How to hire a medical representative

How to hire a medical representative, step by step

Here's a step-by-step medical representative hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a medical representative job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new medical representative
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a medical representative do?

Post a medical representative job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your medical representative job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a medical representative for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A medical representative's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, medical representatives from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of medical representatives.

   Type of Medical Representative	Description	Hourly rate
   Medical Representative	Wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives sell goods for wholesalers or manufacturers to businesses, government agencies, and other organizations. They contact customers, explain product features, answer any questions that their customers may have, and negotiate prices.	$12-23
   Outside Sales	An outside sales representative is responsible for generating the company's sales and revenues by offering goods and services to existing and potential clients, responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns about the products, and researching on possible leads. Outside sales representatives monitor the current industry trends to identify new business opportunities that would help the business adjust to market changes to achieve profitability goals... Show more	$26-50
   Sales Development Representative	A sales development representative qualifies leads at the sales funnel's initial stages. Sales development representatives need to conduct research for prospective clients and qualify the leads before handing them to the sales team... Show more	$16-37

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Customer Service
   • First Aid Kits
   • Incident Investigations
   • CPR
   • Medical Terminology
   • Patient Care
   • First-Aid Kits
   • OSHA
   • HIPAA
   • Medical Equipment
   • EMR
   • Data Entry
   • REP

   Check all skills

   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.
   • Manage products in gastroenterology, cardiology, endocrinology, psychiatry, rheumatology, and OB-GYN categories.
   • Achieve sales growth objectives by incorporating product/technical knowledge, teamwork, customer and multi-product focus, innovation and creativity.

   More medical representative duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your medical representative job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A medical representative can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, medical representatives' average salary in montana is 51% less than in michigan.
   • Seniority. Entry-level medical representatives 44% less than senior-level medical representatives.
   • Certifications. A medical representative with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a medical representative's salary.

   Average medical representative salary

   $36,309yearly

   $17.46 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level medical representative salary

   $27,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 20, 2026

   Average medical representative salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Michigan	$44,183	$21
   2	California	$44,131	$21
   3	Washington	$43,627	$21
   4	Maryland	$42,595	$20
   5	Nevada	$41,757	$20
   6	Arizona	$41,043	$20
   7	Illinois	$40,344	$19
   8	North Dakota	$39,421	$19
   9	Colorado	$39,126	$19
   10	Rhode Island	$38,515	$19
   11	Ohio	$37,782	$18
   12	Massachusetts	$37,694	$18
   13	Oregon	$37,102	$18
   14	Virginia	$36,976	$18
   15	West Virginia	$36,825	$18
   16	New Hampshire	$36,535	$18
   17	North Carolina	$36,175	$17
   18	New York	$36,118	$17
   19	Florida	$34,409	$17
   20	Wyoming	$33,658	$16

   Average medical representative salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Capgemini	$46,850	$22.52	26
   2	Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center	$42,839	$20.60
   3	Dignity Health	$42,433	$20.40	42
   4	New York State Restaurant Association	$41,825	$20.11
   5	Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center	$39,162	$18.83
   6	Mid-Atlantic Surgical Systems	$37,394	$17.98
   7	Amazon	$37,184	$17.88	155
   8	Select Medical	$37,092	$17.83	54
   9	Lone Star Analysis	$37,014	$17.80
   10	Cardinal Health	$36,999	$17.79	35
   11	University of Maryland Faculty Physicians Incorporated	$36,769	$17.68	15
   12	Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.	$36,707	$17.65	6
   13	Kelly Services	$36,704	$17.65	12
   14	Ascension Michigan	$36,579	$17.59	13
   15	Randstad North America, Inc.	$36,129	$17.37	9
   16	Progressive	$36,060	$17.34	2
   17	LifePoint Health	$35,955	$17.29	10
   18	LifeBridge Health	$35,531	$17.08
   19	Norman Regional Health System	$34,995	$16.82	1
   20	Gallagher	$34,365	$16.52	1

4. Writing a medical representative job description

   A good medical representative job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a medical representative job description:

   Medical representative job description example

   Pre-Authorization/Medical Forms Representative Elmhurst Physician Practice Division Registry - as needed Location:# Center for Health, Elmhurst# This position is responsible for reviewing a variety of clinical documentation to ensure completeness of the information in order to process referrals, pre-authorizations and FMLA/Disability and other forms as assigned per payer guidelines, and forms completion.# Supports providers and patients through the timely preparation, submission and communication of requests and status.## Education, Experience and/or Skills Required: # Minimum of one year of experience in a medical office setting # Previous experience with electronic medical records # Strong customer service focus # Detail oriented # Ability to multi-task and work in a fast paced environment # Strong oral and written communication skills # Ability to maintain confidentiality# Education, Experience and/or Skills Preferred: # Associates Degree # Medical Assistant training# # A minimum of two years of experience processing referral, prior authorizations or medical necessity verifications.## # High level of understanding of FMLA/Disability laws and processes # Medical terminology # Prior Epic experience # Bilingual
   Pre-Authorization/Medical Forms Representative
   
   Elmhurst Physician Practice Division
   
   Registry - as needed
   
   Location: Center for Health, Elmhurst
   
   This position is responsible for reviewing a variety of clinical documentation to ensure completeness of the information in order to process referrals, pre-authorizations and FMLA/Disability and other forms as assigned per payer guidelines, and forms completion. Supports providers and patients through the timely preparation, submission and communication of requests and status.
   
   Education, Experience and/or Skills Required:
   
   * Minimum of one year of experience in a medical office setting
   * Previous experience with electronic medical records
   * Strong customer service focus
   * Detail oriented
   * Ability to multi-task and work in a fast paced environment
   * Strong oral and written communication skills
   * Ability to maintain confidentiality
   
   Education, Experience and/or Skills Preferred:
   
   * Associates Degree
   * Medical Assistant training
   * A minimum of two years of experience processing referral, prior authorizations or medical necessity verifications.
   * High level of understanding of FMLA/Disability laws and processes
   * Medical terminology
   * Prior Epic experience
   * Bilingual

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right medical representative for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your medical representative job on Zippia to find and attract quality medical representative candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as salesjobs, salesheads, allretailjobs.com, sales trax.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit medical representatives, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new medical representative

   Once you have selected a candidate for the medical representative position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new medical representative first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a medical representative?