by Cori Lattanzi, CPC | Senior Medical Affairs Recruiter
MSL interviews tend to be lengthy, multi-stage, and designed to evaluate much more than scientific knowledge. Depending on the company and position, candidates may meet with Talent Acquisition, the hiring manager, Medical Affairs leaders, peer MSLs, cross-functional partners, and senior leadership. Most interview processes also require a scientific presentation.
After years of recruiting in Medical Affairs and preparing candidates for MSL interviews, I’ve seen incredibly strong candidates struggle in interviews. Knowing the science matters. But so does knowing how to communicate it.
An MSL interview is an opportunity to demonstrate how you think, communicate, build relationships, handle challenging situations, and represent Medical Affairs in the field.
That requires a different kind of preparation.
What Are Interviewers Evaluating in an MSL Interview?
Scientific credibility is obviously important. An MSL needs to understand complex data, discuss it confidently with healthcare professionals, and answer scientific questions appropriately.
But knowing the science is only part of the job.
You’re also being evaluated on whether you can communicate that science effectively. Can you adjust a discussion based on your audience? Can you listen? Build credibility with a KOL? Navigate disagreement? Recognize when you don’t know an answer?
Hiring teams are also looking at how you work internally. MSLs collaborate with Medical Directors, Clinical Development, HEOR, Market Access, Commercial, and numerous other functions. Interviewers want examples that demonstrate judgment, adaptability, teamwork, influence, and the ability to work effectively across an organization.
This is why preparation should go well beyond memorizing answers. You need examples.
Common MSL Interview Questions and How to Approach Them
Questions vary, but there are several areas candidates should always be prepared to discuss.
“Walk Me Through Your Background”
Your answer shouldn’t be a 10-minute walk through your resume from graduate school to the present. The interviewer has your resume. And the interview is usually 30 minutes.
Instead, give them the story that connects your background to this opportunity. If you can do it in a minute or two, you’re also demonstrating your ability to be concise and identify what’s most important when delivering a message.
For an experienced MSL, that may include your current therapeutic area, products or pipeline assets, territory, KOL relationships, and a few areas where you’ve had significant impact.
For an aspiring MSL, focus on the parts of your background that translate to Field Medical Affairs: scientific expertise, clinical experience, teaching, presentations, research, relationship building, or working with healthcare professionals.
The goal isn’t to tell the interviewer everything you’ve ever done. It’s to give them a clear picture of who you are professionally and how you communicate your message.
“Why Do You Want to Be an MSL?”
For aspiring MSLs, expect this question in some form.
“I love science and helping patients” may be true, but it isn’t enough.
A strong answer demonstrates that you actually understand what MSLs do. Think scientific exchange, relationships with external experts, gathering field insights, communicating emerging data, supporting research, and serving as a scientific resource.
Hiring managers can usually tell whether you’ve really researched the profession. They want to know that you’re pursuing the role because you understand it and truly want it, not simply because you’ve heard it’s a good career for someone with a scientific or clinical background.
“Why Are You Interested in Our Company?”
This is one of the questions where preparation really shows.
Candidates should know more than the company name and the drug they’ll be supporting.
Understand the company, relevant product or pipeline asset, indication, mechanism of action, clinical data, competitive landscape, and where the organization is headed. If the asset is pre-launch, understand the development program. If it’s approved, understand its place in the treatment landscape.
You don’t need to memorize every clinical trial endpoint. You do need to demonstrate that you were interested enough in the opportunity to prepare for it.
“Why Are You Looking to Leave Your Current Position?”
Keep the answer professional and forward-looking.
Maybe you’re interested in a new therapeutic area, a launch, broader impact, a more innovative pipeline, increased strategic involvement, or a position that better aligns with where you want your career to go.
Avoid turning the answer into a list of everything wrong with your current company or manager. Even when you have legitimate reasons for leaving, focus more on what you’re moving toward than what you’re trying to get away from.
Behavioral MSL Interview Questions
Behavioral questions are a major part of most MSL interviews.
You may be asked about a difficult KOL interaction, challenging feedback, conflict with a colleague, competing priorities, a mistake you made, or a time you had to communicate complex information to different audiences.
I often tell candidates to prepare a “story bank” before an interview. Think through several strong examples that can be adapted to different behavioral questions.
The STAR method can help: Situation, Task, Action, Result. But don’t let the framework make your answer sound robotic. Give enough context to understand the situation, then focus on what you did and what happened as a result.
What changed? What did you learn? Would you do anything differently? The best behavioral answers tell the interviewer how you operate, not just what happened.
Questions About KOL Relationships and Scientific Exchange
Because KOL engagement is central to the MSL role, candidates should expect questions about relationship building.
An interviewer may ask how you would approach a difficult-to-access KOL, how you’ve developed a relationship with a thought leader, or what you would do if a KOL disagreed with the data you’re presenting.
Be careful about making your answer sound commercial.
An MSL’s job isn’t to “win over” a physician or convince someone to prescribe a product. Focus on scientific exchange, listening, understanding the KOL’s interests and needs, providing relevant information, and becoming a credible scientific resource.
Aspiring MSLs shouldn’t try to manufacture experience they don’t have. Instead, identify comparable experiences with physicians, investigators, healthcare professionals, scientific experts, or other demanding audiences that demonstrate the same underlying skills.
What If You Don’t Know the Answer?
At some point in your MSL career, a KOL will ask you a question you can’t answer. The same thing can happen during an interview. This is an important test of judgment.
For an MSL, guessing isn’t just a bad way to handle a scientific question. It can create a compliance issue. MSLs are expected to provide accurate, balanced, evidence-based scientific information. If you don’t know the answer or can’t support it with the appropriate data, don’t speculate or try to talk your way through it.
Say you don’t know.
Then explain how you would handle it appropriately. You might tell the KOL that you want to make sure you provide an accurate answer, research the question through the appropriate internal resources, and follow up.
In an interview, I would much rather hear, “I don’t know, but here’s how I would find the answer,” than watch a candidate take a stab. Some hiring managers even ask questions they don’t expect you to know just to see how you react.
Knowing where the boundaries are, and being comfortable staying within them, is an important part of being a credible and compliant MSL.
How Much Science Should You Prepare?
A lot, but probably not in the way some candidates think.
Understand the company’s product, mechanism of action, indication, key clinical data, therapeutic landscape, competitors, and pipeline. But don’t turn preparation into memorizing hundreds of data points.
Can you explain the mechanism clearly? Interpret the clinical data? Discuss the endpoints and limitations? Explain where the asset fits into the treatment landscape?
Most importantly, can you do it without turning every answer into a dissertation? Sometimes the candidate who knows the most isn’t the candidate who communicates it best.
Preparing for the MSL Presentation Interview
The presentation is often one of the best opportunities to show the hiring team how you would actually perform as an MSL.
Presentation formats vary. A company may assign a topic, provide a publication or slide deck, ask you to choose a scientific topic, or give specific instructions about timing and format.
Follow those instructions carefully.
If you’re given 20 minutes, don’t prepare a 35-minute presentation and hope you’ll talk faster.
Know your material well enough that you aren’t reading your slides. Understand the source publication, including the study design, patient population, endpoints, results, limitations, and likely questions.
Prepare for the Q&A just as seriously as the presentation itself.
The hiring team is getting a glimpse of what you may be like in front of a KOL. Can you tell a scientific story? Keep an audience engaged? Answer questions directly? Remain composed when challenged? Admit when you don’t know something? The presentation gives you the chance to show them.
Panel Interviews and Multi-Stage MSL Interviews
Before each stage, know who you’re meeting.
And yes, it’s okay to stalk your interviewers on LinkedIn a little bit before the interview. In fact, I recommend it!
Look at their background, current role, how long they’ve been with the company, and where they fit within the organization. You may find something that gives you an opportunity to ask a thoughtful, personalized question.
Maybe they joined before a major launch, moved from an MSL role into leadership, or came from a different therapeutic area.
People generally enjoy talking about their experiences. A question specific to your interviewer’s professional background can create a more natural conversation while helping you learn something you won’t find on the company website.
During a panel interview, engage the entire group. Answer the person who asked the question, but don’t spend the entire response looking only at that individual. You’re interviewing with the panel.
Questions Candidates Should Ask in an MSL Interview
Candidates sometimes put so much energy into preparing answers that they forget to prepare good questions. Good questions help you evaluate the opportunity, but they also demonstrate genuine interest and preparation.
Don’t show up with a grab bag of generic interview questions the hiring manager has probably already heard half a dozen times that day. Ask things you genuinely want to know about the role, team, and person you’re speaking with.
If the answer can be found in thirty seconds on the company website, don’t ask it. Your interviewer may walk away thinking you didn’t put much time into preparing for the conversation.
Depending on who you’re speaking with, you might ask:
- What would success look like in the first 6-12 months?
- What differentiates the strongest MSLs on this team?
- What are the biggest challenges facing the Field Medical organization?
- How would you describe the culture of the MSL team?
- How much opportunity is there for MSLs to participate in national projects or strategic initiatives?
- How do you see the team evolving over the next year?
- Why is the position open?
Don’t feel like you need to ask these exact questions. The best question may come from something the interviewer said five minutes earlier.
Listen and ask thoughtful follow-up questions. That’s part of being a good interviewer and a good MSL.
Common MSL Interview Mistakes
Many mistakes I see aren’t related to experience or scientific knowledge.
Candidates talk too much. They answer the question they prepared for instead of the one that was actually asked. They give generic answers about why they want the position. They bluff their way through scientific questions. Or they prepare so thoroughly that the conversation sounds rehearsed.
Don’t let preventable technology issues become part of the interview, either. For virtual interviews and presentations, test your camera, microphone, internet connection, and presentation setup beforehand, and have a backup copy of your presentation available.
Preparation should make you more comfortable and conversational, not less.
Know your examples. Know the company. Know the science. Then have a conversation.
A Practical MSL Interview Preparation Checklist
Before the interview:
- Research the company, product, pipeline, therapeutic area, and competitive landscape
- Review the job description and your own resume
- Research each interviewer
- Prepare several strong behavioral examples
- Be ready to explain your career decisions and transitions
- Prepare thoughtful questions
- Confirm the time and time zone
- Test your technology
- If you’re presenting, have a backup copy available
By interview day, you shouldn’t be trying to learn everything. You should be getting comfortable talking about what you already know.
The Best MSL Interviews Feel Like Conversations
There is no perfect script for an MSL interview. Hiring teams aren’t looking for someone who memorized all the “right” answers to common MSL interview questions. They’re trying to understand what it would be like to have you on their team and representing their organization in the field.
Know your science. Know your examples. Know why you’re interested. Then listen to the question you’re actually being asked.
Candidates can learn more through our MSL recruiting and candidate services, and the MSL 411 Podcast offers additional conversations about Medical Affairs careers, hiring, and the MSL profession.
Frequently Asked Questions About MSL Interviews
How many interview rounds are typical for an MSL position?
There isn’t a standard number. MSL hiring processes are often multi-stage and may include Talent Acquisition, the hiring manager, Medical Affairs leadership, peer MSLs, cross-functional colleagues, and a scientific presentation.
Can I become an MSL without previous MSL experience?
Yes, although breaking into the profession can be competitive. Candidates without direct MSL experience should be prepared to demonstrate transferable skills in scientific communication, relationship building, presenting, working with healthcare professionals or scientific experts, and understanding Field Medical Affairs.
What should I do if I’m asked about an employment gap?
Be straightforward without over-explaining. Briefly address the gap, provide any context you’re comfortable sharing, and move the conversation toward what you’ve done to stay current and why you’re ready for your next opportunity.
Should I send a thank-you note after an MSL interview?
A brief, professional follow-up is appropriate. Thank the interviewer for their time, reference something specific from the conversation when possible, and reinforce your interest in the opportunity.