The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice
By Mike Travis
Excerpted with permission from the author’s book, Mastering the Art of Recruiting (Praeger Publishers, January 2015)
When the candidate is motivated to join and you’ve made a reasonable offer, discussions tend to go smoothly and amicably. There’s a spirit of “Let’s make this work.”
By Mike Travis
Sadly, many candidates make simple missteps that quickly terminate their candidacies. Here are the most common mistakes I’ve seen in 20 years of executive recruiting:
By Mike Travis
Continued from Part One…
From the second endoscopy center, we drove down to a hospital where they rep had recently sold a Beamer system, an electrosurgical unit which can be used to stop bleeding in the digestive track. Unlike surgeons, who love blood almost as much as vampires, the rep explained that the tension level in the endoscopy suite usually goes through the roof when there is a “bleeder”. He told me that some of the cautious G.I. doctors in rural areas will send their patients to urban hospitals at the first suspicion of blood.
Part One…
A couple of weeks ago on a Wednesday morning, I met up with the local sales rep for ConMed Endoscopic Technologies before 8:00 am. Like the rep, I was decked out in a pair of scrubs and a comfortable pair of running shoes.
It happened to be GI Nurses and Associates Day. Who knew there was such a holiday? Apparently, I had a lot to learn!
Our first stop was a nearby endoscopy center, where due to the festive occasion, we dropped off some bagels. One of the nurses invited us back to a large storage room. The walls were lined with products from different companies.
I spoke to a talented medical device saleswoman recently. Her dedication to her job is exceptional and she routinely works 90 hours a week. She is a single mom and is fortunate that her mother lives with her to help care for her children. The number of hours she works is definitely on the high end, but she finds great satisfaction in her job and knows her children are well-provided for.
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.
Looking for a medical device job in 2011? You better bring expertise to the table, and maybe a passport, too.
While there are signs that device companies are beginning to hire again, they’re also being more selective than they might have been in the past. Most want specialists who can walk into a job with expertise and contacts in hand. Meanwhile, many companies remain skittish about the U.S. regulatory process and are choosing instead to add jobs first in Europe or elsewhere outside the United States.
It’s often said that people don’t quit their jobs — they quit their bosses. But what people tell me most often is that they want to leave because they are not making as much money as they’d hoped. I’ve been trying to reconcile these two things in my mind lately. I think both may be true.
There comes a time in every interview process when potential first-year income must be discussed. It’s always tricky to predict in Year One what someone will make in a new sales position. There are so many variables: The condition of the territory and existing pipeline, the learning curve, work ethic, and sometimes just dumb luck.
Because medical device sales is considered such a desirable career path, I often receive emails like this one:
I joined LinkedIn back in June 2005, back when on-line social networking was still in its infancy. Back then, Facebook only had five million users.
It’s amazing how much has changed. Five years ago, LinkedIn was more of a curiosity than anything. When I used to ask people if they were on LinkedIn, they would ask, “What is that?” Frankly, I didn’t use it much back then and knew little about its functionality myself. A few thousand connections later, I’ve learned a thing or two about the site. These days, LinkedIn is as ubiquitous as Kleenex.
