Friday, October 30, 2009

Rep Tracking in Hospitals

Most hospitals have instituted a system to track sales representatives and other vendors who visit their facilities on a regular basis. One of the main reasons is to protect the safety of patients. Requirements to register with the services usually include background checks and certain immunizations. There are several services out there, so it is likely a representative will have to register with more than one, and stay current through periodic renewals, in order to have access to the hospitals in their territory.

When I went on the ride-along with Raquel, you will remember that she signed-in at the first hospital we visited. That was with one of these credentialing services. Even though it was her first time in this particular hospital, she was already registered with the particular service they used.

I have added 2 of these services to my blogroll below. Reptrax and Vendor Credentialing Service (VCS). VCS offers on-line HIPPA, bloodborne pathogen & OR Protocol training for $60-125 each. Most medical device companies will offer this training to new sales reps themselves. However, this training might offer one way for an enterprising candidate to demonstrate their initiative and commitment to breaking into medical sales.

If there are other major rep tracking services you are aware of, please feel free to note in comments below...

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Follow-up on foul language

Today I received an invite to attend a webinar entitled "Workplace Cursing and Off-Color Remarks: Policies that Stop Lawsuits". Although I will not be able to attend, I thought it was worth noting as a follow-up to my last post.

The first line of the description states: "Cursing and off-color remarks in the workplace are a lawsuit waiting to happen."

Cursing should not only be off-limits during the interview, but forever thereafter too. If you've considered cursing in the workplace acceptable, it is probably time to rethink this idea.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Interview Suicide

No matter what, never ever ever curse in an interview.

As a recruiter, I work really hard to find the best qualified, smartest, most enthusiastic candidates I can. When one of them goes to an interview and drops the "bomb", it is enough to make me want to jump off a bridge. Or worse yet, curse- but I don't. Because it's simply not professional.

(Please note: I even omitted the sixth letter of the alphabet above. That is how serious I am about absolutely no cursing.)

Most often, cursing seems to occur when a candidate is relating a story about a certain situation. They may actually be quoting someone who cursed at them. Not a good idea, however colorful or dramatic it may seem. It does not convey how tough, intense, determined or assertive you are.

The only thing it communicates is that you have poor judgment.

Not only should you avoid the "bomb", you should avoid any version of a curse word that a fourth-grader would be reprimanded for saying. I don't even like to hear my fourth grader call anyone stupid or say "shut up". Your safest bet is to keep it totally G-rated.

We all come across people in this world who are "difficult". Situations that are "challenging". You could also say they are jerks, and that the situation sucks- but I would think twice about saying even that in an interview.

I guarantee, the hiring manager will understand you, even if you do not use foul language.