Five behavioural interview questions that you need to be prepared for in medical sales

Medical sales interviews are your first opportunity to make an impression on your potential employer. Throughout the interview process, you’re likely to be asked a range of behavioural interview questions.

Behavioural interview questions require candidates to present examples of real-life work situations they’ve been in where they’ve had to use certain skills to achieve good results. Now is an excellent time to join the medical sales field, and to help you with your interview process, we’ve shared some of the most common behavioural interview questions and some tips to help you craft job-landing responses to those all-important questions.

Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure.

In medical sales, there will be times where you are under pressure to deliver results and adhere to deadlines. Whether you’re trying to hit your sales target or deliver a project to a client, it’s important to be able to operate effectively under pressure.

If you’re being considered for a challenging job, the interviewer will want to know how well you can work under pressure. This is your chance to impress by providing a real example of a pressure situation that you were involved in and how you responded to get the right results.

Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it.

If you have ambitions of embarking on a rewarding medical sales career, it’s likely that you will have set a range of goals and have achieved some along the way. Employers are always interested in hearing about your goals, as goals are intrinsically linked to improved performance.

For this question, think about a time in your career where you set yourself a goal and detail how you achieved it. Your goals can include anything from gaining a promotion to learning about a new medical product. If you can clearly articulate the steps you took to reach your goal, you’ll send a positive message to the interviewer and leave a good impression.

Tell me about your proudest professional accomplishment.

As well as wanting to hear about your goals, employers are just as interested in your accomplishments in your career. When you answer, ensure that you tie the accomplishment back to the description and responsibilities of the role you are applying for. That way, you can demonstrate that you can take the experience from that accomplishment to their company.

With some preparation and practice, you should be able to ace this question and leave a positive impression on the interviewer.

How did you handle a difficult situation with someone at work?

Teamwork is an important trait, and every hiring manager will be looking for a candidate that can be a team player. Great teamwork within a medical sales team and organisation can lead to a better work environment and improve the performance of employees. Therefore, it’s important that you showcase your ability to work cohesively in a team.

This question is designed to see how you respond to adversity within a team and how you respond to a disagreement with a colleague. In your answer, it’s important that you focus on how you’ve solved a problem or compromised when there was a workplace disagreement. With this, an employer can see that you will not have a disruptive effect on the team and are prepared to work with others to solve an internal issue.

Tell me about a time that you made a mistake. How did you handle it?

It goes without saying, but nobody is perfect, and we all make mistakes. An important part of growth is embracing your mistakes and ensuring that you learn from them. Unsurprisingly, this is a trait that an employer will be looking for in a medical sales interview. The interviewer will be more interested in how you handled making an error, rather than in the fact that it happened.

Therefore, in your answer you should present an example of the mistake you made and the impact that it had. Then, talk about how the mistake affected you and how you used the experience to learn and improve.

Become a medical sales rep with IQVIA

Now that you’re prepared for some tricky questions in a medical sales interview, it’s time to start searching for your perfect role. At IQVIA, we are dedicated to providing the best candidate care and helping you land your dream medical sales role.

Browse our latest medical sales representative jobs and join us on our mission to change healthcare for the better.