Cameron-Brooks JMO Alumnus Success Story

I like to share stories of Cameron-Brooks Alumni and their successes.  Recently, Cameron-Brooks Team Member, Mary Lou White, visited San Francisco, CA and had lunch with Sean Blair, former Air Force JMO, who is now a medical device sales representative at Johnson & Johnson.  After the lunch, Mary Lou sent our team an e-mail describing his success.  I changed some of the e-mail to make it easier for those outside of Cameron-Brooks to understand.  By the way, Mary Lou has been working with Roger Cameron and Rene Brooks since 1977, and has a tremendous amount of experience in the JMO recruiting industry.

 Mary Lou’s e-mail.

I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting with Sean Blair for lunch in San Francisco.  He was dressed in his red scrubs (they have the med device reps wear red scrubs versus blue so sales reps stand out) and had just come from a couple of procedures that morning.  He is a Territory Assistant building his experience to prepare to take over his own territory soon.  However, he has a lot of “hands on” work managing the territory and advising surgeons in procedures.  He has also been an integral part of changing a key hospital in the Bay Area to using his company’s product line.  This hospital had been staunchly in the corner of a competitor, but has now converted to J&J.  The other team member involved with converting this account was another Cameron-Brooks Alumnus, Brandon Daum, who has been a sales representative at J&J for 4 years.  This conversion is huge because it is the second largest hospital in its system.  Sean covers the entire Northern California region and part of Nevada, but he has been spending a majority of his time in San Francisco at this hospital – it has become his “second home.”  He is thriving in this role.  He says he would never have thought of sales as a career before Cameron-Brooks and yet now he knows it is perfect for him.  He repeatedly said how much he appreciates all that Cameron-Brooks has done to get him to this place.  He absolutely loves living in the Bay Area.  He promised to get on the Cameron-Brooks Alumni network and be a resource to other Cameron-Brooks JMO candidates.  Sean is a big supporter of C-B.

 Finally, Sean is doing so well that his Regional Manager, another C-B Alum from 1976, is keeping close tabs on him and continues to let him know he has his eye on Sean as Sean is really already making a good name for himself.

 End of Mary Lou’s e-mail.

 Joel Junker

JMO Headhunter – Candidate Success and Satisfaction

There are several JMO recruiters (headhunters) from which to choose when making a transition to business.  When evaluating headhunting or recruiting firms, one of the questions JMOs often ask me is about our candidates’ satisfaction rate years into their careers.  While in order to get statistics, it would be easy to send out a survey asking our alumni  to prove they are pleased with their career, I feel the two stories I share with you below are much more powerful and indicative of the satisfaction and success of Cameron-Brooks Alumni in business.

Cameron-Brooks JMOs Award Winning Sales Representatives Medical Device Company
I received the following e-mail from a Cameron-Brooks Alumnus we placed with a medical device division of Johnson & Johnson.  I took out specifics of the names of the Cameron-Brooks Alumni and the specific name of the division for privacy purposes.  The Alum who sent this to me is a former Army JMO, West Point Graduate with whom we partnered  in early 2008.  The other C-B alumni to whom he makes reference,  we partnered with in 2007 and 2005.

“Dear Roger, Rene & the Cameron-Brooks team,

 My company recently had their National Training Meeting down in Florida and I thought that you all would enjoy some of the highlights & pictures.  Thanks can never be enough for the opportunities that you allowed us to have.” 

Picture Descriptions:

(For the Blog, I am not attaching pictures and only including the description of their achievements and awards):

Cameron Brooks Alum Mike (ex-Army) & Daniel (ex-Air Force); Dan was a recipient of numerous sales clubs & won a trip to Napa Valley for exceeding business plan.

Cameron Brooks Alum Mike (ex-Army) receiving the “Rookie Representative of the Year Award” from Company President Dan.  Ranked #4^th in the country overall for growth in sales.

Cameron Brooks Alum Mike (ex-Army) & Jimmy (ex-AF); Jimmy was Mike’s field sales trainer when he entered the company.  Jimmy achieved numerous sales awards and serves as an interim division manager and field sales trainer as well. 

 Note:  My division is considered the tip of the spear in terms of growth and was one of the fastest growing sectors within the company.  

We hope that everyone is healthy and doing well!

Mike”

Cameron-Brooks Now Partnering with Sons and Daughters of Alumni
Roger Cameron has been partnering with JMOs for over 44 years and René Brooks for almost 39 years. Cameron-Brooks is now partnering with the sons and daughters of former JMOs whom Roger, René and Cameron-Brooks  helped to transition many years ago.  Recently, I interviewed a candidate whose father worked with Roger and René in the early eighties and found a position with Procter & Gamble in manufacturing.  This current JMO candidate will attend the Cameron-Brooks June 2010 Career Conference. Though his father is no longer with Procter & Gamble, he is a Senior Vice President at another consumer package goods company.  What is also interesting about this story, is that one of his good friends growing up also partnered with Cameron-Brooks in 2007, and Roger and René helped that friend’s father make the transition to Procter & Gamble in the late seventies. 

Even though we have placed several children of C-B alum over the last few years, I felt this story had an interesting twist because of the two JMO friends.  I would say that these two longtime Alum fathers, are very pleased with their careers in order for them to point their sons to Cameron-Brooks. 

I majored in Finance at Notre Dame.  I love numbers and statistics.  I feel one can learn a lot from them, however, I have two caveats.  First, they never tell the whole story.  Second, I remember the saying, “Torture the statistics ’til they lie!”  Therefore, for this blog post, I wanted to share two stories, of many stories I could share, that illustrate more than statistics ever could the Cameron-Brooks partnership and success as well as the satisfaction of our Alumni.

Cameron-Brooks Alumni Partner to Make a Difference in a Patient’s Life

When I meet with junior military officers (JMOs) to discuss a possible transition from military to business, I often hear them express the concern of finding a career where they feel they will make a difference.  I understand this since these JMOs have been serving our country, fighting the war on terror, and defending our freedom.  When I was a JMO considering a transition, I remember Cameron-Brooks Recruiter Steve Sosland telling me that I would find new ways to serve others and have worthwhile work in my career.  Frequently, Cameron-Brooks Alumni share with me how they are making an impact in their careers and making a difference in people’s lives.  Yesterday, an alumnus called to tell me the difference that he and a Cameron-Brooks Alumna had made in a patient’s life that day.

Dan, the Cameron-Brooks Alumnus to whom I am referring, is a Clinical Specialist with a leading medical device company in their neuromodulation division in south Florida.  Neuromodulation is a therapy that uses microelectronic devices implanted in a patient’s back with leads (wires) that go into the spine.  The microelectronic device sends electricity through the leads into the spine and this electricity creates a tingling sensation that masks debilitating pain.  Dan was called into an emergency case last week where a patient with a heart pacemaker also needed a neuromodulation device for pain management.  A pacemaker uses similar technology to neuromodulation stimulation where a microelectronic device sends electricity through leads to the heart to synchronize an irregular heartbeat.  Pacemakers are cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices and sold and supported by another division of the company.  Because the devices both use microelectronic stimulation they can interfere with one another if not implanted properly.  The procedure for the patient would require a representative from both divisions of the company to advise the physician.  It just so happens that the CRM Field Clinical Representative in south Florida, Laura, is a Cameron-Brooks Alumna.  (By coincidence, both alumni also attended the November 2008 Career Conference.)

In the procedure, the two Cameron-Brooks Alumni, Dan and Laura, guided the surgeon on implanting and synchronizing the devices, ensuring the patient had an effective and life saving pacemaker and a neuromodulation device.  When Dan and Laura completed the procedure, they shared with one another how much they enjoyed their careers and discussed how Cameron-Brooks facilitated their transition which ultimately played a part in this procedure, impacting the patient and physician.  Later that day, Dan called me to share the story. 

This story not only points to the fact that, yes, JMOs can find value in their work outside of the military, but also illustrates the Cameron-Brooks partnership of facilitating a win for our clients, a win for our candidates and ultimately a win for Cameron-Brooks.

Joel Junker