Cook is not a real family place to be. If it was a family when you do something very minor you get your hand slapped not your hand cut off. Everybody likes to think they're all hunky-dory but it's not that way. If you leave they never talk to you again. Although I'm a Christian.. I do believe in karma. Was asked to leave two days Later I received a better paying job.
CooK is a great company to work for and i do believe they care for their employees. They do have their own way of doing things...not very open to other ways of performing certain tasks, hence the FDA visit and back order issues Lastly, yes they aren't very nice when employees quit. Not sure why! I hope they understand people move on, grow, move away and go pursuing different fields or companies...not sure why but it's almost as if they turn against you once you leave even when you leave on good terms. Few folks have left (some for personal reasons) and some ppl (not everyone is this way) have spoken wrongfully of them. Overall is an amazing place to be but like any other company you find goods and bads. Good luck to you on your new endeavors
Cook may be a good company overall, but the endoscopy division "family" is a tree with no branches. It's incestuous and its leadership is incompetent. Bottom line: they don't practice what they preach in terms of "family".
The "Family" concept is a huge facade meant to lure and retain gullible individuals. Cook is a for-profit company and at the end of the day is only worried about the bottom line, as they should be. The biggest issue with Cook is they groom their employees for their way of business. Either get out early or stay forever, because if you look to come into Cook later in your career you will be overqualified and underpaid. And, if you leave Cook too late in your career, you will be far under-prepared for the real world, possibly with a management role you didn't truly deserve. Cook management is too stubborn to look outside the Bloomington bubble at what is really going on in the world and on the streets. Most companies respect employees enough to pay them competitively and let them gain experiences elsewhere if wanted, welcoming them back if they were valuable, because they may have more to bring to the table. Look at Intel, Google, GE, Accenture, ect.... Instead, Cook would rather turn good employees, burning $$$$ on new hires and training, and never look back at what they are missing. Would I go back to Cook if I could expect reasonable pay for the work I was doing? Sure. Hell, you don't even have to pay me what I'm making now, but at least bridge the gap. But the reality is Cook would much rather never talk to me again and hire some inexperienced fool for $70k a year who will leave right when they are starting to truly understand the products, procedures, and industry.
Well said my dear. Every bit of it. Managers at Cook are a joooooooke (most of them wouldn't make it out there) and yes we are way underpaid and unprepared for the real world.
Wow, this post is so true. Cook brags about being a "family" but I have seen otherwise, as well. They get very nasty to employees who approach HR or bring issues to the table. They also are nasty when employees resign. It is a very strange culture. I question HR and I question certain managers. I continue to work here, but not sure how much longer. There are issues that I would like to take to HR, but do not feel comfortable doing so based on things that I have seen over the years.
Never mistake HR as "being on your side." They are not. They are there to protect the company from it's employees and employment regulations. They don't care about you...that is the illusion. And that is mostly true wherever you work. Not just Cook.
Yeah, this. Cook is a company, a company's goal is to make money. You are an employee and they pay you to make them money. Why would they or should they care about you after you leave? What benefit do they get other than to give you the satisfaction of knowing "it's all good" and you can crawl back when you're ambitious move doesn't pay off? They are not your high school math teacher, they don't care where you go or how you do once you move on. Nor should they.
Why would anyone that left Cook want to go back to Cook? Most people use Cook as a stepping stone from pharma or other sales jobs. I can't imagine going to any other med device job and then wanting to go back to Cook. They are the only med device company paying employees under 6 figures. The top reps might make 100K, but not much more, which is sad, very sad. Cook will never retain talent.
You are way off about the current comp plan. It will depend on the division, but the ceiling is much higher then 100k.
Very few Reps make over 100K here..regardless of which division they're in. HR may tell you they do, but they take into account the company car, benefits etc.. Most people work here because they can work 15 hours a week.
Pharma reps make more than reps at Cook. The top 10% in every division are lucky to make 100-120K. Most reps will W-2 80-90K. They do increase base salaries every year so if you stay 10+ years, you should have a base of 100-120K, but commissions are almost non-existent.
Wife used to work for Cook Surgical. What a joke. Selling biologics, crushing her numbers, making 80-90k trying to sell against Lifecell, Bard, etc, all reps making well over 100k. The Cook "philosophy" is garbage. Designed to make reps feel bad about wanting to earn more. As if selling pig-gut hernia mesh should be some proud, noble deed. Money shouldn't be your reward, the fact that you're fighting the good fight is reward enough! Such altruism.
^^^previous poster.....couldn't be more true! Rumor has it that the entire surgery division got raises in salary (STILL no commission & bonuses). When I left Cook, my base was $75K, my best year I W-2'd $85K!!! Took another med device job with a 40K base but W-2 between $150-200K every year now! I feel bad for the long-timers at Cook...they are so underpaid. :-(
The whole "family" story at Cook is a complete myth. Any company that has to continuously preach to its employees about the "company culture", and how wonderful and unique it is, clearly has none! The talk of "cook culture" went on ad nauseum and was clearly an attempt at appeasement for a company full of people who were either unhappy or too new and young to have realized how full of shit they are. Cook sucks and they will never get out of the small market share space they have.
