Author: Claire Jarvis
Next up in our ‘Meet the Recruiters’ series we have Kendra Hodges and Lacey Paulides. Kendra is a Senior Scientific Recruiting Associate and Lacey is a Biotech Recruiting Associate at Sci.bio.
Introducing Recruiters Kendra and Lacey
Lacey graduated in 2020 with a biology degree. Her journey into healthcare began while still a student, with medical assistant and medical scribe jobs. However, working in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the career no longer aligned with her passions, so Lacey sought alternatives to further medical school. “My favorite part of healthcare was interacting with all sorts of different people and trying to make connections,” she explains. This led naturally to her current career in recruitment.
Kendra studied at the University of Vermont, graduating with a degree in Environmental Science and a minor in Biology. After graduation Kendra worked at a large recruitment agency, before switching to Sci.bio in early 2021.
When Kendra moved from a large to boutique recruitment agency, one of the biggest differences she noticed was the level of client and candidate engagement. “When you’re at a big agency, a lot of it is metric-focused, for example hitting a target of fifty phone calls a day. But you’re not getting as much engagement or depth of developed relationships .” At an agency like Sci.bio, Kendra found her clients more responsive and engaged.
Challenges and highlights
For Lacey “time management is initially the hardest thing” about being a recruiter. Having a visual schedule and blocking off time for sourcing and calling candidates is important to helping her stay on top of work.
Meanwhile, the best part of recruiting is the variety: Lacey finds every biotech client is working on something slightly different. ”It’s also a job where you can stay busy all the time, and I’m a person who loves to stay busy!” She also finds it rewarding to recruit for small start-ups, where a single hire she facilitates can make a huge difference to the company.
“I really like the client relationship aspect of recruiting,” Kendra says. “As well as when I’m able to match a candidate with a career they’re really passionate about.” She notes enticing candidates into roles where the start-up may still be in stealth mode, or a potential candidate isn’t committed to changing roles, can be challenging at times, though ultimately rewarding.
Recruiter goals
Over the next couple of years, Kendra hopes to reach Recruiting Partner level, developing the autonomy to choose specialties and which clients to work with. For Lacey, who joined Sci.bio at the end of 2021, her immediate priority is developing her own workflow and best practices, and developing long-term connections with candidates.
Outside interests
When not at work, Kendra likes to play guitar and collect vinyl. Her most valued vinyl is a copy of Abbey Road by the Beatles.
Lacey recently started her own fashion brand. “The theme is being authentic to yourself and not comparing yourself to others,” she explains, something that is reflected in her recruiting career. In her spare time she also loves biking and surfing.
