Philly Gig w/ Convatec

Discussion in 'ConvaTec' started by Anonymous, Jan 20, 2009 at 5:59 PM.

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  1. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Hey Guys,
    Just got a call about Philly/South NJ job. Anyone have the inside scoop on the territory, why it's open, how it performed last year, yadda yadda yadda...

    Posts I've read seem to be pretty negative. Starter device company, high goals, bad products, inept managers....With all seriousness, I know the deal with bitter employees on CP, so is this all from underperforming reps or is EVERYONE unhappy?

    Easiest way to tell is with rankings. How many reps, and how many at goal?
     

  2. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Run away. Fast
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Dont be scared off by CP. CVT is going through a transition right now that has alot of employees unhappy and frustrated. Every single company on this site has posters bitching about management and high goals. See for yourself. That being said, some goals for our newer and more popular technologies were pretty high. Aside from Negative Pressure, CVT is launching several technologies in 2009. If you like the manager, go through the process and make your own decisions. Dont expect lay-offs either, despite what all the "insiders" say. We are still a market leader.
     
  4. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest


    If you are desperate, take the gig as you call it. Lots of problems at Convatec, just like many other companies these days. Culture at this company has become oppressive, though, compared to better days when owned by BMS. INTENSE pressure to sell successfully and some managers are awful (that is the key as to how you'll prosper, or fail), very good products, below average comp plan, HUGE quotas, owned by private equity which may be a plus eventually, unless they spin us off. Morale at Convatec is very low but for the experince, why not. Most reps did not hit their numbers (budget) in 2008-about 70% missed, which equates to paltry bonus dough.
     
  5. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    30% at goal is a stretch, it's more like 15% tops. Market leader?...maybe in the good old days, but now market bleeder. Losing market share right and left due to inept marketing and management. New technology? More like me-too's chasing market leaders and trying to carve out a little share for ourselves. No true new technology, and laggaing years behind the true market leaders. Need experience, take the job. Got experience, follow the exodus of top reps to true market leaders.
     
  6. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    So I guess Marketing and Management caused only a third of the company to hit budget, not the reps.
     
  7. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Whether it is 15% or 30% at Budget, comp for 2008 was much lower than for similar numbers in years passed. Convatec will use the current poor economy to screw as many as they can, it is in their DNA. Have we lost that many Top TMs? Who? Can't think of many at all since most TMs don't stay that long anyway. Terrible work culture here, full of fear and being owned by Nordic Capital only enhances the uncertainty and treachery. Doing my job well but tough to stay positive as this company has KILLED all morale. Can only hope it will get better once the brutes are cleaned out-if ever!
     
  8. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Not sure what you mean by your question? Some in Marketing and Management do indeed help the TMs achieve our goals as a company but not necessarliy. A dummy like Chandra should never have been put in charge of XC and should never have been hired by a marketing hack like TB (now he has negative pressure!!!). Jonathan is outstanding, IMHO, but his talent is rare to find in Skillman. Across the comapny we have talented people but the atmosphere here has darkened (no life/work balance here--that is just BS). Competent TMs can post terrific numbers and still miss budget: does that mean that we are failures or just speak to the reality that our Budgets are the wet dreams of a poor mgmt philosophy? I do well here as a TM but look to the day when I can leave for a better position or, many years hence, just retire. Those TMs doing really well are doing it despite the obstacles and too much stupidity of our leadership, which often starts with more than a few totally befuddled, clueless RSMs. Can't kill my health and my sanity over the current mis-management, but will leave if a recruiter calls with a better deal. Bide your time and keep your powder dry.
     
  9. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    This job is worth pursuing, but CAUTION: as long as you understand that this company cares nothing for you except your sales efforts, you'll do OK. Too many people post on these boards complaining about this company or other companies on other boards. They are mostly accurate when it comes to Convatec, but so what? They are not your loved ones you would be working for, they are not your best friends: they will demand excellence from you and if you do not immediately perform, you will be targeted for extinction (Plan and Termination) as there is little pateince for on-the-job training here. That is just the way it is. Do your job as well as you can, smile, agree, take the money, and get out when/if it suits you. Never trust Convatec and you'll do just fine. they are what they are: a money making organization just like other companies poised to burn and turn their TMs, finding new ones when the old ones falter or quit. The RSM, DOS, VPs, Directors are always right, right? always make them feels like gods, and you'll survive on your own terms.
     
  10. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Only consider this job if you don't care about your mental and physical health and are absolutely desperate. Really. Sure, it's tough at all companies, but convatec is the worst of the worst. Believe what you read on this board about how much people hate working here. I can't wait to get out, and all the people I know feel the same. The pressure to make unrealistic sales numbers is enormous , and really wears you down. Don't say you were not warned!
     
  11. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Very accurate...the really awful atmosphere kicked in here last year as/when we were divested from BMS. The new mentality is down-right oppressive and uncaring. Don't perform quickly, you are hounded out of this organization. Not too many years back it was a truly fine place to work. With a new breed of callous, cold-blooded humanoids coming on board, (or being promoted where they could do damage) since 2004, Convatec has grown hostile to one's health IF you let them. With the poor economy, may not be many opportunities out there which allows companies like this one to unleash a brutal governing style--like cancelling merit increases in 2009 though 2008 was a VERY good year for Convatec. We don't call it CONvatec for nothing. Like others have posted on this site, NEVER trust this company until the worm turns and the reptiles/cowards/sadists are removed from the Ivory Tower in Skillman. There is no morale left at this place. Beware and Good Luck.
     
  12. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I believe what people are trying to communicate to you is that unlike times in the past, companies actually want you to show up and do something which means starting your sales calls around 8 am or so and pushing until 4:30 or 5 and producing revenue as a result of your efforts. There are actually people in this world that have done this every day of their working careers. Yep, even in this industry people are actually going to have to start to work. What a concept.
     
  13. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Congratulations, you have drunk the Koolaid and, if you are content here, Mazel Tov. The reality is that Convatec has changed for the worse. If you don't want to believe it, fine. Just be wise enough to CYA at Convatec and know that Nordic coupled with our new mgmt philosophy will be ruthless in '09. DEspite massive FMS increases from some of all for the past three years, 2009 budget will be even larger!! And with Digna-Care hurting us already, we have NO strategy to ward them off, just sell even more. What Leadership!?! The market likes silicone and honey dressings, we bring out a flop called Versiva XC. Just the way it is, either suffer/deal with it or get out before you are put on the brutal performance plan tailored just for you. Again, enjoy the Koolaid and don't forget to take another hit on the pipe before you sleep tight tonight.
     
  14. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    You sound silly and foolish==must be an RSM or one of our Marketing parasites. Come clean now and tell us what you do? Or are you that ASSHOLE from Medline that keeps invading our boards?
     
  15. smallCAP

    smallCAP Guest

    to call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people everywhre...you are truly a numbskull. the tm's have performed well at convatec with 2007 and 2008 being our best years ever as a company. yes, some of us actually work hard, both in the field and in skillman. maybe you start at 8 a.m. and quit at 5---a lot of us start earlier, end our days later than you ever would, work weekends, too. doubt you even work for convatec, just some twisted putz out there wasting our time. unless maybe you are another one of our useless directors or vps we keep hiring or promoting every other day? are you?

    look, the fact is truly outstanding performances during the past 24 months have garnered the sales people much less money than weaker years during the early 2000's. convatec has changed for the worse: poor bonus structure, ridiculous quotas, autocratic and misguided management, a vision-less me-too philosopy, no pipeline worth salivating over, you name it, we are a mess. we are venting on these boards but we are also working harder unlike you, my dear dimwit. do us all a favor: please leave our boards alone if you are an interloper, if a convatec stooge, just recede back into your little cubicle or wherever you reside, polish off the resume and get out....which might not be possible with your laughable work ethic.
     
  16. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    This HAS to be a RSM or DOS. They are the ones demanding longer hours from the TMs with less pay and brutal quotas. They are the ones sitting on their butts all day looking at a computer and producing nothing, while garnering all the top payouts. I work long hours, nights out, early mornin and late night inservices, running form place to place all day in the heat and cold, missing my kids events....while they sit at home and drink their coffee and do nothing but try to figure out how to make my life harder. I bust my butt, while they sit on theirs.
    Does anyone know why Rob M, DOS, missed the NBM last year? His son was graduating high school. Do you think ANY TM could have skipped the NBM for their son's graduation? Nope, we had to be there to be force fed the kool aid.
    SO DON'T LECTURE ME ABOUT WORK ETHICS, I'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH THE BS YOU MANAGERS SHOVE DOWN MY THROAT CONSTANTLY. WHEN YOU START BUSTING YOUR BUTTS LIKE I DO, THEN I'LL BE A LITTLE MORE LIKELY TO LISTEN AND RESPECT YOU. TILL THEN, JUST SIT THERE, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND LOOK PRETTY...THAT'S ALL YOU'RE GOOD FOR IN MY BOOK.
     
  17. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    YES! Precisely! You get it finally! Management and Marketing manipulate budgets and artifically inflate some products to maintain a carefully controlled payout. Doesn't matter how much TMs produce, the budgets are made to make sure no one makes over a certain amount, and as a company the payouts don't exceed a targeted amount. Growth be damned, just don't pay the peeons too much. So yes, Management and Marketing caused only a third of the company to hit budget, and they are laughing all the way to the bank with their pre negotiated big fat payouts for the company making budget.
     
  18. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Thank you--you speak eloquently clearly explaining the worsening nightmare that is ConvaTec--you nailed them to a "T"

    Let us hope that Nordic/Avista clearly and quickly sees through the Skillman Ponzi scheme before it is too late. A thorough fumigation of the 100 and 200 Headquarters site is needed, please. By the way, the Dallas meeting was worthless, so if you did not attend, left early, or just slept, you were actually better prepared for the 2008 selling year. Wanna bet we get a few messages about San Diego being changed to Orlando, then back to Dallas...again?
     
  19. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Correct!! You nailed it, pal. Significant sales increases from the TM ranks in 2008 got us lousy bonus pay-outs because a significant sales increase still missed budget! Scheming, budget manipulation, endless contract write-downs, and deception vomits out of Skillman when it comes to paying any TM more than a paltry bonus for fat increases. For those who stumble and fall with a poor sales year, no worries, you just get planned and canned. God help us as this company knows no shame. Lousy job market and a troubled economy, leave it to Convatec to stick the knife in deeper. Can't wait for the surprises awaiting us in 2009.
     
  20. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    If you worked as much as you complain, you might be at budget. My bonus is down for '08 like most in the company, and mostly because you TMs moan and groan instead of working. Get out and sell something instead of sitting at your computer and complaining.