This year we are delighted to say that we have three nominees shortlisted for the REC Awards. We have been shortlisted in three categories, Newcomer of the Year, Recruitment Team of the Year, and Temporary Recruiter of the Year. We caught up with our Clinical Contracts Recruitment Team to learn more about their experience at CK and to see how they felt about being shortlisted for the award.
This team has been nominated for their wonderful work this year alongside supporting a special project that was to provide over 100 research staff to the world’s largest randomised trial of Galleri™ by GRAIL, a pioneering multi-cancer early detection test that can detect over 50 types of cancers. Not only has this team supported this study but they also have also become the benchmark for teamwork within CK. Their new approach to teamwork enabled them to source for the study and also take care of their current contractors.
Introduce us to your team…
SL: I’m Steve Lord and I’m a Principal Consultant at the CK Group. I’ve been with CK since 2016 and work in the Clinical Contracts Team. The team specialises in contract/interim staff involved in clinical research from clinical development & operations, to biometrics, to PV, to regulatory affairs.
KK: Hi, I’m Karen Kangley. I joined the Clinical Contracts Team last year. Recruitment can be quite the rollercoaster but there have definitely been more ups than downs and I’m so glad I made the decision to join CK Group and the CCT last summer.
RO: My name is Russell Oakley and I have been with the CK Group for 20 years this coming January. I have worked across all the recruiting teams here at CK but enjoy working within Clinical Contracts the most, simply because we have a great team!
HM: I’m Hendre Moolman, and am part of the Clinical Contracts team working as a Principal Consultant. I have been with CK Since 2008 where I have worked on both contract and permanent roles across a number of areas in the Clinical side of Pharma.
SC: Hi, I’m Sam and I’ve been in the Clinical Contracts team for just over a year and a half. It’s been a bit of a baptism of fire working in a new sector post COVID but wouldn’t of changed any of it. Working within the CCT has been great to build some lasting relationships and help grow the business.
Tell us about the team’s experience and knowledge?
SL: The team has a great blend of experience, characters and traits that mix well to create a great team to work in. Russell is the manager and knows his way around CK and Clinical recruitment like the back of his hand. He has led big projects for CK, like the Salford Lung Study and the EMS Grail project. He gives the team the support it needs, when it needs it, as well as being a contributor. Hendre is another longstanding team member and has specialised in PV. Karen and Sam joined the team in 2021 and have brought new energy and enthusiasm to the team, as well as new ideas and looking at problems differently.
KK: Have to agree with Steve, we all bring something a bit different to the team but I think the one thing that unites us is a sense of humour (that makes coming to work fun) and always being keen to support each other whenever we can.
RO: It’s all been said already. Everyone chips in and we truly work as a team. I would recommend more agencies working in this manner.
HM: Agree, we work together quite well, with each person contributing relative to their skill set and pushing in the same direction.
SC: Being the youngest in the team it’s great to hear the different approaches and ways of working the rest of the team uses, working in a team environment has been great.
Tell us a bit about the role of the team?
SL: As one of the seniors in the team, my role is often that of sounding board, 2nd opinion and devils advocate! We all appreciate having someone else in the team to ask questions and bounce things off and I seem to have that role!
KK: I think as a team we work well together and although we each gravitate towards different tasks, there’s no “well, this is my job, that’s yours”- it’s really collaborative and the variety helps keeps things fresh!
RO: Being the elder statesman of the team doesn’t mean I know everything, far from it. I love the ideas and fresh enthusiasm that Sam and Karen have brought to the team, making work fun an different everyday.
HM: I just smile and wave. Get on with things. Quite often piping up with a comment that is usually left field and followed by a few frowns…
SC: We all work well together and strive to hit our targets whilst having fun bar all the dad jokes.
What have been your challenges in the past year?
SL: This year has seen more staff returning to offices, and that has brought difficulties in itself. Our clients have been trying to convince staff to change their behaviours around working from home and this has made our task more difficult at times. Our clients often have head offices that are under occupied and they want to get staff back in. On the reverse, candidates have got used to working from home, they see all the benefits and no downsides, so asking them to go into an office is our big challenge. Candidates are in short supply and there isn’t as much movement from jobs as people are looking for more security in the uncertain financial times.
RO: I concur with Steve completely. It’s also great that we’re all in the office again to bounce ideas off each other. Successive lockdowns did affect the company culture, but we got through it and now have very strong team units across the company.
What has been the proudest moment for the team this past year?
SL: The biggest achievement of the team this past year must be the recruitment into the GRAIL project, which involved recruiting 120 research nurses into a cancer trial. Not only was it the size and scale of the project but because it was a trial that could make a real difference in the fight against at Cancer! All this was done, whilst the team carried on with recruitment to our customer base!
RO: Yes definitely the GRAIL project. It’s a great privilege to partner with a client on a project that will change people’s lives for the better. It was a great achievement and we should all be proud of our involvement in such a worthy study.
How does it feel to have been nominated?
SL: I’ve worked in recruitment for 20 years+ and have never been up for any awards before. So, to be included in the team award is a real privilege and is up there in my recruitment career without a doubt!
KK: It just feels genuinely great to be up for the award with a team that I’m so proud to be part of. A team nomination is fantastic and regardless of the outcome, I’m looking forward to celebrating with everyone on the 24th November.
RO: This is also the first time I have ever been nominated for anything outside of the workplace, so this is a great honour and the team and company should be immensely proud of this achievement.
HM: Being part of a team being nominated is a great feeling. Shows that we have made a difference.
SC: It really good feeling to be nominated as a team, we all put in a lot of hard work over the last year and is a fantastic achievement.
Good luck to our Clinical Contracts Team for the awards on 24th November.
