How to hire a specialty representative

How to hire a specialty representative, step by step

Here's a step-by-step specialty 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 specialty representative job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new specialty representative
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the specialty representative you need to hire. Certain specialty representative roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect specialty representative also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   The following list breaks down different types of specialty representatives and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Specialty Representative	Description	Hourly rate
   Specialty 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.	$12-44
   Inside Sales Coordinator	An inside sales coordinator is primarily in charge of overseeing a company's inside sales operations, ensuring efficiency and customer satisfaction. Their responsibilities include managing schedules and objectives, organizing meetings and discussions, performing research and analysis to identify new business opportunities, implementing solutions on problem areas, and maintaining an active communication line within different teams... Show more	$13-30
   Pharmaceutical Sales Representative	The job of pharmaceutical sales representatives is to inform and educate doctors about a company's medical and pharmaceutical products. They serve as the link between a company and healthcare professionals to hit sales targets... Show more	$20-52

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Oncology
   • Dermatology
   • Neurology
   • Educational Programs
   • Endocrinology
   • Cardiology
   • Disease State
   • Immunotherapy
   • Rheumatology
   • Product Knowledge
   • Medical Sales
   • Product Line
   • Central Nervous System

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage the strategic planning and territory development of neurology accounts.
   • Manage the development, productivity and utilization of local, regional and national speakers for hyperlipidemia and hypertension.
   • Attract and build strong advocates within large cardiology groups by building a reputation on integrity, product knowledge and accountability.
   • Develop and influence neurology and psychiatry opinion leaders by organizing medical education events, residency and speaker programs.
   • Present in-services for healthcare teams in surgery, ICU and GI settings.
   • Work with key colorectal surgeons and anesthesiologists to prepare for the launch of Entereg.

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, specialty representatives' average salary in montana is 68% less than in new york.
   • Seniority. Entry-level specialty representatives 72% less than senior-level specialty representatives.
   • Certifications. A specialty 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 specialty representative's salary.

   Average specialty representative salary

   $49,201yearly

   $23.65 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level specialty representative salary

   $26,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

4. Writing a specialty representative job description

   A specialty representative job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a specialty representative job description:

   Specialty representative job description example

   Responsibilities
   
   * Deliver sales performance, brand KPIs, financial targets, marketing objectives, etc. in order to meet or exceed on those objectives.
   * Create pre-call plan objectives and execute post-call evaluation in order to continuously improve sales performance. Effectively handle objections, misunderstandings, concerns and consistently gain logical and reasonable calls to action in order to close on every sales call.
   * Proactively and continuously aspire to serve customer needs, customer expectations and challenges in order to build trusted customer relationships and to achieve win-win agreements between AbbVie and customers.
   * Develop and execute a call plan that achieves set call metrics and optimizes coverage and frequency to key customers in order to maximize access and sales opportunities.
   * Continuously build understanding on customer needs and expectations, territory market landscape, competitors, market segments/dynamics, accounts, disease, product, clinical and sales expertise and share this market intelligence information with in-field team, brand team and sales manager to achieve alignment, to anticipate environmental changes and challenges and to optimize brand strategy and its execution.
   * Differentiate AbbVie's value proposition with health providers assigned and identify, develop and maintain disease state experts and speakers/advocates in order to maximize brand performance.
   
   Qualifications
   
   * Bachelor's degree, biological sciences, pharmacy, business related field, or equivalent.
   * Proven track record of success in selling and solid presentation skills.
   * Demonstrates in-depth scientific, therapeutic, product, and competitive knowledge and is recognized as an expert resource by all relevant stakeholders. Strong business acumen and proficient use of business tools; possesses strategic and critical thinking capabilities.
   * Proactively identifies customer style / behavior and adapts quickly all aspects of selling approach. Understands and leverages findings to develop sales strategies.
   * Operates effectively in a matrix environment.
   * Offers innovative ideas and solutions to maximize business opportunities to address challenges.
   * Provides impact with ideas for the larger organization and anticipates and responds to changes.
   * Influences others & is viewed as a credible and respected role model and resource among peers. Builds collaborative partnership with district colleagues and matrix team, etc.
   * Leads by example; Consistently displays positive behaviors and peer coaching through changing and challenging environments. Documented success in leadership and support role of increased responsibility at the district, region and/or organizational levels.
   * Preferred: Proven track record of success in sales performance within respective therapeutic areas. Commercial pharmaceutical industry experiences such as physician/account-based selling, training, managed health care or marketing preferred. English language proficiency verbally and in writing (for all non-English speaking countries).
   
   At AbbVie, we value bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds to develop new and innovative solutions for patients. As an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy), physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic. If you would like to view a copy of the company's affirmative action plan or policy statement, please email

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5. Post your job

   To find the right specialty representative for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with specialty representatives they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit specialty representatives who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your specialty representative job on Zippia to find and recruit specialty representative candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as salesjobs, salesheads, allretailjobs.com, sales trax.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting specialty representatives requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   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 specialty representative

   Once you've selected the best specialty representative candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new specialty representative. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

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.)

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