November is National Career Development Month, encouraging professionals to celebrate their own career development and focus on their future career choices. To celebrate, we have produced a ‘Creating Careers’ series, in which we interview members of the team about their career development, personal successes, and highlights of their career so far at Invenia Group. In this interview we spoke to Ben Conway – Managing Consultant of our pharmaceutical team. Ben joined Invenia Group as a Recruitment Consultant in August 2020. In little over two years, he has progressed to Managing Consultant, and recently had a record-breaking deal for the company.
Ben, to begin – what was it that initially made you want to work in the recruitment industry?
I was ready to leave my previous job and a friend actually recommended this job for me. It sounded sales-focused and really rewarding so I was sold immediately! Recruitment itself allows you to manage your own time better, and there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with the job – if you aren’t productive and you don’t put the work in, there’s little reward. But if you work hard – you can reap the benefits. This is something I was keen to take on!
Why do you think yourself and your team have been so successful?
When I joined the business at the start of the pandemic, the pharma team were building out a US market from scratch. With this challenge as well as the remote working challenges, I actually contemplated whether this was the right role for me. But here you are constantly surrounded by fantastic support systems – whether that be from people within your team, your manager or the company directors – and with advice from them, as well as a lot of patience – we managed to grow substantially.
I think success also comes from your network and your expertise. As a team, we focus on the niche industry of generics and biosimilars – and we pride ourselves on being recruitment specialists. A lot of our work comes from referrals, and we always want to make sure we are delivering a good experience for our clients and candidates – so success also comes in form of returning clients and candidates who were happy with our support.
Have you always wanted to be a manager or is this something you’ve gradually developed into?
When I initially joined the business, it wasn’t on my mind at all. But, I think since I’ve grown, particularly from my last position – it’s been something I’ve become more open to. It’s happened quicker than I planned because of how quickly we’ve accelerated as a team, so I’m excited to grow into the new position and see where it takes me.
Do you find your environment supportive of your career? Do you think this is important for career growth?
Absolutely! Everyone here is really supportive – the managers, directors and your team members. Everyone genuinely wants everyone to do the best they can do and motivates you to work hard and succeed. I think it’s so important to be surrounded by that positivity.
What are your future goals and ambitions?
To be honest I’m not thinking too far ahead, I’m trying to take it step by step. I’d like to get as good as I can within this role and see where I progress from there. I’d like to make sure I can keep hitting my targets, and working with my team to maintain our top-performing figures and keep expanding our network.
What are your personal highlights from your time here?
The incentives at this company are amazing. As well as being treated to directors’ lunches and holidays abroad, some highlights for me are watching our team grow! Particularly within our London office – we started as a small team and to see us quickly expanding and becoming more social outside of work because of that is really nice.
I also had a record-breaking fee across the company last month which was also a huge achievement of mine! My manager and I were also successful centurions recently – with both of us scoring over £100k in one month, another great achievement.
What have you found the most difficult during your time of growth / what lessons have you learnt on the way?
I joined the business during the pandemic so started working completely remotely which was difficult. Coming from recruitment without a tonne of experience, I was constantly doubting whether I was doing well or how well I was working because it’s harder to have that relationship over a screen.
I also think learning a completely new market and new ways of working was a huge growth hurdle for me, but I just made sure to ask the right questions and put in that groundwork. And it seems to have paid off!
And finally, what is your advice to anyone looking to develop in their career?
Make sure you look for a company that promotes progression and actively wants you to grow! I’d also say ask the right questions and find the right management team that motivates you and pushes you to do your best.
Are you looking for an exciting new career opportunity within recruitment? We have a variety of opportunities across our life science, medical and dental sectors. Email your CV over to info@inveniagroup.com to find out more!
