Eric Passalacqua - Medical Sales Institute

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Eric Passalacqua

Medtronic

Tell me a little about your background.

I graduated from Ohio State in March of 2020 with a degree in Biology. I knew that I wanted to work in healthcare but did not feel as though graduate school was right for me. I felt as though medical sales would be a great industry to get into, but getting into it seemed impossible with my lack of sales experience.

Why were you interested in pursuing medical sales as a career?

My father is a doctor, and as my role model he helped inspire my journey into the healtchare field. After realizing that hands-on patient care was not for me, I decided to look at other opportunities to work in the healthcare field. I knew that I wanted to help others, and be an advocate for change, and after further investigation I realized that Medical Sales was where I could do both of those things in a unique way.

How did you learn about Medical Sales College?

Google

What ultimately made you decide to attend?

After reading several of the student testimonials and speaking with a graduate I realized that MSC was the real deal. I saw several people with journey's similar to mine with a degree in biology or kinesiology but no sales experience, and how MSC helped them bridge that gap and break into the medical device industry.

Please describe your training experience at Medical Sales College.

I felt as though MSC was extremely thorough in their organization and presentation of information. You get out what you put in, and if you are truly ready to make this a career MSC is a great starting point to build a strong foundation upon.

Describe your experience with Dynamic Consultative Sales training.

Our sales instructor, Tom Lee, was probably the perfect guy to teach sales. He was fun, charismatic, but made sure we understood the seriousness of what we were doing. His training and preparation helped in the interview process and will certainly transfer into the field.

Describe your Career Development training experience.

This week was a bit jumbled, but I also think that because we were so ready to attack the market a lot of us had our minds on other things. Joe certainly helped tremendously in reviewing our resume, cover letters, etc. and had tons of valuable information to offer. In addition many of the mock interview situations helped put me in the right mentality to prepare for the interviews I experienced shortly following graduation

Being a recent college graduate, how did MSC help you to prepare to enter the professional workforce?

By giving me a strong foundation of knowledge and enough industry exposure, I feel as though I can confidently converse with an industry professional in regards to clinical topics. They gave us an array of strategies for sales, and paired with the extensive knowledge that we learned will prepare me to be leagues ahead of where someone new would be in the field.

What made you choose to invest in more education by attending MSC after just recently graduating college?

It was either spend 3 years selling or take the fast track. I knew what I wanted to do, and getting the sales experience was only delaying the start of my career. I was confident that as long as I had something on my resume to get my foot in the door I could get myself a job, and that's exactly what MSC did.

What is the most valuable piece of information that you learned while attending MSC which ultimately helped you land your position?

This is difficult to determine...I think that the abundance of knowledge is what was truly valuable. With the anatomy, pathology, procedures, and products I was able to formulate an idea of the industry in my mind that you could only get from work experience. I think that is the most valuable thing, I feel as though I have worked in medical sales without ever stepping into the field before.

How did placement services help accelerate your entry into the medical device sales industry?

Placement services was able to connect me with people that knew hiring managers directly, and give me information and advice regarding them and their company.

Why should someone attend Medical Sales College?

So that they can approach the medical device industry with confidence and poise. I felt prepared in interviews and feel prepared for the role I am about to begin, which is something I never would have felt without attending MSC.

How long did you try to get into the industry before attending MSC? What was that experience like?

1 year and miserable. I tried to break into the market right when COVID hit and I could barely keep someone on the phone long enough to tell them my name let alone get an interview. After MSC I had people contacting me, complete 180.

Please briefly explain your job interview process with your hiring company.

There was one phone interview, then I met with the hiring manager in person for a personality assessment. After this I met with a panel of team members and was bombarded with questions but it went extremely well and I was contacted three days later with an offer. Whole process lasted two and a half weeks.