SSR (Sales Support Representative)
Pros
Excellent product. Like another SSR said, your team makes or breaks you (unfortunately, the management on my team is breaking it). The PTO plan is nice (when your manager actually lets you take the time off).
Cons
Treated like pharma, even with the revamp of compensation (which literally states the goal was "to make the bonus structure easy to understand", yet it's so confusing you just have to trust someone is doing the calculations right), you are not compensated competitively with other similar positions at other companies. You are expected to "spend, spend, spend", yet you aren't given a company card, and it takes often 2-3 weeks to get your own money reimbursed. SSR position has grown so rapidly that there are not clear definitions as to what exactly your role is, so it's up to the manager, yet the manager treats you like a Territory Manager and expects you to be selling, while receiving half the compensation of a TM. If you fill in as a TM, you aren't compensated accordingly. The training they send you to in Pittsburgh is a complete JOKE, and doesn't even cover the things you are actually expected to do in the field, and you don't even go to training for the first 4-6 weeks. No one is held accountable, especially management. Management makes it VERY CLEAR - there is no opportunity for growth. You are an SSR and you are stuck in that role, yet often you are expected to do the tasks of a TM, again, without being compensated accordingly. They schedule all staff meetings at the worst time of year (TMs go in April - the same month of spring breaks, and SSRs go in December). You are left in the dark when you work in the field - you are not given an employee directory to know who to call for what, so it's a matter of trial and error. There are evidently procedures and forms you must use to contact specific departments, but you aren't told about it until you do it wrong. Work life balance is lacking - it seems this can vary based on your team and the management. I know other SSRs who are very happy with their work life balance, however, I am stretched so thin, that I cannot possible get done everything my manager wants done, and my manager is so hot and cold, I have no idea what's coming next because gears are shifted so often!
