Intuitive Surgical CSA Position

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Anonymous

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I am a recent grad who is starting the interview process for the Clinical Sales Associate role. What can I expect during the interview process? What can I expect in terms of compensation and lifestyle? What are the pros and cons of the position?

Thanks in advance for the help and advice.
 












Anonymous said:
It depends....are you going through internal recruiter or external?
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Trust me on this.

Ask recruiter to get you contact info of a CSA that has succeeded within ISI, and been promoted within the past 2 years? If recruiter cant give this to you, then that should be a big red flag. If recuiter is able to get you this info, then this person will be your most valuable resource on how to do this the right way.

There is a good guy in MD that is a good example of someone who came in as CSA, and been promoted.
 






Anonymous said:
I am a recent grad who is starting the interview process for the Clinical Sales Associate role. What can I expect during the interview process? What can I expect in terms of compensation and lifestyle? What are the pros and cons of the position?

Thanks in advance for the help and advice.
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Recent grad? Has ISI burned all bridges? Who hires without experience?
 


















Anonymous said:
Recent grad? Has ISI burned all bridges? Who hires without experience?
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I don't come completely without experience. I've got about a year of sales experience coming out of college with a fortune 100 company, while being number one for one of my products and top 10% for my entire portfolio. Being young and with a smaller amount of experience does not calculate to inability to have success.

Gets a bit ridiculous when these old-timers get threatened by us young bucks. What are you even doing commenting on this thread? I asked for advice and info, not your negative opinion. Get a life, loser. Watch me come after your job ;) lol
 


















To the young buck....There are many of us under the age of 38 that put a lot of sweat and tears into what ISRG is today. If you had a couple of years experience as a surgical rep under your belt, I might be OK with supporting people such as yourself. It still blows my mind to hear the type of talent ISRG is bringing in. In the 4 years that I was there, I can't remember a training class with students that didn't have surgical experience. The training classes were the best of the best of the industry. Unfortunately, ISRG has shot themselves in the foot with their own toxic culture that has now scared away top talent, forcing ISRG to look elsewhere outside the industry. I'm sorry, but ISRG should not be a starting point into surgical sales. Ask yourself this. Why is a company that at one point in time was considered to be one of the top surgical sales jobs do to have to resort to recruit people without any prior surgical sales experience???

As a concerned shareholder, it scares me that Intuitive would even look at a candidate with your lack of experience. There is no time to waste training people such as yourself, especially with multiple competitors expected to launch over the next couple of years.

With ISRG now focusing on general surgery, I think it is even more important than ever to bring in people that have some experience in this arena. Gen surg is a completely different animal compared to URO & GYN. One aspect that is different is the stapling & vessel sealing competitive landscape and the money invested in these surgeons since the introduction to lap surgery. I'm looking forward to seeing the adoption curve with general surgery over the next two years. I guess only time will tell if this is going to stick. None the less, I hope ISRG continues to "drive the curve"
 






Listen young buck I'm fairly young myself, 28, but these "old timers" you speak of are proven sales reps. I doubt they are concerned with your supposed superior selling capabilities and proven 1 year results. ISRG reps used to be some of the most respected in the industry and some still are. Rarely would you find one with zero to little OR sales experience due to the high demand. Show a little humility, you will need it in this arena. As a shareholder myself I commented on this concern a few weeks ago when I met a new CSR who was clueless. I have hopes for ISRG but even more so for titan......lets go titfx!!!
 












Titan is at least 2-3 years from coming to market. "As a shareholder" I'm concerned that the whole business of robotic surgery will slow down due to lack of clinical, AND economic, efficacy on "routine" procedures (vs. traditional laparoscopy) before Titan has a product to sell. One of my GYN docs told me ACOG is advising that the cost of robotic procedures is unjustified on benign hysterectomy, and that's currently over 50% of the market. Not good if you want to see the overall demand for robotics continue to grow.

Don't get me wrong, robotic surgery is here to stay and the marketplace will welcome a viable competitor to Intuitive, but I'm starting to doubt Titan stock is gonna see huge gains if/when they come to market.
 


















Do you know what the 2012 adoption %'s for the following modalities?

VAG Hyst:
Lap Hyst:
Open Hyst:
da Vinci:
single site lap:

I remember the 2009 solocient data for lap being 18%. I'm sure lap has risen some. So if it is say 25% lap & vag hyst is 15% What about the other 60%, those would most likely be done open.

I just don't understand your statement "lack of clinical, AND economic, efficacy on "routine" procedures (vs. traditional laparoscopy)" I feel the economics of open vs da Vinci hyst favor da vinci.

How can ACOG make a statement like this when Lap hyst adoption is low???
 






I think that we are saturating the robotic market with unnecessary procedures as well. However many baby boomers doing open procedures will be gone and the new aggressive young surgeons will continue to push the limits. Hysters are still one of the biggest procedures and majority done non-MIS. Cardiac procedures have shown to be beneficial done robotically with a highly trained surgeon. I don't expect titan to move to $700 but I'll be happy with $20 since I paid about $1 for the stock.e
 






Anonymous said:
I think that we are saturating the robotic market with unnecessary procedures as well. However many baby boomers doing open procedures will be gone and the new aggressive young surgeons will continue to push the limits. Hysters are still one of the biggest procedures and majority done non-MIS. Cardiac procedures have shown to be beneficial done robotically with a highly trained surgeon. I don't expect titan to move to $700 but I'll be happy with $20 since I paid about $1 for the stock.e
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robotic lap chole's? The penultimate of crazy.

Crazy crazy crazy shit.
 












Anonymous said:
I think that we are saturating the robotic market with unnecessary procedures as well. However many baby boomers doing open procedures will be gone and the new aggressive young surgeons will continue to push the limits. Hysters are still one of the biggest procedures and majority done non-MIS. Cardiac procedures have shown to be beneficial done robotically with a highly trained surgeon. I don't expect titan to move to $700 but I'll be happy with $20 since I paid about $1 for the stock.e
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Agreed, but with ISI jamming as many systems as possible into as many hospitals as possible, the market has to expand considerably for any competitor to come in. ISI is betting big on general surgery, but I just don't see the adoption rate being the same as GYN...the reason there are still so many open hysterectomies (and robotic adoption) is because most community GYNs can't do lap worth shit. Most of the general surgeons I work with are pretty proficient with laparoscopy. Robotics is a tough sell for gen surg, in my opinion.
 






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