How to Get a Pharmaceutical Sales Internship

Pharmaceutical sales is a fun and lucrative profession. Although few physicians will admit it, a pharmaceutical sales representative is often a primary source of information about the products a company sells. Of course, this is only true if the representative is reliable and knowledgeable. Follow these steps if you would like to get an internship in pharmaceutical sales.

Instructions

1. Get a bachelor's degree in science. Pharmaceutical sales representatives come from many different educational backgrounds, but having a degree in one of the sciences will help you to understand the mechanism of action of various drugs.

2. Take some business courses. As a pharmaceutical sales representative, you must understand marketing strategies, so these courses will come in handy.

3. Identify some pharmaceutical companies you would like to work for. Many companies list internship opportunities on their websites.

4. Look for pharmaceutical companies at campus career fairs. Many of the major pharmaceutical companies come to campus to recruit students for internships or entry-level positions. Find out if any companies are visiting your campus.

Tips & Warnings

• Physicians--especially those who are "high prescribers" of pharmaceutical products--are called on by many sales reps each day. If you decide to do a pharmaceutical sales internship or make this your career, you will have to be good at developing relationships with the office staff in various practices in order to stand out from the crowd.

Resources

• Quintessential Careers features an article on pharmaceutical sales.
• Check out a pharmaceutical sales internship posting on the WVU site.
• Glaxo Smith Kline has a Campus Consumers program.