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What is a medical representative and how to become one
A medical representative's job is to promote and sell their company's products, whether that's pharmaceutical drugs or medical equipment. Their typical customers can include doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. The medical representative will increase product awareness, answer queries, provide advice and introduce new products.
Their key duties and responsibilities include selling the company's medications to doctors, pharmacists, and other relevant healthcare professionals. They also schedule appointments with doctors, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals to promote company medications. Medical representatives spend time developing an in-depth understanding of company medications, following up on leads generated by the company, and keeping abreast of new developments in the medical field to determine the effect of such developments on the company's business strategies. Educational requirements include a bachelor's degree in nursing, pharmacy, life sciences, or a related field along with proven medical sales experience.
The job of a medical representative may be hectic, but it is worthwhile. The average salary for this position is $24.61 an hour, which amounts to $51,183 annually. The job is projected to experience growth in the following years and create various job opportunities across the United States.
What general advice would you give to a medical representative?
Kevin Buckley
Professor of Practice, Sales & Marketing, University of Southern Mississippi
Avg. Salary $36,309
Avg. Salary $59,228
Growth rate 4%
Growth rate 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%
Asian 5.15%
Black or African American 3.84%
Hispanic or Latino 14.24%
Unknown 3.71%
White 72.82%
Genderfemale 54.84%
male 45.16%
Age - 48American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%
Asian 7.00%
Black or African American 14.00%
Hispanic or Latino 19.00%
White 57.00%
Genderfemale 47.00%
male 53.00%
Age - 48Stress level is high
7.1 - high
Complexity level is advanced
7 - challenging
Work life balance is poor
6.4 - fair
Medical representative career paths
Key steps to become a medical representative
Explore medical representative education requirements
Start to develop specific medical representative skills
Skills Percentages Patients 16.63% Customer Service 12.74% First Aid Kits 9.30% Incident Investigations 9.19% CPR 6.45% Complete relevant medical representative training and internships
Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New medical representatives learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a medical representative based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real medical representative resumes.Gain additional medical representative certifications
More About CertificationsMedical representative certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific medical representative certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.
The most common certifications for medical representatives include Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS).
Research medical representative duties and responsibilities
- Achieve market share growth in the psychiatry, cardiovascular, and neurology markets.
- Lead the nation in new product introduction of ZAC, an anti hypertension medication.
- Manage the sale of pharmaceuticals to treat hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, depression, women's health and pain/neurological disorders.
- Manage specialty sales of psychiatry and other products across Mid-Michigan health-care systems.
Prepare your medical representative resume
When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your medical representative resume.
You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a medical representative resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.
Choose from 10+ customizable medical representative resume templates
Build a professional medical representative resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your medical representative resume.
Apply for medical representative jobs
Now it's time to start searching for a medical representative job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:
- Browse job boards for relevant postings
- Consult your professional network
- Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
- Watch out for job scams
How did you land your first medical representative job
Are you a medical representative?
Share your story for a free salary report.
Average medical representative salary
The average medical representative salary in the United States is $36,309 per year or $17 per hour. Medical representative salaries range between $27,000 and $48,000 per year.
What am I worth?
How do medical representatives rate their job?
Medical representative reviews
I like helping people and physicians find out about products that can improve their lives. Company car is great too.
Some offices are just rude
I do not like slowness and lie
Working with individuals in general. I'm a huge people person and love the relationships I have now as all of my referral sources are my close friends!
Wear and tear on vehicle
Updated January 8, 2025
