Sam H. | Marketing Associate, Medical | Kalamazoo, MI
Sam joined Stryker as a Marketing Intern in Kalamazoo, MI the summer before her senior year at Michigan State University – but her experience with Stryker doesn’t start there. Sam’s mom, Kristen, started working at Stryker when Sam was in middle school.
After starting college as a pre-med major and realizing the traditional medical field wasn’t a good fit for her, Sam pivoted to marketing. She remembered how her mom’s life took a 180 with work/life balance when she started at Stryker and wondered if this would be a place where she could balance her love of healthcare and her love of marketing. It was. Kristen encouraged Sam to reach out to a portfolio manager at Stryker, and network before applying, through networking, hard work, and great grades, Sam secured an internship at Stryker.
Coming into Stryker, Sam had a vision of what a Marketing Intern would do. Imagine her surprise and excitement when instead of spending all day on content creation and creative, she got to split her time between this and going out into the field and supporting Stryker Sales Reps. As part of the fieldwork, Sam was tasked with product pitches and acting as a liaison between Sales Reps and internal teams. One of the high points of her internship was being able to travel in the field, engage with hospital staff and do a deep dive to learn more about Stryker’s products in action.
One of the perks of being based in Kalamazoo, where Stryker is headquartered, is the additional opportunities that will sometimes present themselves. One such opportunity came to Sam in the form of acting as a tour guide for high-school students that were visiting the facilities. As an impromptu add-on to their planned visit, Sam was asked to present patient-handling products in Stryker’s Medical Show Room to 24 students and their parents, allowing her to demonstrate what she’d learned throughout her internship.
Other high points of Sam’s internship included learning about Stryker’s products and traveling into the field to see in a tangible way how we are helping hospitals. Sam was able to join Stryker’s team for a bed delivery in Ohio, where 101 new beds were delivered for future patient use. The opportunity to join Sales Training and do a deep dive into Stryker products was remarkable.
But Sam’s biggest takeaway from her internship wasn’t about Stryker's products, it was the importance of making connections. “Make connections with everyone in the office, literally whoever you can. The better connections you make the larger your network is and the more opportunity you will be exposed to.”
Sam’s Stryker story doesn’t end with the conclusion of her internship. Following her 12-week program, Sam’s team at Stryker threw a surprise party, inviting her co-workers and family, where she was given her final offer letter for full-time employment! We’re excited to report that starting in January 2023 Sam is officially a full-time Stryker employee!
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