Understanding assessment centres for medical sales jobs.

It's difficult these days to find medical sales opportunities which don't ultimately hinge on an assessment centres. Running a recruitment company for medical sales people, it's amazing how many people really do fear these occasions. The main reason for this fear is usually down to the uncertainty of what to expect on the day, on course on top of the uncertainty of the outcome and the impact on people's futures. Here are some of the main components you will find in assessments for medical sales vacancies.

Group exercises. As a ex medical sales manager I found these fascinating to watch, particularly as most participants would make completely the wrong assumption with regards to how to shine. Most assume that to shine they need to come up with an idea and push hard to ensure the group adopts their idea, assuming the person who's idea is adopted wins! Wrong! Assessors actually want to see people who can perform well and contribute to a group or team performance. to do this, rather than simply waiting to try and but in with your idea, you need to listen to others comments and ideas, acknowledge them and build on them towards solutions. Good team work is more about being ability to facilitate others to find solutions than just finding them yourself.

Personality testing. Now used extensively these aim to decipher your personality and how you behave in different situations. The theory is if they understand how people behave generally, then this will give some strong clues as to how they will behave in a medical sales role. The tests may consist of hundreds of questions, many very similar. Just try and answer them as they come without too much thought, there are no right and wrong answer.

Tests for verbal and numeric reasoning. The verbal reasoning tests provide paragraphs of writing and then ask a question to establish your comprehension. They are often ambiguous and confusing. The biggest mistake is to go back an re read a second or even third time. You will simply end up confusing your self, possibly away from the right answer (more likely your first stab) and also takes too much time on each question. Try to get in the grove of read once, then answer and move on, you'll answer more AND get more right. Numeric tests are similar in that the biggest mistake is deliberating too much on each question. These tests can be practised, buy a book from a local book store.

In tray tasks. This can be a tough task as you are deliberately handed too much information to deal with in the time you have, and you are asked to organise it into tasks and prioritise. The aim is to see how you act in a situation where you have more to do than there is time for (very realistic in medical sales) and to see how you rationalise in this scenario. The key is to not get flustered and just follow a rational thought process, clearly showing why you are making the decisions you are.

Presentations. For this you will either be handed a presentation topic on the day and given a hour or so to prepare or you will be given it in advance. The former is now more common. It will likely be a medical sales topic, but you should know that content will not be the most important factor. You will have limited information and time to prepare, what they want to see is solid structure and good delivery. Whilst the content is something you won't know in advance, structure and delivery can both be practised.

Competency interview. These are interviews using 'behavioural questioning' which seeks examples of past behaviour to determine what your behaviour will be. It is likely the questions will relate to medical sales and you should ensure your examples are all positive examples, these can be prepared in advance.

There's nothing insurmountable in the modern medical sales assessment centres, the issue is more knowing what to expect. Follow the above tips and you should feel a bit more confident the next time you are faced with one.