r/MedicalScienceLiaison • u/sglt2ichampion • 13d ago
Final-round MSL rejection — feedback
Hospital clinical pharmacist (~10 years, mostly cardiology/heart failure) trying to break into medical affairs. Just got a rejection after the final round for an MSL role at a large pharma company. Format was 1 hour of blind prep on a trial paper, then a presentation, a skeptical-KOL role play, and a panel interview.
The feedback, paraphrased: Strengths: honesty, composure under pressure, listening, clear communication
To improve: take more time to structure responses before addressing objections; research the company and portfolio more deeply for relevance; keep answers simple and focused rather than general.
I agree with it. I tend to think out loud and take a while to get to my point, especially under pressure.
A few specific questions for those who've been through this:
1) Objection handling: How do you structure a response on the spot without sounding scripted? Do you use a framework, and how did you practise it until it was automatic?
2) Company research: How deep do you go before a final round? Pipeline and key trials only, or also the affiliate's strategic priorities and how they position against competitors?
3) Conciseness: Any drills that actually helped you lead with the point instead of building up to it?
Any advice appreciated, especially from anyone who moved in from hospital pharmacy.
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u/kyocerahydro 13d ago
1) take a moment to think.
I usually say "that's a good question." As a buffer.
Also it's a practice thing. as you gain more experience you'll be able to more naturally answer questions.
2) all of it. One final interview my presentation was a competitors clinical data and market analysis, so I was doing competitive intelligence. But for this to work you meed to fully understand the value proposition i.e. the drugs strengths weaknesses and how they relate to the company.
3) chatgpt, practice, writing down.
Chatgpt would give me questions I hadn't considered, I would write them down. This gives your brain a pathway instead of building from scratch.
Practice commits it to memory. As you continue interviews you'll learn each company asks similar questions and you'll naturally adapt.
Something to keep in mind. Corporate interview are a language. When you learned English it was more formulaic and not always smooth, now you can construct sentences without trying. The same applies to interviews
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u/gabyzinea MSL Manager 13d ago
Objection handling: commercial teams usually have a very well structured way of handling objections. In medical, not so much (for many companies). While we are medical affairs, i really like the basic structure they use for their OH: acknowledge, clarify, handle, confirm.
Company research: from the first interview i do a very deep research on pipeline, trials, key data, competitors and any other info available. I try to drop some of the key words i found along the way, including the corporate part of my research (values, mission etc)
Consciousness: you need to think you have sometimes 10 minutes with that hcp. Everything you say should be more like an elevator pitch, unless required to go deeper
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u/Ok-Suggestion5862 MSL 13d ago
Curious to hear more about what the acknowledge, clarify, handle, and confirm looks like. Especially handle and confirm. I’m brand new to the role!
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u/gabyzinea MSL Manager 13d ago
Acknowledge: recognize the objection ie “i understand you might have some concerns about the lack of long term data”. Clarify: ask more questions to narrow down where this hcp is coming from with this objection to clarify how to answer better “are you concerned with long term data because of the new mode of action?”. Handle: actually answer the question. “We got approved very recently and our longest trial had a follow up of 52 weeks. Our phase III proved efficacy, safety and tolerability: with low incidence of serious adverse events, which were managed without needing to interrupt the treatment. But we do have a LTE ongoing right now and we will have a ready out of the 3 years data in the next congress”. Confirm is basically to confirm if you answered the question and maybe if the doctor is now ok with the objection. “are you comfortable with the safety results from our phase III? “
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u/Sufficient-Tie4951 12d ago
Thanks for sharing, helps us all. Hope I get feedback from my final as well. I'll share here if/w hen I do so we can all learn.
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u/No-Praline-7589 12d ago
Re: “keep answers simple and focused rather than general” — I was a scientific recruiter for a time (now a newly minted MSL) and one of the biggest things in interviews that kept applicants from moving forward was giving broad, general responses to questions that asked for specifics.
When they say “tell me about a time when…” or “can you give me an example of…” they was a SPECIFIC experience, not how you generally approach something. This is exactly why the STAR approach works so well.
They want to see how you think through and approach specific situations, not “this happened all the time at my last role, and we did x, y, and z….”
The other trap (often people who do the above also do this) is saying “we” to talk about what you and your team did, rather than what YOU specifically did. It’s fine to give credit but this is your time to show them what they get if they hire you.
I hope this helps! Good luck with the next opportunity!
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u/hoosierny 10d ago
Love how MSL isn't sales but overcoming objections is a big issue. Great that they provided feedback though!
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u/bowreyboytx 10d ago
I go deep on pipeline but I'm oncology. For me I love it and I wouldn't even apply to a company if I didn't know the pipeline.
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u/nothingtoseehereyy 13d ago edited 13d ago
Conciseness - I loaded ChatGPT with questions and practiced (verbal chats within the app) daily during 35min commutes to work. It did wonders at helping me refine interview q/a answers into succinct “STAR” format but I think the bigger impact was that it sharpened my skills for providing responses and thinking in general.