Coming Into a New Industry

By: Sarah Yun

When I first started here at Germer international, I had my fears of the unknown. Being fresh out of college, I had thought the first job I had was going to be the kick-start to my career. Almost my whole entire life, I had thought I was going to have a job that was in the medical industry. I thought “this is it… this is where I am going to start my career”. I never would have thought that the first job I had out of college, was going to be my toughest. Not only was my body getting adjusted to a 9-5 schedule but I had no work life balance and realized this was not something that I could see myself doing. I never thought the only option was to think about quitting. I was never raised to become a quitter; I was raised always to stick it out and be better.

I realized why am I wasting time on doing something that is not for me. I had a lot of fears of the unknown. If I had quit, what was I going to do then?… But, after a lot of good advice, I finally was just able to accept that it is OKAY, that I do not have to have my life figured out right now. I was still able to learn from that experience and realize there is a lot I can take into my next position, whatever that was going to be.

I had always been curious as to what the recruiting industry was like. I realized from my previous job, one of the things I enjoyed most was just being able to talk to people. I loved coming into work and building relationships with my co-workers but also with the patients. I loved learning about people’s backgrounds and where they came from. Everyday I was able to meet someone new. So when I first started out here at Germer International, I realized that recruiting was a lot like that. You never know who you will reach on the other line of the phone. You get to build relationships over the phone, over people who you have never met. I am the type of person who can spend hours on the phone, just getting to know someone. That was one of the things I enjoyed most, was being able to just talk to people about everyday things.

Now even though that may all sound easy, I realized that recruiting is also not very easy. I give a lot of praise to those who can achieve it well. You have to be able to build conversations and show your candidate that you want to be there for them, but also you have to be able to trust that they will give you that same respect back. I realized finding the right people for the right job is not always easy. You may think you have the perfect candidate, but it may not be the perfect fit for the company. I used to let this discourage me in the beginning, and was unsure if I was making much improvement as I was moving along.

Here I am three months later, and I love it. I love working with my coworkers and being able to talk to people everyday and learning about their situation and how I am able to help them and maybe even their families now or in the near long future. I learned that recruiting takes a lot of patience and when you are able to place a candidate it all becomes worth it in the end. I love learning something new everyday. Our company is very interesting, because we work only in pharmaceuticals. This has allowed me to learn so much more beyond recruiting and I love being able to learn about people’s jobs and help our clients in the process of it as well. I love being able to be a part of finding the right candidate for a client, but also the right company for a candidate. I never realized how much I could love recruiting and how much of a joy it is to be a part of a process in being able to change people’s lives, hopefully for better opportunities. I encourage all never to be afraid of stepping out of your comfort zone, I did and I am always continuing to learn to become better and really be able to grow in this industry. Once you find something you enjoy, you want to continue to push yourself to work harder and that is something that I have always found myself doing these last few months. They always say that the “difficult roads will often lead to beautiful destinations”. I hope that this story can encourage others to really take risks and allow themselves to step out of their comfort zones. I know what a scary time it could be for recent graduates or for people who are coming into a completely different industry, I hope you know as long as you have the right mindset you can achieve anything you push yourself to.