10 Common Pharmaceutical Sales Recruiter Problems Worth Knowing

Apparently, pharmaceutical sales candidates are not the only party having all sorts of problems. The recruiters do too. 

Here are 14 common problems pharma sales recruiters tend to face, and they're worth knowing:

1. They miss important info. Obsession with only a few critical areas during interviews cause them to overlook certain aspects which are also crucial to sales jobs. These produce an incomplete profile of the candidates.

2. Overlook the job and organization fit. Recruiters often focus only on aspects of the job that they want to hear. They fail to grasp the candidate's motivation and aspiration. This could make way to job dissatisfaction later on.

3. Asking too much non-job related questions. It's pretty obvious where this leads to, and it's not qualifying candidates!

4. Redundant questions. It's another form of incompetency among interviewers. It shows to the candidates that interviewers are lack of preparation and clear communication.

5. Interviewers are disorganized. It's just a waste of time to go through the selection process that has no structure. The most significant adverse event is frustration, primarily to the candidates.

6. The selection process is a turnoff. The recruiters could appear talking too much, abusive, disorganized, redundant and plain.boring, which cause candidates to walk away.

7. Bias and stereotyping. Ultimately, these two problems affect the final selection decision. Recruiters could possibly pass up highly potential candidates due to these.

8. Not recording the interview for revision. Many people, interviewers included, rely too much on the memory of what is being said, or not.

9. Assumption of candidates info. The premise could mean guessing. Guessing could be inaccurate, so it's better to ask up front than to assume. Right?

10. Give in totally to the first impression. No doubt that the first impression is essential, but it's far from the deciding factor. There's a laundry list of items to consider if a candidate is fit for the sales position or not.

Related reading:

1. 10 quick pharma sales job interview tips
2. 5 answers to the question why you will be a good pharma rep