Hello all, currently a 1099 with some ortho and spine lines, looking to make a shift into a direct role. Deciding between going to SYK Spine as an ASR, with a chance at a territory within "12 months" according to the manager, or a gig with Cardinal Health in their Surgical Products division selling OR disposables like gloves/drape as well as their generic trauma/ortho screws and drill bits. Stryker job looks like it has great earning potential, and Cardinal has its own pro's like better QOL, long-term stability and a company car. Any feedback and entertaining wisecracks are welcome. Cheers.
Go for Quality of Life especially if you do not live in a high cost market like Boston, NY, SF. Stryker has terribly unskilled sales management and is run by HR pansies. Quality leadership left around the time John Brown retired. Spine is a good product line but not at Stryker. Sales decisions are made by HR, Finance but not by sales. Bad model.
The best advice you can get isn't on this forum. Seek out Stryker reps and competitive reps in your area so know what the challenges are. If you are a distributor or direct the job could be very different.
I appreciate the frank responses. To the first responder, does your advice imply it would behoove me to pursue the spine job, since I DO happen to live in one of the high cost of living areas you mentioned?
I have a friend who was in that exact division at Cardinal, recently left for another industry entirely. He hated it, said the earnings potential was awful and it sounds like the company is going through some tough times. QOL means nothing when you aren't making any money to support ANY type of lifestyle. I guess it depends if you like calling on docs in the OR or the paper pushers.
personal opinion--there are Much Better spine companies. In a high cost area you need a quality line-not syk-and a viable territory. Like most medical devices price reductions have been happening for years and there is more to come.
I do not happen to share the same feelings as the post above. I feel that Stryker is a very good company to work for and that it could open doors in the future that would otherwise be closed. Stryker is becoming a force in the spine market and has gained market share consistently year after year, not to mention that they are one of the strongest companies financially. My advise is interview with both and meet the local managers and see who you feel would be better to work with. The secret to making money in this business is getting up every morning and going to work!!!
spine is dead. stay out unless you can flip immediate business. you have no relationships already? Don't know why they would seriously even consider you, no offense. You need to dig into your market.
