representative