How could being told "no" in a job interview be good for you? Hear how Doug Hedrick used the disappointment to seek feedback on his interviewing skills until he got hired!

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Hi everyone! We are back today with Doug Hedrick for part 2 of his story.

 

From part 1, we learned that Doug has a dual career as a medical sales rep and an army chaplain. He has learned tremendous leadership skills and empathy through his roles.

 

He is currently in oncology sales in urology and has hired and managed sales reps. 

 

I asked Doug what his best tips are for getting hired and advancing your career.

 

He said his number 1 tip is networking and relationships.

• In non-medical sales, about 70-80% of all jobs are found through networking 
• In medical sales, this is even more important because it is so competitive

 

My coaching tip: Do "informational interviews" with anyone in the medical field. (Now you are on their radar when they hear about job openings.)

 

In the last episode, Doug shared that part of his "WHY" was because his dad had cancer. He really enjoys the fact that the products he promotes in this role make a real difference in the patients' lives.

 

I agree that it feels good to know that your products positively impact the patient.

 

Doug is currently an account manager. He said it's like being a quarterback, where he's helping coordinate the teams of reps that call on the accounts. It makes him more tactical and strategic vs. if he was just an individual rep.

 

He said the biggest obstacle he faced in his medical sales career was not getting promoted into management when he knew he had all the necessary skills.

 

Obviously, the army trained him in leadership skills, so why couldn't he get promoted?

 

After being told "no" several times, he pulled a top manager aside and learned he wasn't coming across well in the interviews.

 

He had all the leadership skills but did not communicate them well.

 

His solution was learning to think like the person across from him. He needed to understand where they were coming from.

 

Getting told "no" made him dig deep and figure out how to come across differently until he was hired. He learned to do a better job at communicating how his transferable skills fit the new role.

 

This happened to me earlier in my career as well. I couldn't communicate well with my manager and felt stuck and overlooked.

 

My solution was to hire a career coach.

 

Through coaching, I discovered the DISC communication styles. DISC teaches that there are four different communication styles. I realized that my manager and I were using completely different communication styles.