I left sanofi institutional after 12 awesome & successful years, voluntarily, a few months ago. Now work for another major US pharmaceutical company. Lots of products in the pipeline, many other divisions in this company so opportunities are viable for those with proven track records. I miss my friends but don't miss the constant stress and turmoil that constantly troubled me and seems to continue with SA. I still keep in contact with former colleagues and keep telling them to open up their horizons and seek employment elsewhere while they still have a choice. If you are good - and you know you are if you have survived the how-many-cuts-of-the-last-few-years - you have an excellent chance to move to a company with a future! It is not here, folks. It is so much easier to get a position when you are a winner and before cuts, etc., than it is later. Just something to think about. I don't have all the answers but leaving SA was the best decision I ever made! Good luck to you all.
Great post OP #1. I totally have to agree with your comments. I too, left SA before the December 2010 disaster for a specialty position with a smaller pharma company, for more $$$ in base salary, benefits, fewer POD partners (thank goodness,) and managers here that put most SA managers to SHAME!!! I have not regretted my decision to leave the hell of SA and all the bickering I saw among several PODs for an opportunity where I am seriously making a difference in my territory and being greatly rewarded for it. Like the poster above, my best advise to those of you remaining poor souls at SA who are innovative and stellar reps, get out now while you can still do it on your own terms. SA will continue to have more layoffs especially with Plavix leaving the pipeline next spring, so why would you want to wait for that to happen to you?? Believe it or not, there are still greater opportunities out there in this industry if you are willing to be persistent and look for those diamonds in the rough! I'm certainly glad I did.... Good luck to all of you.
Thanks for a honest and for many I am sure inspirational post. At present I will stick it out till the end. Mainly because I have a great manager, super partner, and have a plan B in place if need be. It will pay alot less than my current base, but the stress is zilch, and I already have enough in the college savings plan to get my kids through school. That aside what you say should be taken to heat by many in this company.
Here too. I left after 9 years and several awards for another company. I would not go back to Sanofi-Aventis at gun point! Management at other companies makes management at S-A look like a bunch of juvenile delinquents. Oh, and Websters New World Dictionary says that juvenile means "immature" and delinquent means "not obeying duty or law" and "one guilty of minor crimes". Does that description fit anyone you know? Manager or otherwise at S-A?
Thank you for these posts. I feel like I am breaking. I survived all these cuts and thought okay life will go back to normal. How wrong I was. The back stabbing, the who can do better, the look at me's are still happening. I kept telling myself try to stay , see if you could make it all the way to retirement but now I have to think. Okay so if i did make it to retirement and I looked back, than a majority of my life was spent worrying, angry, resentful and wasted doing nothing very meaningful on a day to day basis here. The writing on the wall is becoming clearer for me.
Hey. I was laid off in early rounds from SA. Got placed as DM and now an RD with decent company with growth opportunities. You as swipes used to post how, we that got laid off, were fired cause we sucked. I love seeing SA resumes cause I burn them in a bowl in my den. Life is limited for those that had good manners.
Hey poster # 7 you have some serious issues my man. If you are just so happy why you coming back to sa posts? You would think you would put it all behind you. You my friend are still a loser....
I am not poster #7 but check back to the S-A site for not only the entertainment value but to see if anything has changed for better or worse since I left S-A. I still have friends stuck in the madness at S-A and am here to say that, like the other posters on this thread have mentioned, there is life after S-A. Looking back at my time at S-A, I find myself realizing more and more what a waste of time the meetings were and just how much back stabbing and posturing there is at the company. It is a mean spirited corporate culture. Checking in with these boards makes me thankful to be away from all that every day.
"mean spirited corporate culture" that is about as true as it gets...the assholes at sanofi (and yes i still work for sanofi) should just go ahead and put those words in their mission statement. I think i would have a seizure if anyone on any level ever said anything positive to the sales force. I keep thinking about the emails from RD bitching and moaning about 25. per call to the helpdesk and how we should not be calling. i want to take up a collection for poor old sanofi execs from the field force and send it in an envelope with a note Dear Poor Sanofi Executives, I know the company is ass broke out of cash because now we can't even call the helpdesk and frankly we are sick of the pathetic whining emails from our RD bitching about it. So on your behalf the field force has taken up a collection. We held bake sales and garage sales and some of our Doctors even contributed. Here is some money to help pay for the calls to the helpdesk about your piece of shit computer system. In fact, next week we are all chipping in for new cars and new computers so expect that check in the mail too. Ever eager to please you! You are our Masters! Oh.. don't mind the spit in the envelope! Your Exhausted Demoralized Field Force I guess this makes me mean as well. This is what happens when you stay in such a dysfunctional environment, Field Force
Wow! What a bitter klinger you are. You should probably just stick to your new compay's board. To bad you are burning SA resumes. I'm sure that everyone of those reps posted something negative about those who go laid off. Hey, maybe one of those resumes were from layed off SA reps. So, Mr Regional Director, you must think they are bad reps too. NOW, I know who you are, A FUCKING IDIOT!
I am a senior rep with another company and was also laid-off in early rounds. The comments from the SA retained about those let go were not always name specific. They beamed as to how "we threw out the garbage' "got rid of worthless" etc. I am doing much better. Job is similar but products I sell are fun to sell, we are not trying to justify our jobs, and we a have pipeline I trust in. I too do not give thumbs up to SA reps when asked about them for a position here, unless I have a good relationship, which I can count on two fingers. Wait till you have to look. See what your SA rep (no pun intended) is like when you put your resume on the street. I agree 100% with the RD on post #7--guess we fn idiots with good jobs and possible long-term careers are all alike. And you self-absorbed emotionally challenged and empathy devoid SA reps are the masters of the universe, schitzo as that universe may be, will soon learn the truth. Life is limited for those that had good manners.
I am a senior rep with another company and was also laid-off in early rounds. The comments from the SA retained about those let go were not always name specific. They beamed as to how "we threw out the garbage' "got rid of worthless" etc. I am doing much better. Job is similar but products I sell are fun to sell, we are not trying to justify our jobs, and we a have pipeline I trust in. I too do not give thumbs up to SA reps when asked about them for a position here, unless I have a good relationship, which I can count on two fingers. Wait till you have to look. See what your SA rep (no pun intended) is like when you put your resume on the street. I agree 100% with the RD on post #7--guess we fn idiots with good jobs and possible long-term careers are all alike. And you self-absorbed emotionally challenged and empathy devoid SA reps are the masters of the universe, schitzo as that universe may be, will soon learn the truth. Life is limited for those that had good manners.
The likelihood you are an RD is about the same as I being Oprah. If you had enough sense to be an RD, you would know it is not the reps fault you got laid off, as we are in the same boat. Most of us posted how we knew there was no sense as to who got picked and who didnt and it was the assanine consulting company that made the decisions. There were good reps who got let go...award winners even from the previous year. You have it all backwards. You should be bitter towards the people in power, not your fellow co-workers.
