Pharmaceutical Sales Interview Questions: What to Expect and How to Answer
What to expect in a pharmaceutical sales interview process, the common questions, how to answer "Why pharmaceutical sales?", and how to stand out and close.
Anthony Giglia
· 3 min read
Pharmaceutical sales interviews are structured very similarly to medical device sales interviews. You may go through four to seven conversations or assessments, depending on the company and its timeline. Some processes are shorter, and some take longer.
Typically, you’ll begin with a recruiter screening or a recorded interview. You may also complete a personality or behavioral assessment. From there, you can expect conversations with the hiring manager and other people on the team.
What happens in the first interview?
The first conversation is usually a screen. The recruiter wants to understand your background, why you’re interested in pharmaceutical sales, and whether you communicate well.
Be comfortable walking through your resume. You should be able to explain your experience concisely, highlight your results, and make it clear why you’re interested in this specific company and role. Don’t spend five minutes explaining everything you’ve ever done. Keep your introduction tight.
Common pharmaceutical sales interview questions
You should rehearse answers to questions like:
- Why do you want to work in pharmaceutical sales?
- Why this company and this therapeutic area?
- Tell me about a time you changed a customer’s mind.
- Tell me about a time you faced rejection. What did you do next?
- How do you build relationships with customers who are difficult to reach?
- Describe your most significant professional accomplishment.
- How do you prioritize your time across a territory?
- What would you do if a provider only gave you 30 seconds?
- Why should we hire you?
For behavioral questions, have about five strong stories ready. Structure each one around the situation, task, action, and result. That will help you stay concise under pressure and make sure your answer ends with what you accomplished.
How should you answer “Why pharmaceutical sales?”
Your answer should be patient-centric. You should be able to explain why you care about the disease state, the patients affected by it, and the opportunity to work with healthcare providers.
If a family member has been affected by the condition the company’s drug treats, and that genuinely motivates you, share that story. It can give the interviewer a clear understanding of your why. But don’t force a personal connection that isn’t there. You can have a strong answer because you’ve researched the disease state and understand why the treatment matters.
Then connect that motivation to the work. Why do you want to educate providers, build relationships, and represent this particular company? (If you’re still deciding, here’s whether pharmaceutical sales is a good career.)
How do you stand out?
You need to prepare to extreme levels. Learn about the company, the drug or therapeutic area, the condition it treats, and the people you would be speaking with in the territory. Know your own resume and be ready to explain your results.
You also need good questions prepared for every interview. Ask about the team, the territory, what success looks like, and the challenges a new rep would face. The questions you ask show how seriously you’ve thought about the opportunity.
Finally, know how to close. At the end of the conversation, make it clear that you’re interested in the role. Ask whether they have any concerns about your background that you can address, and understand what the next step will be.
There will be qualified candidates going after these positions. Rehearsing, researching the role, and providing value throughout the interview process will help you stand out from someone who is simply showing up and hoping to say the right things.
