How To Become A Surgical Sales Representative: What It Is and Career Path

What is a surgical sales representative and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A successful surgical sales rep will need a bachelor's degree in health sciences, business, and a knowledge of medical devices. They will also need to go through a training program, become licensed or certified, and take criticism and rejections.

As a surgical sales representative, you will need to make presentations to surgeons, doctors, nurses, and other surgical staff. You will need to demonstrate the medical device operations and handle questions and training as necessary. You will need to do administrative work, schedule client proposals, travel to hospitals and clinics, and attend conferences. You may also oversee a team of salespeople. Your work will be highly competitive, which will necessitate knowing your business. You will also need to have good communication and time management skills.

For all your hard work, you can earn up to $125,000 per year. You may also be commission-based which will give you additional money per year. You will need to enjoy talking to doctors and nurses and be aware that efficiency is necessary.

ScoreSurgical Sales RepresentativeUS Average

Salary

5.7

Avg. Salary $73,379

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.6

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 5.09%

Black or African American 3.79%

Hispanic or Latino 13.92%

Unknown 3.71%

White 73.27%

Gender

female 33.40%

male 66.60%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.6

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a surgical sales representative

Explore surgical sales representative education requirements

Most common surgical sales representative degrees

Bachelor's

84.7 %

Master's

6.3 %

Associate

5.1 %

Start to develop specific surgical sales representative skills

Skills	Percentages
Medical Sales	12.65%
Product Knowledge	9.12%
GYN	8.04%
Surgical Procedures	7.56%
Product Portfolio	6.80%

Complete relevant surgical sales representative training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New surgical sales 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 surgical sales representative based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real surgical sales representative resumes.

Research surgical sales representative duties and responsibilities

Manage products in gastroenterology, cardiology, endocrinology, psychiatry, rheumatology, and OB-GYN categories.
Develop relationships with surgeons and other appropriate personnel within the spine product environment.
Recognize as a subject matter expert with insight into optimal equipment for treating patients with respiratory conditions and sleeping disorders.
Promote pharmaceutical drugs for the treatment of allergies, hypertension, BPH, dementia, chronic bronchitis.

Prepare your surgical sales representative resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your surgical sales 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 surgical sales 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 surgical sales representative resume templates

Build a professional surgical sales 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 surgical sales representative resume.

Apply for surgical sales representative jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a surgical sales 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 do surgical sales representatives rate their job?

-/5

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Surgical sales representative reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2019

Pros

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!

Cons

Wear and tear on vehicle