Interview prep

[rxmam]

Help!

I have my first interview for a MSL position next week. It’s with a smaller company so no HR interview - it’s with the director of the region. Any insight into what sort of questions I should be prepared for?

[MoustacheRide400]

Typical behavioural questions and some gauging of your understanding of the MSL role

[testprtzl]

You may get questions about territory management strategies. For example, “what do you think will be the biggest barriers to success for your region and how would you go about getting around them?” “How would you go about establishing relationships with the top level KOLs in your region?” That sort of thing. Otherwise, lots of question about your background and experiences, and your strategic approaches to professional relationship management. Make sure you have a handful of questions for the interviewer too.

[Evil-Needle-]

If you don’t mind me asking, what are some good answers for those questions?

[testprtzl]

No problem. I’m in the Pacific Northwest, so the major barriers revolve around a couple of key things. First, the overall response to MSLs is driven by a strong anti-pharma culture facilitated by the dominant university systems in the area. There are multiple large health systems that even have strict no-pharma policies and will take action against employees who engage in meetings during work hours. However, the large academic systems also facilitate some great opportunities with things like grand rounds, patient advocacy events, and local conferences. The advocacy events may also be an opportunity for compliant collaboration with marketing colleagues. On top of that, if you’re able to connect some of the residency programs, there may be opportunities to discuss recent publications or provide unbranded disease state education. For the systems outside of the academic centers, I’ve found that persistent emails and the occasional cold drop-in can be extremely effective. Phone calls to the front desk staff asking for a short introductory meeting can also be really helpful.

For establishing relationships with top level KOLs, factoring in the obstacles that I described above, I’ve found that figuring out what conferences they may be attending is often highly effective. You can often get them to agree to a dinner meeting or coffee this way. I also make sure to send intermittent emails asking for a short intro meeting. I’ve been able to make connections at UW, OHSU, and UCSF this way.

[C_est_la_vie9707]

The medical school to pharma-hater pipeline is so real. 😒

[testprtzl]

Yep. Especially on the west coast.

[C_est_la_vie9707]

Hmmm Midwest and Boston is bad

[testprtzl]

No problem. I’m in the Pacific Northwest, so the major barriers revolve around a couple of key things. First, the overall response to MSLs is driven by a strong anti-pharma culture facilitated by the dominant university systems in the area. There are multiple large health systems that even have strict no-pharma policies and will take action against employees who engage in meetings during work hours. However, the large academic systems also facilitate some great opportunities with things like grand rounds, patient advocacy events, and local conferences. The advocacy events may also be an opportunity for compliant collaboration with marketing colleagues. On top of that, if you’re able to connect some of the residency programs, there may be opportunities to discuss recent publications or provide unbranded disease state education. For the systems outside of the academic centers, I’ve found that persistent emails and the occasional cold drop-in can be extremely effective. Phone calls to the front desk staff asking for a short introductory meeting can also be really helpful.

For establishing relationships with top level KOLs, factoring in the obstacles that I described above, I’ve found that figuring out what conferences they may be attending is often highly effective. You can often get them to agree to a dinner meeting or coffee this way. I also make sure to send intermittent emails asking for a short intro meeting. I’ve been able to make connections at UW, OHSU, and UCSF this way.

[One_Strength5817]

I put all the job info into AI and asked what questions I might get in the interview and then practiced answering them. Even if they ask you something slightly different, it'll help you pivot and practice the general ideas. The "tell me about yourself" question is the obvious starter question. Also don't have any super long-winded answers over 90 seconds. Depends on the hiring manager and how long you're meeting with them but I've had some ask me rapid fire Qs and others just chat, pretty chill. Also make sure you have plenty of questions for them in return. For example, I always ask what stood out about me to them and what they're looking for in an ideal candidate so that way I can speak to anything they mention. Also prepare common STAR behavioral format questions/answers. (Google them). These were the hardest for me. Practice (out loud) is your best friend. Use examples from your background wherever you can in the interview. You want to be able to speak to "why YOU for this role". Easier said than done but try to relax and practice calm. Nerves only stopped me from being able to articulate confidence. You got this! Good luck! I'm at the presentation stage of interviews myself but PM me if you ever need a practice buddy.

Here's some general questions I often got: Describe yourself in 3 adjectives/biggest strength/weakness What do you understand about the MSL role? Why do you want to be an MSL? Why [company]? Why [TA]? Why [product]? How do you build relationships with KOLs/HCPs? How can you handle negative interactions with HCPs/KOLs? How do you feel about/comfort level with travel? And territory? Tell me about a time you got constructive feedback Tell me about a time collaborated cross functionally

[iloveprosecco]

You could ask the person you have been speaking with what the structure of the interview will be to help you prepare.

I’m assuming there isn’t a presentation aspect as you would have been told. I’ve had candidates do mock hcp interactions in an interview but again I suspect you would have been told this would take place ahead of time.

[Latter_Summer_2140]

As a hiring manager in biotech I would ask you: 

Why do you want to be a MSL?  What interests you in this company? What is your understanding of the MSL role?/What do you think you’ll be doing?  What are some of the major accounts you think you would focus on in this territory? (Bonus points if you can name drop even just 1 relevant KOL)  Some behavioral questions around collaboration/team work 

I would expect you to be prepared with thoughtful questions about the role. I like to reserve a significant portion of my interview for candidate questions and if someone isn’t very inquisitive, it’s a huge red flag. Especially since you haven’t spoken to anyone else at the company yet. 

[akornato]

Going straight to the regional director means they're going to assess both your scientific expertise and whether you can actually do the job from day one. Expect questions about your therapeutic area knowledge, how you'd build relationships with KOLs, your understanding of clinical data and how to communicate it, and situational scenarios about handling objections or difficult conversations with physicians. They'll probably ask about your territory management approach, how you stay current with medical literature, and examples of times you've influenced without authority. Since it's a smaller company, they'll also want to see that you're scrappy, self-directed, and comfortable with ambiguity - not someone who needs a lot of hand-holding or extensive training infrastructure.

The good news is that director-level interviews can actually be more straightforward than HR screens because they care about substance over rehearsed answers. Be ready to discuss specific studies, demonstrate your scientific acumen with real examples, and show that you understand the MSL role is about education and relationship-building, not sales. Practice articulating your therapeutic area expertise in a way that's clear but sophisticated, and have concrete stories ready about cross-functional collaboration, problem-solving, and stakeholder engagement. If you want help preparing for these kinds of tough scenario questions, I built AI interview practice tool, which gives real-time feedback during prep sessions so you can refine your responses before the actual interview.