Lab Sales Job Description

Medical sales jobs can be an incredible career choice.  It’s fascinating for those interested in medicine or technology, it’s continually changing with scientific advances and the updating of products, it’s rewarding because your products contribute to positive patient outcomes, and it’s profitable.  While there are many types of career opportunities within the entire medical sales field, laboratory sales offers some of the most opportunities for success.  What should you know about this field?  How can you get your foot in the door for these types of positions?

Obviously, you should know a bit about what sort of companies you might sell to in the industry.  Laboratories are used for any number of different purposes.  You will find research labs, as well as biotech and clinical laboratories in operation throughout the U.S.  You can sell to private, specialty laboratories, as well as larger, corporate labs throughout the nation.  Because of the nature of this industry, equipment and supplies are always required, regardless of what the economy might be doing.  Everyone needs healthcare.

Getting into the field of laboratory sales will require some relatively specialized knowledge.  For instance, preference is given to those applicants with a background in chemistry, biology and other lab-related fields of study.  However, in a few companies, these are not hard requirements.  Many manufacturers and suppliers of laboratory equipment and supplies will provide initial and ongoing training to help you support your sales.  That said, you will need to have some experience in a few areas to be considered for this type of position.

Most companies in laboratory sales require that you have experience in the world of sales.  General sales experience is usually accepted, but B2B (business to business) sales experience is preferred in most cases.  You will also need to have strong organizational skills, strong communications skills and be self-motivated.  Many of these positions involve working outside of an office environment, requiring that you travel frequently to meet with clients and customers, as well as demonstrating the use of equipment and supplies.  Therefore, you will also need a clean driving record to get started.

If you are new to the area of laboratory sales, you might benefit from some outside help.  Recruiters, consultants, coaches and trainers can all offer you viable benefits, ensuring that you present yourself as the best possible candidate to employers.  In addition, these professionals can help you develop a network within the industry, which will also help you find a job much faster than going it alone.  With the right help, you can find any number of desirable sales positions in the laboratory industry.

Profile Of A Biotech Career

Biotechnology is defined as the manipulation of organisms to do practical things and provide useful products. A career in biotechnology is possible for those with a Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD. While most biotechnologists deal with living organisms, there are a few areas of biotechnology that do not, such as the field of studying radioactive tracers.

Earnings as a biotechnologist can run from $30,000 all the way up to 6-figures for the more prestigious positions which will likely require a Ph.D. and many years of experience. Although this is quite a range, the mid-salary is $50,000-60,000 for a corporate position. Let’s delve into the exciting rewards this career choice has to offer.

Challenging Work

Some biotechnologists study medical processes. Job functions in this area include the designing of organisms in order to result in antibiotics and the engineering of genetic cures via genomic manipulation. Other biotechnologists deal with industrial processes. Job functions in this area would cover the designing of an organism that results in useful chemicals. Still other biotechnologists deal with agricultural processes, i.e. the designing of transgenic plants, and enabling them to grow under certain environmental conditions.

Other work in biotechnology includes bioinformatics or computational biology. The focus in these fields is on solving biological problems using computational techniques. This work includes many different areas: functional and structural genomics, proteomics, and components in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector.

Career Tidbits

If you are considering biotechnology as a career, please review the following list of general career tidbits:

- Biotechnologists generally work 40 hours per week, but may be asked to work more based on the particular experiments currently running. Their daily tasks most often involve working in a laboratory.

- Biotechnology breakthroughs have occurred in new medical therapies. For example, enhanced treatment of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Diabetes, Cancers, Multiple Sclerosis, Arthritis, Hemophilia, and Bone Fractures have all been made possible via biotechnology.

- Biotechnology-related products have reached sales over $500 billion per year and experienced a growth rate of 24% since the beginning of this century.

- Currently, job openings for biotechnologists are predicted to climb at a faster than average rate until 2014.
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