The post from Winnie on the "job opening" got on my last nerve
yesterday. I have written my own revised versions. The first job
description is why the second one is such a nightmare for so many of
us. I so do not want to play nice with these corporations.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
http://healinghumanpotential.blogspot.com/
The first is a more truthful description of the job Winnie was
invited to apply for.
(the typos and grammatical errors in the original were beyond belief):
Good afternoon. My name is ................... and I am a recruiter
who specializes in recruiting Medical Professionals like yourself on
behalf of
pharmaceutical companies. I am currently representing a leading
artificial baby milk company who (that) has an opening on their team
in your local area.
I know as a Lactation Consultant that your priority is always going
to be that breastfeeding is best. After recruiting in this field for
many years and speaking with Nurses and Dietitians who are pediatric
specialists I must say I and the company I work for agree that this
non-threatening phrase has been a boon to our industry and one that
we can all easily agree on.
What I have also learned though is that when it is not possible to
breastfeed due to the outragious success of our marketing strategies
that successfully undermine and sabotage breastfeeding, Infant
formula is a needed substation.(UMM__did this guy really spell/word
this phrase like this?).
Rep, Clinical Sales (CSR) Infant Nutrition Representative
---If you are a registered Dietitian or a Registered Nurse (wasn't
the first sentence approaching LC's?? ) with nutritional experience
and people say you have an outgoing, hard working, aggressive, take-
no-prisoners attitude in which you can easily rationalize that need
for corporate profit outweighs any responsibility to human health,
then you should apply to this position. Especially if you Pediatrics!
(umm--are in pediatrics??)
The CSR is a hospital specialty position very similar to that of a
Pharmaceutical Rep.( amazing that this job is viewed with such
esteem, rather than akin to a used care salesmen!!) This position
will enable the right person with everything they need (meaning the
ability to compromise ethics and integrity, or rather just leave them
at the door, but remember to bring coffee and donuts) to have a
highly successful corporate career. As we make enormous profits on
the selling-out of mothers and babies, we can generously offer you
compensation that is above par and a bonus that is very, very strong.
Company car, lap top, cell phone and all other business needs are
provided by the company. This is a fun position with tons of
OPPORTUNITY, so long as you have no conscious!
Relocation: Available for qualified candidates, especially to
communities with high breastfeeding rates, where you are most needed.
This position is responsible for securing hospital recommendations
for artificial infant feeding products in his/her specific territory.
The Representative must have credible knowledge of infant and
nutritional products/services, and must exhibit selling capabilities
(please remember that credible does not imply accurate--it simply
means believable). Primary focus is hospitals and Pediatricians who
can help
with both the availability and recommendations of Infant formula in
hospitals, as our expensive research has taught us that many doctors
and hospital personnel are easily influenced by marketing materials
spoon-fed as scientific data, especially when presented in the
company of food and freebies.
Meet assigned performance objectives, which means push as much
artificial baby milk as possible.
Compile database that includes prioritization of doctors and
hospitals, office visits, infant formula sample distribution and key
activities. This includes lobbying against any ban-the-bags campaign
undertaken by fanatics who misunderstand our good-will gestures.
Develop effective selling skills and knowledge about infant
artificial feeding products. An understanding of infant nutrition is
unecessary and may be a handicap.
Provide value-added services and develop relationships with pediatric
office/birthing & pediatric hospitals that will lead to formula
recommendations. There is no need to feel intimidated, as Lactation
Consultants cannot compete with your winning, non-adversarial,
benefit-laden approach to "education". Remember, you are to behave as
a member of the health care team. With the right attitude, you will
be accepted as such.
Participate in medical professional national and local convention
exhibits. Manage Individual medical marketing expenses, sample and
literature budget. Busy health care personnel will appreciate your
orchestration of and support for their national events.
This is my version of an ad for an LC position that more accurately
defines what is so often expected of us:
Good afternoon. My name is ................... and I am a recruiter
who specializes in recruiting Medical Professionals like yourself on
behalf of medical corporate clients . I am currently representing the
mothers and babies in your community who have a need for accurate and
competent breastfeeding education and intervention, that must be
tempered with the paramount need to maintain the status quo of the
medical and social cultures.
I understand that as a Lactation Consultant you know that there is no
substitute for exclusive feeding at the breast, and that any other
method is inferior, posing serious medical and developmental/
psychological risks to both mother and baby, however please remember
that in your position you will be required to limit yourself to the
mantra "breastfeeding is best". After recruiting in this field for
many years and speaking with Nurses and Dietitians who are pediatric
specialists I must say that I agree that "breastfeeding is indeed
best" and I have learned that health care providers are also
comfortable with this non-threatening phrase. Remember that it is
your responsibility to assure every other person with whom you come
into contact should never feel guilty about his/her breastfeeding
experiences. The right candidate will never be tempted to discreetly
mention the "potential risks" of other feeding methods and will
remember that it is always prudent to resort to the even more phrase
"breastfeeding is best, but...".
What I have also learned though is that in the many and varied
circumstances when brestfeeding has been undermined and sabotaged,
and therefore just doesn't work then Infant formula is a needed
substation (UMM__did this guy really spell/word this phrase like
this?). The right candidate will always remember that breastfeeding
isn't for everyone and that most mothers will need to use formula
during their child's infancy, therefore she will become very adept at
"meeting the mother where she is", "not contradicting the health care
provider" and rationalizing away the medical model of childbirth as
the fault of mothers or something we have to learn to live with. She
will make no unnecessary attempts to normalize exclusive
breastfeeding as this is simply a pipe dream, nor will she act to
cause women to become too aggressive in their own or their child's
self-interest, as this could disrupt the carefully established (im)
balance of power. The right candidate will be comfortable with the
concept that "the formula companies are your friend". Your
predecessors in this post could not embrace these precepts and thus
found their jobs to be frustrating and unfulfilling.
---If you are a lactation consultant, counselor, educator or have
similar letters after your name (the public doesn't know the
difference anyway), and people say you have a meek, mild-mannered,
don't ruffle any feathers, cow-tow to the establishment attitude you
should apply to this position. We have found that strong, competent,
advocacy-oriented applicants have not found themselves satisfied in
this position. This position will enable the right person with
everything they need to have a career in which she is over-worked,
underpaid and ignored.
Even with your ability to compromise in the interests of the
breastfeeding dyad, even with your skills in stroking overgrown,
undereducated egos and your amazing ability to alternately walk on
eggshells and then on fire, you will find yourself frustrated and
exhausted. The interests of corporate compliance will undermine your
success. Compensation is well below par, bonus is non-existent. Hours
are long and the job never goes away. You will use your own car,
purchase your own lap top, cell phone and all other equipment. You
will go home at the end of the day and post your complex questions on
LN, hoping you can better help the dyad battle her way through the
system the next day. Continuing education is primarily at your own
expense, but is mandated. For every excellent working relationship
you establish with an HCP, there will be ten more waiting to be
tackled, all of it your responsibility. Should you happen to have the
IBCLC credentials, you will be required to retake your entry level
exam every ten years and accept this humiliation with pride. Should
the politically-charged organizational structure behind you become
burdensome to our organization you may easily be replaced with
someone with a less complex code of ethics.
This position requires thousands of hours of one-on-one counseling
experience covering all manner of complex breastfeeding situations
including but not limited to inefficient latch, nipple trauma,
insufficient milk supply, breastfeeding after reduction,
breastfeeding after breast cancer, adoptive breastfeeding, weaning to
treat maternal cancer, breastfeeding premature babies, breastfeeding
terminally ill babies, breastfeeding toddlers, tandem nursing,
plugged ducts, breast infections, identifying and referring for
treatment for birth trauma, tongue-tie, oral-motor function, maternal
nutrition, working outside of the home and breastfeeding, maternal or
infant illness and breastfeeding and candida. You must be skilled in
the use of many gadgets and devices and be prepared to respond to/
research the most recent gadgets, books and mass media "studies" that
mothers may ask about. You must be prepared to research fully any
situation with which you are not familiar and to do so quickly as
breastfeeding cannot wait. You will be asked to assist families of a
wide variety of social, economic, ethnic and language backgrounds and
to quickly assess the proper approach to take with a given family
that validates their personal beliefs and values. The flexibility to
adapt qickly to the social situation presented is essential. You must
have a broad knowledge base in normal human physiology and
development, Your problem-solving and inter-personal relationship
skills must be well-honed. You must have spent thousands of dollars
and your personal unpaid time to have achieved a high level of
excellence in your field. Passion for the well-being of mothers,
babies, families, the environment and humanity as a whole would be
highly desirable. A level of ethics above and beyond that in many
other professions is the standard of practice for you, but do not
take it too seriously.
If you have the ability to find your way through the political and
ethical landmine that your certifying body has created for you, if
you are able to come to peace with the reality of living in a bottle-
feeding culture, if you are able to happily begin each day with the
mantra "breastfeeding is best", then you are the ideal candidate for
this position. Other candidates are welcome to apply, but are
requested to leave their idealism and breastfeeding fanaticism at the
door. "Breastfeeding is best".
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