A recruiter reached out to me today with an amazing pharma regional director role.
And she could not find someone to fill it.
In Tampa.
For goodness' sake.
That is not exactly a "please move to a cornfield with one gas station and a dream" kind of location.
And then, almost right on cue, a friend of mine who is a pharma regional manager told me she is having a HECK of a time finding someone to even apply to her role in Atlanta.
Great company.
Great opportunity.
Nearly zero applications.
So naturally, I started thinking about all the medical sales, pharma, biotech, diagnostics, med device, and healthcare leadership professionals who are applying to the same obvious companies, refreshing the same job boards, researching the same major players, and wondering why everything feels so tight.
And listen.
Sometimes the market really is tight.
But sometimes the opportunity is sitting somewhere else.
In a smaller company.
In a mid-size organization.
Inside a recruiter's network.
Inside a hiring manager's "do you know anyone?" text.
Inside a conversation you would never find if your whole search strategy is "apply online and wait."
The calls I keep getting tell a different story
The kind of calls and messages I have received this year may surprise you.
They usually sound something like this:
"Claire, do you know anyone in Chicago? Anyone even remotely interested in women's health?"
"Claire, do you know anyone in Columbus? I can train anyone. I just need the right attitude for diagnostics."
"Claire, our VP just left. Do you know anyone who would be willing to come in, even fractionally?"
Notice what those people are not saying.
They are not saying:
"Claire, do you have a cookie-cutter candidate with 15 years of exact experience, perfect keywords, a flawless background, and a women's-health-ride-or-die tattoo on their derriere?"
Nope.
They are saying:
- "Remotely interested"
- "I can train them"
- "Available"
- "Willing"
- "Right attitude"
Please do not hear that as "the bar is low."
The bar is not low.
But it may be more reachable than your online application experience is making you believe.
The problem is not always your qualifications
If you have applied to 50 roles online this month and everything feels silent, the easy conclusion is:
"I must not be qualified."
Maybe.
But also maybe not.
Maybe you are looking where everyone else is looking.
Maybe you are only researching the largest, most obvious companies.
Maybe your target list is too narrow.
Maybe you are skipping small- and mid-size organizations where the hiring manager actually has a real problem and needs a real person.
Maybe you are not talking to enough recruiters.
And maybe you are not building enough relationships with people who know about the role before the online posting ever gets traction.
This is where a lot of strong candidates get stuck.
They are willing to work.
They are qualified.
They may even be an excellent fit.
But they are operating like the job market is one big searchable database when, in healthcare and medical sales especially, it is still very much a relationship market.
Hiring managers and recruiters have tools. What they do not have is time.
Do hiring managers have networks?
Yes.
Do recruiters have LinkedIn, AI tools, databases, sourcing platforms, and candidate filters?
Usually, yes.
Do companies always post the jobs?
Not always.
And even when they do, that does not mean the hiring manager wants to spend their week sorting through AI-ranked applications and hoping the right person floats to the top.
You know what many of them do not have?
Time.
And you know who they do not have yet?
You.
They would rather get a referral from someone they trust than filter through a pile of applications, hope 20 of them are worth interviewing, and then spend hours interviewing people who may or may not understand the role, the territory, the call point, or the business problem.
Secret's out:
Salespeople hate sorting paperwork.
And interviewing is stressful on both sides of the table.
So when a recruiter or hiring leader asks, "Do you know anyone?" that is not laziness.
It is often efficiency.
It is trust.
And it is an opening for the candidate who is willing to build relationships like a person instead of only submitting applications like a PDF with a pulse.
Before you apply to the 50th job, try this
Before you apply to the 50th online job this month, do something you may not have tried with enough intention yet.
Talk more.
Pick a company.
Go talk to people at that company.
Get curious.
Build a few real relationships.
This does not mean sending 87 cold messages that say:
"Hi, I'm looking for my next role. Please let me know if you hear of anything."
That is not a strategy.
That is a hope note.
Instead, try approaching the market like someone who is genuinely interested in understanding where the needs are.
Ask thoughtful questions:
- "What seems to be changing in your market right now?"
- "Are you seeing more movement in your region or within certain specialties?"
- "What kinds of backgrounds seem to be harder to find lately?"
- "Are smaller or mid-size companies in this space growing faster than people realize?"
- "If someone were targeting this lane, what would you tell them to learn first?"
That kind of conversation can uncover opportunities no job board is going to hand you in a neat little package.
Small and mid-size companies may be hiding the gems
I understand the appeal of the big-name companies.
Of course you want to look there.
They are visible. They are searchable. They are familiar. And sometimes they really are the right target.
But if every candidate is researching the same top 10 companies, applying to the same posted roles, and using the same obvious keywords, you may be standing in the most crowded part of the room and calling it the whole market.
It is not.
Small- and mid-size organizations can have incredible roles, strong leadership, meaningful products, better access to decision-makers, faster hiring conversations, and urgent needs that are not always marketed beautifully online.
And yes, some of them may need someone who is not a perfect, cookie-cutter match.
They may need someone smart, coachable, commercially strong, clinically curious, resilient, and willing to learn.
They may need someone who can build relationships.
They may need someone who can walk into a territory, stabilize trust, and create movement.
They may need you.
Like, really need you.
That unreachable bar may be more reachable through relationships
Online applications can make the bar feel unreachable.
And sometimes the posted requirements are ridiculous.
You read a job description and think:
"Do they want a human being or a laboratory-created unicorn with territory experience, national accounts, KOL relationships, surgical depth, startup grit, enterprise polish, and 400 years in women's health?"
I get it.
But the conversations I am hearing in the market are often more practical.
"Can they learn?"
"Are they available?"
"Do they understand the call point?"
"Do they have the right attitude?"
"Could they be trained?"
"Would they be willing to consider this location?"
"Could they step in fractionally while we solve the bigger leadership gap?"
That does not mean you should throw your resume at everything.
Please do not.
It means you should stop assuming every opportunity is locked behind an impossible requirement wall.
Some doors open because someone trusted someone enough to say your name.
A better way into the market
If leads are slow, applications are silent, and you are starting to wonder whether there is anything out there, I would challenge you to spend the next two weeks differently.
Build a list of 15 companies you have not seriously researched yet.
Include small- and mid-size organizations.
Include companies in adjacent specialties.
Include organizations where your background might be valuable even if the job title is not an exact match.
Then build a relationship path into each one:
- Follow the company and key leaders on LinkedIn
- Identify recruiters who work that lane
- Look for regional managers, sales directors, commercial leaders, and people in the territory
- Comment thoughtfully before you message
- Ask informed questions instead of begging for openings
- Share a concise version of your target and relevant experience
- Follow up with care and patience
This is not glamorous.
But it works.
One recent coaching client engaged a networking process after a layoff and reported three interviews in one week.
Not because the market magically became easy.
Because the search became more relational, more focused, and more visible to the right people.
The Conclusion
Do not let online applications and AI-sorted job boards convince you that the whole medical sales market is out of reach. Some of the best roles are sitting inside recruiter conversations, hiring-manager referrals, small- and mid-size companies, and relationships that have not been built yet. Pick a company, talk to people, get curious, and build the same kind of trust you would build in real life, because this is real life. And that "right person" someone is trying to find may very well be you.
Frequently asked questions
Should I still apply online for medical sales roles?
Yes, but online applications should not be your whole strategy. Apply when the role is aligned, but pair it with networking, recruiter conversations, company research, and warm relationship-building whenever possible.
Should I only target large medical sales or pharma companies?
No. Large companies can be excellent targets, but small- and mid-size organizations may have less visible roles, faster access to decision-makers, and urgent needs that are easier to uncover through conversations.
How do I find hidden-market medical sales roles?
Start by building a target list of companies, identifying recruiters and commercial leaders in that lane, following market activity, asking thoughtful questions, and staying visible through specific, professional follow-up.
What should I say to recruiters if I am open to more than one lane?
Give them a first lane to remember you by. You can say, "My first target is regional sales leadership in diagnostics or med device, but I am also open to adjacent commercial healthcare roles where my background in clinical selling and team leadership would translate."
What if I do not have exact experience for the posted role?
Do not assume you are out. If you understand the call point, can learn the product, have relevant commercial proof, and can clearly explain the bridge, the right recruiter or hiring manager may still see a path.