How to Get Into Medical Device Sales Right Out of College
You don't need two years of B2B sales first. Here's how new grads build experience in school, present it, reach the right people, and start interviewing early.
Anthony Giglia
· 4 min read
You can absolutely get hired in medical device sales right out of college. But you need to be proactive, have the right strategy, and understand that you’re competing against people with more experience.
Start building experience while you’re in school
Ideally, you’ll get a medical sales internship during one of your summers in college. If you can’t find one, a B2B sales internship is also very valuable. You’ll learn how to prospect, manage opportunities, and communicate with customers.
If you want some secret sauce, get creative. Reach out to independent reps and distributors and ask whether you can help them over the summer. Maybe that means handling inventory, doing data entry, or helping with other work that frees up their time. You’ll learn about the business and build relationships with people who are already in the industry. (More ideas in how to prepare before your first role.)
You can also look for opportunities to shadow physicians while you’re in school. Physicians work with reps regularly. You may meet reps naturally while shadowing, and a physician who knows you well may be willing to introduce you. Those relationships can be invaluable as you grow your network.
You do not need two years of B2B sales experience
You’ll frequently hear from reps that you need to spend two years in B2B sales before you can break into medical device. That advice is outdated.
B2B sales experience is valuable. It can make you a stronger candidate and make it easier to get interviews. But medical device companies hire new graduates into entry-level roles all the time. The key is applying for positions that make sense for your experience and showing the hiring team why you’re worth training.
If you’re right out of college, focus on associate sales rep and other entry-level positions. Spending your time applying to territory manager roles that require years of medical sales experience is unlikely to be the best use of your effort.
Make your resume show what you’ve accomplished
Your resume should be one page, easy to follow, and quantifiable. Don’t just list your classes and responsibilities. Show results.
If you had an internship, what did you accomplish? If you played a college sport, held a leadership position, earned an award, or worked while going to school, what does that say about your work ethic and ability to perform? Put the most relevant experience on the page and make it easy for a hiring manager to see why you’re a strong candidate.
Get in front of the right people
The first barrier to breaking in is getting interviews. Your experience and resume matter, but so does how you apply and network.
Don’t just send out 200 applications online and hope for a call. Identify entry-level roles that fit you, find the people involved in those hiring decisions, and do everything you can to make yourself known. The reps and physicians you connected with during school can be valuable here.
Prepare to win the interview
Getting an interview and getting an offer are two different things. Medical device companies hire new graduates, but you need to be exceptional throughout the interview process.
Learn about the company, its products, the patients it treats, and the division you’re interviewing for. Understand the basic anatomy and pathology involved. Rehearse your answers, prepare thoughtful questions, and know how to close the interview.
If you’re competing with someone who has more experience, your preparation needs to make the hiring manager confident that you can learn quickly and contribute to the team.
Start earlier than you think
A lot of students assume they need to wait until they’re close to graduation before they can start interviewing. That’s a misconception. My clients have actively interviewed more than six months, and sometimes even a year, before graduating. (Here’s what affects how long breaking in takes.)
You can start building experience, relationships, and an interview strategy well before you receive your diploma. That gives you a much stronger position than waiting until graduation to begin.
In my program, I help students build that strategy. I teach you the clinical and business side of medical device sales, reconstruct your resume, help you reach the right people, and prepare you to navigate interviews. You do not have to wait two years after college to pursue this career.
