Having worked as a pharmaceutical recruitment consultant over the years, I have established that there are several do's and don'ts to inform you all of when you approach pharmaceutical job vacancies. Here are seven of my top tips that can help you get that pharmaceutical job!

1: Don't address yourself as Mr, Mrs or Ms followed by your surname instead of your first name. You may think applying for a job is a formal affair, but the job of a recruitment consultant is to get to know you. By creating a character made up for a job interview, it makes that task harder to achieve.

2: You should not tell them that you're registered with every pharmaceutical job agency, even if you are! Recruitment consultants work hard and invest their time in you to find you a job. If they know that you are registered all over the place, they are less likely to.

3: Be careful when compiling your CV. Don't use all block capitals and do not have any spelling or punctuation errors, it makes a bad impression of you before a consultant speaks to you.

4: Don't ignore any messages left for you on your voicemail, the excuse of you "not receiving it" doesn't look commendable at all. At the end of the day, if you want a job and you want the help of an agency, have the courtesy to call them back!

5: Never be late for a job interview! Yes it is obvious and no doubt has been drummed into you since you were in school. Many interviewers will put a big red mark next to your name if your late, if you can't be trusted to turn up on time for an interview, then you can't be trusted to turn up for work! Don't forget to look your best for an interview either, or for a meeting with an agency for that matter. Why? Because you need to make a great impression, recruitment agencies need to picture you in front of their clients, make it easier for them!

6: You should never expect or even contemplate earning a pay rise of high proportions. Many people have approached me expecting a ridiculous pay rise. Different types of pharmaceutical jobs will have different structures of pay which you should research before hand. If you ask for a rise way above the figure given to you, you will either look greedy or if you have failed to do adequate research. A recruitment consultant is likely to get frustrated by this and not put you forward for the vacancy.

7: Finally if you are applying pharmaceutical jobs and your not successful, as for feedback. Feedback can be vital in any learning and development stage, find out where you did well and where you didn't do so well. As you grow more experienced, you will become a better candidate, a good interview technique take practise to hone.

So there you have it, seven tips on how to deal with pharmaceutical recruitment agencies (and any recruitment agency at that). Take this onboard and you should see your success rate improve.

Good Luck.