Author: Claire Jarvis
We’re delighted to introduce Carter and Jessica, two senior recruiters at Sci.bio, as part of our ongoing Meet the Recruiters blog series. Both have been at the company just over a year: Jessica Byrd focuses on RPO in clinical operations and regulatory affairs; Carter Lewis focuses on RPO and contingency recruitment projects in the gene therapy space.
Scientific Beginnings
Jessica graduated with a BA and MA in Psychology in 2018. She worked in the field for a couple of years, before returning to school to obtain a Master’s degree in Human Resources. While studying, Jessica looked for opportunities to apply what she was learning in school. “I thought Sci.bio would be a good place to get my toes wet in the HR world,” she explains.
Carter graduated with a BS in Biotechnology. Aware that he didn’t want a career at the bench, Carter joined Sci.bio after graduating: “I was really interested in the biotechnology world. But I realized I didn’t want to be running assays for my career.” He thought a recruiting career would be a great way to remain involved in biotech.
Recruitment as a STEM Career
One of the things Carter enjoys most about working at Sci.bio is “getting to interact with really smart people every day who tell me how their technologies work, while I help them build their company.”
Jessica enjoys the supportive environment at Sci.Bio, where success is about “the quality of results, not number of hires.” Carter agrees: “the inclusive and welcoming culture at Sci.bio is what drew me in.”
Hybrid Work and Life
Both Carter and Jessica work in hybrid roles, commuting to the Sci.bio office in Braintree, MA once or twice a week. Both appreciate the flexibility of hybrid recruiting work. “You learn a lot in the office from hearing other calls and talking with fellow recruiters,” says Carter.
A typical day for Jessica begins with a few hours dedicated to sourcing, then phone screens and interviews scheduled together. After that she reserves time to collect notes, write summaries and talk with hiring managers.
Carter likes to block off several hours for grouped tasks such as sourcing or calls. He explains “it can take you a while to focus if you’re hopping between client calls, meetings, etc.” Carter uses a notebook to keep most of his scheduling information, since the act of physically writing down notes helps them stay in his mind.
Jessica uses the virtual notepad OneNote to keep all her information (such as salaries, phone screening information) centrally located and categorized by client. She also uses Google Keep to track how many hours I’m spending on each client. Jessica’s one office essential? “My Airpods – when you have back-to-back phone calls it’s nice to have your hands free…it made the biggest difference to my neck!”
Outside of work Jessica likes hiking on trails near where she lives. Carter also enjoys outdoor activities such as backpacking, running, and skiing in the winter.
Advice for Others
Carter’s advice for other STEM graduates is to “keep an open mind” about recruiting as a potential career. “Most recruitment is either done hybrid or remotely, it’s based on your schedule and what you want to do…if you like making connections and networking with people”
For Jessica, the key to success as a recruiter is persistence. “Not everyone will reply to your phone call or email – you can’t let that deter you.”
