What MedTech Candidates Actually Want From Their Manager

What You Will Learn in This Post

• Why candidates are assessing their prospective manager as well as the role and company
• What candidates may want to understand about management style before accepting an offer
• How managers can give candidates a clearer picture of what working for them will actually be like
• Which questions employers should be prepared for during the interview process

Candidates Are Assessing the Manager Too

Salary matters. So do the products, territory, company, earning potential and opportunities for progression.

But there's another part of a MedTech opportunity that can have a significant influence on whether somebody wants the job.

The person they're going to work for.

Candidates are assessing the manager, not just the business.

That's particularly important in field-based roles, where somebody may spend most of their working week away from their manager but still rely on them for direction, support, feedback and decisions.

Different candidates will want different things from that relationship.

Someone taking their first step into medical sales may want regular contact and guidance. An experienced Territory Manager who has successfully managed their geography for years may want much greater autonomy.

So there isn't one management style that every candidate is looking for.

What they do want is enough information to decide whether the way you manage is likely to work for them.

1. Clear Expectations

One of the simplest things a manager can do during recruitment is explain the job clearly.

A candidate should come away understanding:

• What they're responsible for
• What the priorities are
• How success will be measured
• What will be expected during their first six months
• How established or developed the territory is
• How much autonomy they'll have
• How the manager and team normally work together

These aren't minor details.

They're what somebody will actually experience once they start.

If a candidate asks, “What would you want me to have achieved after six months?”, they should receive something more useful than “settled in and doing well”.

Likewise, if a territory needs significant development, say so.

A candidate who wants to build something may find that genuinely attractive. A candidate looking for an established territory may decide it isn't right for them.

Either outcome is better than discovering the difference after they've joined.

2. The Right Balance of Support and Autonomy

Ask candidates what they want from a manager and you'll get very different answers.

Some want regular contact.

Others want to know their manager is available when needed but otherwise trust them to get on with the job.

Experience plays a part, but personality and previous working environments matter too.

Rather than trying to present one management style as universally attractive, explain how you actually work.

For example:

• How often do you normally speak to members of the team?
• Do you have regular one-to-ones?
• How often are you in the field with them?
• How much freedom do Territory Managers have over their diaries?
• When would you expect somebody to involve you in an account or customer issue?
• How does your approach change with somebody who's new to the role?

“I'm not a micromanager” isn't particularly informative.

One person's autonomy is another person's lack of support.

Give candidates enough detail to understand what the relationship would actually look like.

3. An Interest in Their Development

Career progression doesn't necessarily mean promotion, particularly in smaller MedTech teams where there may be relatively few layers of management.

But candidates may still want to know whether they'll continue developing.

Managers can make this much more tangible by giving real examples.

Perhaps somebody in the team has moved into key accounts.

Maybe they've developed deeper expertise in a therapy area, taken responsibility for a product launch, started mentoring new employees or become involved in projects outside their usual territory.

Those examples tell a candidate far more than saying:

“There are lots of opportunities for progression.”

If development is genuinely available, be able to explain what it has looked like for people already in the team.

4. Honest, Straightforward Communication

Candidates won't only judge a manager by the answers they receive.

They'll notice how those answers are given.

Good candidates often ask difficult questions.

Why is the position available?

What's the biggest challenge in the territory?

Why did the previous person leave?

How is the team performing?

What happens when somebody misses target?

How does the manager handle disagreements?

You don't need to make the role sound perfect.

In fact, trying to do so can make it harder for a candidate to understand what they're really considering.

If a territory needs rebuilding, explain that.

If the business has recently gone through change, give appropriate context.

If the first few months are likely to be challenging, tell the candidate what those challenges are and what support they'll have.

The way a manager responds to a reasonable but difficult question can itself tell a candidate something about what it might be like to work for them.

5. A Manager Who Understands the Job

A manager doesn't necessarily need to have followed exactly the same career path as every member of their team.

But candidates generally want confidence that the person managing them understands the realities of the job.

For a field sales role, that might mean understanding:

• The geography and travel involved
• The customer base
• The commercial expectations
• The difference between maintaining and developing a territory
• The time involved in account development
• The practical pressures of working remotely from the wider team

For a clinically focused position, it might include understanding customer demands, case support, scheduling pressures and the unpredictability that can come with supporting procedures.

That understanding matters because it affects the expectations a manager sets and the decisions they make.

Be Prepared for Candidates to Interview You

A good interview should give both sides enough information to make a decision.

That means managers should expect candidates to ask questions about them too.

You might be asked:

• How would you describe your management style?
• How often do you normally speak to members of your team?
• How much autonomy do people have over their territory?
• What does somebody need to do to be successful in your team?
• How do you approach somebody who's struggling?
• Can you give me an example of somebody who's developed within the team?
• What are the biggest challenges the team is dealing with at the moment?
• What do your strongest performers do particularly well?
• How long have the current team members worked for you?

You don't need carefully rehearsed answers.

But you should be able to answer them.

And if different people involved in the recruitment process give completely different versions of the manager, role or expectations, candidates are likely to notice.

Brief Your Recruiter on the Manager, Not Just the Vacancy

When briefing a recruitment partner, it's natural to focus on the job.

Products. Territory. Salary. Target. Experience required.

But the manager is part of the opportunity too.

Tell your recruiter:

• How the manager works with their team
• How experienced the existing team is
• How much autonomy people are given
• How frequently the manager communicates with them
• What type of person tends to work well with their approach
• What development people within the team have had

That's particularly useful because candidates will often tell their recruiter what they want from their next manager.

Someone may be leaving because they've had too little support.

Another may be frustrated by being managed too closely.

Someone else may have a perfectly good relationship with their current manager but want more development than the business can provide.

Understanding both sides helps establish whether the opportunity is genuinely a good fit rather than simply whether the candidate can do the job.

Your Manager Is Part of the Opportunity

When you're recruiting, it's easy to concentrate on selling the company, products, package and career opportunity.

Don't forget the person the successful candidate will actually work for.

Candidates aren't necessarily looking for a particular personality or one universal style of management.

They're trying to understand what working for this manager will mean in practice.

Can they explain what success looks like?

Will they provide the right level of support?

Are there genuine opportunities to develop?

Will they answer difficult questions honestly?

Do they understand the realities of the role they're managing?

The interview isn't only your opportunity to decide whether the candidate will work well with the manager.

It's also the candidate's opportunity to decide whether the manager will work well for them.