Medical Sales Representative, often referred to as reps, is the business of selling medicines or health products to doctors and/or other health care professionals. Of course, medical sales are governed by more strict ethical and legal requirements compared to other typical sales jobs since we are ultimately dealing with the safety and well-being of patients. Medical sales reps are employed by pharmaceutical and medical device companies. The pharmaceutical and device industries are huge and growing ever larger, so there's an endlessly growing need for more medical sales reps.

Many companies prefer reps that have a life science degree and they prefer reps who already have some sales experience at least. On top of this, as one of the few lucrative career options in the medical industry, this career is in high demand. Hence this is an exceptionally difficult industry to break into.

The good news is that a formal medical sales rep qualification administered via the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) is now available in South Africa. What does this mean? The medical sales representative qualification is structured as a learnership and offers an opportunity for recent graduates, including grade 12 graduates, to be placed within pharmaceutical companies for a 12 month period to gain experience and at the same time receive a stipend. During the 12 month period they will also be expected to attend training, complete assignments and write exams. This therefore requires commitment from the learner, the pharmaceutical company and the training provider.

Even better news; several companies across the medical industry have joined forces with Masoom Training Solutions, a CHIETA Accredited Training Provider, to provide workplace opportunities for 50 learners in Gauteng during the 2014 financial year.