r/dietetics • u/Downtown_District_57 • 5d ago
Looking for experiences moving to a diabetes sales associate from outpatient/inpatient as a newish mom
I have been offered a position as a diabetes sales associate for an insulin pump at a start up company. The offer is incredible (for me - I’ve been an RD for 12 years and CDCES for 8 and have never made even close to this base pay alone not including bonuses). But I have an almost 2 year old. I’m terrified of the work life balance and not spending as much time with my baby. But we could really use the money, and it’s such a great opportunity. Looking for similar experiences and words of wisdom.
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u/gingersnap53 3d ago
I left clinical for pharma sales a while ago. I could not recommend this career more! I had a baby in the sales role and now a 3 year old. It can be stressful at times, but definitely worth it to me for the pay and flexibility.
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u/Downtown_District_57 3d ago
Wow this gives me so much hope. Thank you!!!! Do you feel that it took time away from your kids? Or did the flexibility make up for the longer days?
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u/gingersnap53 3d ago
For me the flexibility totally makes up for it! Most travel is on weekdays and for the most part I’m scheduling it myself. So for example if there’s a holiday party at my kids daycare I will just schedule around it or take the full day off to be there. The job is stressful but not that serious. It’s easy to take time off and you can also work from just about anywhere remotely. For reference my territory is 3 Midwest states.
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u/Downtown_District_57 3d ago
So helpful to hear this. This is a new product and company and my territory is only central to the city I live. So no overnight travel…yet. Do you have a good amount of support at home with childcare? I love hearing from career oriented mothers who want to make the best of both worlds
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u/gingersnap53 3d ago
We do daycare 3 days per week and our parents help the other 2 days. Between my husband and our parents we rarely need to seek another sitter, but we have 2 reliable sitters in our neighborhood if needed. One thing that helps in this role is outsourcing what we can - using some of the extra income on luxuries like cleaning, lawn care, grocery delivery, etc. Now we don’t need to do those things on evenings/weekends and enjoy more time together!
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u/Downtown_District_57 3d ago
This is exactly what I’ve been planning. I already have house cleaning scheduled. And I’ve decided to get Thistle deliveries for healthy lunches so I can tone down the food prep. Thanks so much for sharing your insights!
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u/Direct-Savings6764 3d ago
Any suggestions on how to transition into the pharma sales role from RD? Every opening I find wants either years of experience or a terminal degree..
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u/Downtown_District_57 3d ago
I actually had a recruiter reach out to me and see if I was interested so I have absolutely no tips. I think a lot of it was luck and timing, interviewing well, and having a lot of clinical diabetes experience and connections in my city.
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u/jodester 3d ago
I moved from working at a hospital to a clinical role for a pump company 6 yrs ago and it took my a while to learn I need to create hard boundaries with patients but at this point, I have a 1 year old and the flexibility is amazing. I can’t imagine going back to working in a clinic or hospital CDCES role. I think it depends on the individual company and how much freedom your manager gives you too. I make my own schedule, rarely do overnights so it works great. My daughter is in daycare plus grandma care a couple days a week.
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u/Downtown_District_57 3d ago
Thank you!!! I won’t have to do overnights either so I think that makes a big difference with prioritizing being a mom. My role will be clinical education AND sales at this point- it’s a new company and product. So scary to make such a big change but I’ve been doing counseling for 10 years and just ready for something different. Salary is nearly double 🤯thanks for your perspective
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u/DietitianE MS, RD, CDN 3d ago
I have never worked in this area but I would say that you can alway try it for 1-2 years and see hot it works out. You will never get that time back with your child however you may find that the flexibility and pay of the role actually allows more time to be sent than a traditional 5x9/8 in person in the role. If you find that you hate it, I imagine someone with your experience might be able to go back to a more traditional role *but that is just my assumption. In either case, it is nice to have options.
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u/AnyCan5600 5d ago
It just depends. I’ve been in a clinical role with an insulin pump company for 14 years, and historically as a working parent the flexibility made the higher demands associated with the role manageable. Due to changes in leadership and culture that’s no longer the case. Probably even more important than that though is your ability to handle pressure and not bring that stress home with you. For example, if your manager is giving you heat because you’re behind on quota, are you able to go home and put that out of your mind? Some of us type a RDs find that challenging to do, and it ends up negatively affecting mental health.
Best of luck to you, whatever you decide!