Careers @ LI-COR

No one has a closer finger on the pulse of a company than those who handle sales orders. One 13-year veteran of LI-COR Biosciences, a sales correspondent who handles international orders for the biotechnology product line, sees the company's growth from a different perspective than most.

"All the logistics of shipping materials into different countries is a challenge in itself," she says. "We definitely do a lot more international sales now, and we have more distributors." The expansion of products in recent years represents no small change in her work load.

"We are always encouraged to go to seminars or workshops that we think will be helpful," she says. She cited, as an example, a workshop on proper procedures for letters of credit that proved to be helpful.

Another valuable resource is much closer. "Having two product lines, if I get stumped on something, I can always pick up the phone and call someone in the other building," she says. "Chances are, one or the other of us has come across that situation."

The country's economic situation revealed an openness among the management team that she finds encouraging. Employee forum meetings earlier this year involved everyone in the company.

"It was ‘here's where we are now, here are the issues, here are some things we may have to face.' And they asked for input and ideas from all of us. That's very unique."