Consultant Sophie shares Life Sciences expertise with internal team

Life Sciences consultant Sophie Serck ran a training session for the internal team at Pauwels Consulting. Besides her work as a Quality Assurance Officer for a major customer in the pharmaceutical industry, she also has a passion for teaching. Here at Pauwels Consulting, we believe in sharing knowledge and Sophie is ideally suited to help with this. We asked her to provide training to the recruitment team at the Ghent office on common terminology in the Pharma and Life Science sectors in order to help equip candidate consultants even better for their next challenge.

Experience in the Life Sciences sector

I have been working in the Life Sciences sector for nearly 5 years now, and have held a number of positions throughout that time. Following my degree in pharmacy, I went on to do an additional master’s degree in business administration, so you can see I have wide-ranging interests! My first position after completing my studies was as a Project Manager in a multinational pharmaceutical company, after which I wanted an opportunity to be more involved with the product itself and became a Project Engineer at another company. I had gained a good understanding of the operational side of drug manufacturing, so I was also interested in exploring a more strategic role. For example, I spent time in a hospital as part of a team working on policy and information, such as designing cleanrooms and research studies.

Working for Pauwels Consulting

At the time, I was looking for a position that would enable me to work a bit closer to home. So when an HR & Talent Consultant from Pauwels Consulting contacted me about a position in Ghent, I readily took up the challenge. I had already had some contact with Pauwels Consulting five years previously, but at the time I was still working permanently at a pharmaceutical company. Our discussions back then left a very positive impression on me, which meant I felt confident about considering an offer.

Ambition

I currently work as a consultant QA Officer, which means I am closely involved in all product phases. I have a lot of responsibility, but that’s something I also enjoy. Planning my own schedule, having contact with the various stakeholders and a minimum of repetitive tasks – there’s no way I would want to go back to a purely operational role. At the same time, I’m now at a stage of life where I’m not always looking to move up the next rung on the ladder. I had that drive when I first started out, but now that I’m a bit older and have become a mum, there are other priorities in my life. My focus now is drawing on my in-depth knowledge of my job and gaining self-confidence from doing good work.

Why did you want to become a consultant?

Before becoming a consultant, I had been interested in a number of different roles. I wanted to go back to basics, explore my options, and get a better understanding of what I really wanted. As a consultant, you have the opportunity to do this, while enjoying the support of your permanent employer. For example, Pauwels Consulting helped me find my current role as a QA Officer.

Working as a consultant allows you to build up expertise – in my experience, you grow horizontally. By this, I mean that you rapidly develop and adapt on a personal level. You have to step outside your comfort zone and get used to a new environment, which means you quickly learn to communicate effectively and demonstrate the added value you bring. There’s no doubt this takes a lot of courage – something I have absolutely had to learn to apply as a consultant. So, it’s not just about hard skills: soft skills, such as a critical eye are particularly important.

Pauwels Consulting learns from its consultants

The HR & Talent Consultants at Pauwels Consulting work day in and day out to match the right people with the right job. In the team that focuses on Life Sciences profiles, they immerse themselves in the complex world of pharma, food, chemicals, biotechnology, and more right from onboarding. It goes without saying, there are a large number of jobs in this field, and even more qualified people looking for a position. To help them prepare for their next assignment, the HR & Talent Consultants constantly need to learn and stay up to date on what’s happening in the market.

Training for the internal team

That’s something I could do. I led a full training session on all aspects of the Life Sciences sector. Teaching is a real passion for me. Outside of working hours, I have been tutoring children with learning difficulties for some time now. My Talent Manager knew about this, so when they were looking for someone to provide training, I was the obvious choice. My teaching experience definitely helped, and I was able to take a deep dive into the different aspects of working in the life sciences. Most of the questions they had were about terminology, like deviation, CAPA (Corrective Action, Preventive Action), change, etc. I was also able to clarify the details of job titles, such as QA, quality engineer, product engineer and more, for them. We discussed how they can make vacancy texts more specific, and how to make them more appealing for people from different backgrounds.

In-house expertise

Pauwels Consulting has such a wealth of expertise in-house I find it hard to imagine the work consultants do in all the other sectors. All the more reason then to hold these training sessions more frequently. Especially when you consider the rapid pace of change in technology and the world of work. I think that the fact that Pauwels Consulting is committed to knowledge sharing between the internal team and consultants is a big plus for the company.