Medical Representatives

Medical Representative as a job is not common to most Filipinos, but in the Pharmaceutical industry, they are quite famous as they play a big role in the practice of the doctors. And I chose the word famous because most of the ones hired for this job are good-looking, with impressive physique, and good communication skills which in totality leave a good impression of professionalism.

To become a medical representative, one needs to be a graduate of any 4-year course. Medical course is an advantage but not necessary since a successful applicant goes through a rigorous training in the field of Biology and Pharmacy to be able to grasp the basic concepts of human diseases and the role of the medicines that he is going to promote to the doctors.

The primary role of a medical representative is to promote a medicine brand to the doctors by making the doctors aware of the features and benefits of that brand, its target disease and how effectively it brings cure. He also communicates its price, special promo if ever there is, and where the patients can buy that brand.

It is relatively easy to become a medical representative, and the pay is high. Aside from the basic salary, one gets a commission monthly for reaching the sales target plus quarterly incentives, semestral and yearly, not to mention the 13th to 15th month pay, depending on the sales performance of the company as a whole.

If we talk about being employed by the biggest multi-national companies like GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis, the basic salary starts from PHP15,000 but upon regularization at 6th month, pay starts to increase. Yearly, the employees are covered by Collective Bargaining Agreement that increases their salary by around PHP3500 average. But the biggest cash is from the sales commissions that can reach up to PHP20,000 per month, PHP70,000 per quarter and around that much too in semestral- and year-ends. A 3-year medical representative who consistently achieves his sales target can expect PHP500,000 in his ITR comes year-end.

But the best part is it comes with a car plan. Gasoline expense is covered by the company, and the car gets to be owned by the rep after 5 years of using it. For some companies it's all for free while the other charge a minimal amount of 10% of the car's acquisition cost.

All it takes is some guts, innate pleasantness and good character to be one.

To apply, go to the websites of the pharmaceutical companies operating in the country and leave your resume in their databank.