Matthew Caraballo

I?m a USAF veteran, former NASA employee, and MBA graduate. Born and raised in New Jersey, I began my professional career on active duty where I got the chance to serve all of the world as an aircraft mechanic. After my enlistment, I was honorably discharged and began working full-time for Department of the Navy in civilian human resources. At the same time, I began going to school, earning my Bachelor?s degree and Master?s degree. I was later selected for a coveted internship with NASA, where I served as a resource and budget analyst at the Kennedy Space Center. At the culmination of my military and federal career, I chose to shift my career path, break into medical sales industry, and attended Medical Sales College.

A career in medical sales offers me the chance to reach a high level of personal job fulfillment and satisfy three critical elements of my career. The first and foremost is a sense of purpose. Medical sales is closely aligned with my personal values and gives me the chance to make meaningful contributions to society on a high level. Secondly, medical sales allows me the opportunity to utilize my natural talents and abilities. It gives me the opportunity to invest in my strengths, which increases the probability of me making a greater and more valuable impact. Lastly, medical sales is primarily a performance-based career field. Knowing how hard I?m willing to work, I can be compensated relative to my efforts, and achieve my personal goals in life with greater success.

During my medical sales job search. I discovered an announcement for an internship with the Medical Sales College on Careerbuilder.com. After applying for the position, I was invited to a webinar held by the CEO where I learned more about the course offerings and options as a student. Realizing that I could streamline my goal of breaking into the industry by attending the course immediately, I decided to apply for admission.

After trying to break into the medical sales industry with zero success, I was actively seeking ways to build my knowledge of the industry and develop the skills necessary to be a successful rep in the field. Without previous clinical or sales experience, MSC offered me a solution for not only establishing a strong foundation of essential competencies, but offered me a chance to differentiate myself during the interview process, and have intelligent conversations with people in the industry.

My training experience at MSC was more than invaluable, but profound. Diving deep into the concepts of both the clinical side and the sales side of the business, the education I received at MSC was thorough and complete. The faculty and staff were a joy to be around, incredibly knowledgeable, and more than generous with their time and energy. No question was denied an answer, and the constant role plays and daily application of information really helped prove MSC worth the cost of tuition.

The Medical Sales College really prepares you for what it takes to be a successful medical sales rep in the field. You learn not only what is expected of you as an aspiring sales rep, but you build critical knowledge, skills, and abilities required to do the job. What you learn at MSC is not only applicable the moment you graduate, but gives you a head start in a complex and competitive environment. I can honestly say, without the Medical Sales College I would never have been considered for my current position and I would still be struggling to break into the medical sales industry. I found the tuition and monetary cost of attending the college was more than worth it. I was able to double my income because of MSC and can honestly say it was the best decision of my professional career.

I spent over 4 months applying to various medical device companies before deciding to attend MSC. I could not get past the resume phase of the screening process. Although I was networking with current reps and hiring managers, all of my efforts to secure a phone or face-to-face interview resulted in firm objections, and attending MSC helped me solve this problem.

I was reached out to directly on LinkedIn and began my interview process with a brief introductory phone screening with my current sales manager. The next step was a second phone screening, again with my sales manager, but was more formal and consisted of mainly logistical questions. The next step was a ride along in the field with a rep I am supporting, followed by an in-person interview with my sales manager. In the in-person interview I was asked a large number of knowledge and behavioral based questions, and it lasted over 90 minutes. The next step of the process was another phone screening, but this time with a different regional manager in another area of the country. After passing that interview, the final stage was another in-person interview, but with both the VP of sales for North America and my regional sales manager. It last approximately 90 minutes as well, and I was asked more of the same types of knowledge based and behavioral based questions. The day after the final interview, I received an offer letter.

I started yesterday and will be going through orientation. So far it has been amazing, and consistent with everything I learned it would be at MSC.

The only thing I wish I would have known before attending MSC is that there is a strong possibility that you won?t work in the specific field of study in your program. As a graduate of the Orthopedic Reconstruction and Trauma program, I am now working in women?s oncology. A lot of the specific orthopedic and clinical information I learned at MSC is not necessarily applicable in my current position, but it says even more about the value of attending the school, and how well it prepares you for a career medical sales.

One of the biggest things I learned at MSC that helped me during my interview process was understanding what a hiring manager is looking for. With the knowledge I gained at MSC, I was able to have an intelligent and technical conversation with sales managers, understand their needs, and communicate how I can meet them. There are countless competencies I gained at MSC that proved valuable during my hiring process as well. Everything from the Professional Rep Certification, to learning how to build a 30-60-90 plan provided useful in communicating I understood and could demonstrate what the job entails.