The sales profession is tailor-made for many retired and transitioning Vets, especially officers. Why? – because the best salespeople need many of the qualities of a good military officer – aggressiveness, drive, willingness to take calculated risks, and capacity to work as a team member within an organization. And somost large companies are eager to hire military candidates.

Yet sales as a profession has a checkered reputation. You can catch a sense of this from the classic stage play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. In the play traveling salesman Willy Loman lives a life of frustration and financial hardscrabble, finally giving up and taking his own life by crashing his car into a bridge abutment. So not exactly your idea of a dream job?

But there’s another side to the sales story. Today, many companies offer terrific opportunities for salespeople – who, by the way, they prefer to call Account Managers or Account Executives or Territory Managers – and the job may be as much consulting and customer relations as it is direct sales. There are innumerable types of such positions out there, but in this posting I’ll focus on medical sales, which is one of the best.

A medical sales position usually involves consultative direct selling of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, capital equipment, or so-called “disposables” to hospitals and physicians in a given territory. (“Disposables” means single-use medical supplies, like syringes, medical gloves and gowns, etc.).

Selling such products to physicians and hospitals can be highly lucrative. Base salaries starting out are $65,000 to $85,000, and OTE, which means “on-target earnings” (i.e., including sales commissions) is usually around $140,000. That simply means the company expects you to earn that much with commission added to base. That is great compensation for a young person in an entry-level job. And you do not have to have any particular technical skills – training is provided by the employer. However, there’s a catch (as always). You have to be a natural salesperson. Outgoing, professional, likeable, driven to succeed. Well-organized. For while landing a medical sales position may not be too hard for most Vets, keeping it is another matter. Your employer will expect you to meet or exceed your quota, quarter after quarter. Just being good isn’t enough, you have to be very good. As time passes, you’re expected to develop a “brag book” of sales accomplishments – like “20% over quota last year, President’s Club two years…..” etc. So you see, this is not a job for slackers or people satisfied to vegetate in a cubicle.

On the plus side, you’ll probably learn very quickly if a medical sales job is for you. If not, fine, just move on to something else. If it is, you’ll ascend the sales ladder to more and more lucrative territories, perhaps even moving into sales management. Many of these folks eventually earn in the low to mid-six-figures, and of course there are also the Superstars. Typical successful medical Sales Reps regularly earn in the low six figures after 3-5 years. Superstars can earn much more, with the rare rep cracking seven figures. For most, though, med sales offers a solid upper-middle-class lifestyle, not a wealthy one

Today medical sales jobs for former military are plentiful. The top employers are aware of the skills you’ve developed in the military and are interested in recruiting you. Unlike in many office jobs (including, by the way, inhouse sales – which has much less potential) you can’t be too aggressive, too driven, or too ambitious in this field. Nor is a great deal of experience needed – at the entry level, companies are typically looking for people who can sell, period. However, a word of caution: choose your first employer carefully. Only work for a medical products or services company with name recognition and so-called best-of-breed products or services. Do some research onkine before you accept a job. Check Glassdoor.com, to name one good resource, and talk to anyone you know in sales. What’s it like to work for this company?  In particular, you’re probably not ready to jump into a startup company at this point. The top companies have the best training programs, and that’s what you’ll need most. Also, of course, such companies have well-established customers and markets so that “selling” can translate largely to “order taking.” That means less pressure while you’re learning. In any case, you should consider taking some consultative training courses on your own (often available at community colleges – or check the Internet). Some employers weigh such training heavily in picking new employees.

Right now, pharma is the biggest area and has the most jobs for veterans. AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck are a few of the big-name employers and are hiring veterans , especially officers, on an ongoing basis. But competition is tough in pharma and, on average, you’ll make more money in medical devices or medical capital equipment (such as diagnostic equipment). Employers in fields will often consider candidates with sales in other related fields, especially in B2B sales, such as office equipment.

Clearly, medical sales is not for everyone. You have to be an extrovert who loves a challenge, loves talking to people, including strangers, and enjoys the thrill of the hunt. And who doesn’t mind spending a couple nights a week at a motel. In short, you have to be a Type A personality through and through. If you’re all of this, medical sales may have much to offer – high income, status, a sense of being your own boss. and –an important plus to salespeople — clients (medical professionals) who tend to be upbeat and friendly. In med sales, who knows, even Willy Loman might have been happy and wound up a big success.