International Women’s Day was first introduced to me by a close friend of mine who is from Russia. It is considered an important day for Russian men to honor women — not as wives or mothers — but as equal members of society.
There are marches and events in countries around the world this week calling for greater equality for women in all areas of life. One story on the radio yesterday was about a woman in China who wanted more opportunity to pursue her career.
Fortunately, in the U.S. women have many opportunities for advancing their education and careers, although parity in pay with men still lags behind. A recent study showed that female physicians are paid $17,000 less in starting salaries than their male counterparts, even when controlling for factors like choice of specialty.
Unlike salaried positions, sales earnings are determined by performance. If a woman takes down a large competitive account, her commissions will be directly commensurate. Arguably, sales is the best arena for women to be equitably compensated based on abilities and performance.
March is also Women’s History Month. In recognition of this, I will be writing this month about women in medical device sales. How they break in, why they choose it and the challenges and rewards they find once they get there.
Lisa McCallister specializes in recruiting for medical device sales and marketing positions with an operating room focus, such as orthopedics, electrosurgery, endoscopy and a wide range of surgical specialties. She has recruited two Rookie of the Year award winners. Connect with her on LinkedIn or check out her blog, MyJobScope.com.