Working at Abbott has been one of the most rewarding and educational experiences I have ever had, to date
Pros
- The best development programs (MDP/PDP) right out of college have to be at Abbott. You will be challenged and have to work in a different functional area that's outside your comfort zone, but that's a good thing. That's how you learn and grow! - The people are all wonderful to work with, and if you get the get the chance to work as a PDP/MDP, you will learn so much more about the various divisions, you will get incredible opportunities to network and you'll really learn what you like (and don't like). - The benefits are nice; decent 401(k) contribution, profit sharing and a pension is offered for up to 35 years of service. You can also get free Abbott (or AbbVie) drugs too, if you are prescribed them by your doctor.
Cons
- Abbott has a fair amount of sites in the Bay Area and the cost of living adjustment that is offered can honestly be a joke, depending on where you are in your career; you will definitely get less the younger and less experienced you are. - Networking and knowing the right people is definitely the way to get ahead in Abbott. That's not to say that a meritocracy is not in place, because there definitely is, but there's still a lot of politicking that goes on and some people may not care for that. - Organizationally, there are probably too many managers, directors and VPs, and that makes a lot of the lower folks resentful at time. However, those guys are all still wonderful and I personally believe that they work harder than most of the lower folks in the organization - Abbott is slow to change, but that's just the nature of the industry