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Liz Gleeson Reflects on 1 Year of Work at Brunel

2022-09-28T09:24:00Z

life sciences

Introduction

One year ago, Liz Gleeson joined Brunel as a Business Development Manager focused on generating new business with Food and Beverage industry clients. In light of her one year anniversary on our Life Sciences team, Liz joined the blog for a quick Q&A to reflect on what it's been like to work at Brunel, her personal growth, and what's next for her and the Food and Beverage team.

Connect with Liz on LinkedIn

About Liz Gleeson

Liz was born and raised in Ireland before relocating to Vancouver, Canada to continue her career. Prior to Brunel Liz spent many years working as a Recruiter and Salesperson in the Manufacturing industry. Her job at Brunel has expanded to a 360 role that sees her focus on both business development and recruitment. In addition to being an excellent recruiter and salesperson, Liz is also an accomplished classical musician. She is a former professional vocalist, pianist, and Theremin player.

What's it been like for you shifting into 360 Life Sciences Recruitment this year? Is that something you had done before?

I've done both recruitment and business development separately throughout my career but the 360 side is a little more new to me. I had dabbled in it before but now I'm doing that more full time and I'm really enjoying it. It definitely is demanding with the pressure of bringing on new clients and then maintaining the account management with them as well as working on actually recruiting the roles. But if anything I think it allows me to build a stronger relationship with my clients because I know every single candidate I'm putting forward. I know them inside out for it's so easy for me to just call the candidate, call the client. I'm so intertwined in both sides of the process that it helps me to make it all smoother and I'm really enjoying that part of it.

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...It allows me to build a stronger relationship with my clients because I know every single candidate I'm putting forward.[No text in field]

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Liz Gleeson on working as a 360 Recruiter[No text in field]

What are some of the lessons you've learned during your first year at Brunel?

I feel like before I was working with mainly small-to-mid size companies and here at Brunel I've had some great exposure to larger multinational companies which has been really exciting. I've learned a lot from that because recruitment works differently for them. So I've definitely learned on that side and that was daunting at first but I've been able to get more into the groove of recruitment for larger companies. And you know, it's funny because the larger companies, they just have smaller business units within a larger organization and that's how Brunel functions as well.

Brunel is a huge international company and that experience was new to me too. So adjusting from working for a boutique firm to working for a huge global company has taught me a lot and it's been great!

How have you enjoyed working with the rest of the Food and Beverage team?

It's been great having the opportunity to work alongside my Manager Ksenia Mosends because she is super supportive. I feel like I can call her at any time for anything and we get along really well. Even though I'm a remote employee out of Vancouver and she's in Brunel's Calgary office I get the chance to see her in-person at least once per quarter. I fly out to Calgary or we'll meet up here in Vancouver or we'll get together for different conferences and things as well.

I love that Brunel does that for me because as a fully remote worker, I know sometimes people can feel a little bit detached. So to get to go to the office and meet people in person from time to time is really nice and helps me always feel engaged. It can be a difficult balance, but I I feel like Brunel is doing remote work really well. They listen to me. So if I were to ever voice that I was feeling left out or detached from the company Brunel would quickly act on that.

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Women pose in front of large floor sign at CHFA NOW conference

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Ksenia Mosends (left) and Liz Gleeson (Right) attending CHFA NOW, an organic food and beverage tradeshow in Toronto

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The Food and Beverage team also exists inside of the larger Life Sciences team, can you tell me about the dynamics of that?

I've had support from some of the recruiters on the team to work on a couple of my roles, which has been great and I've really enjoyed that side of it. And I love hearing about the different roles that they're working on because although they might be focused more on the Pharmaceuticals or Medical Devices side of things, there is a lot of crossover into Food and Beverage and Agriculture.

So it's great to have that involvement and not be siloed from them. We often end up sharing candidates or just brainstorming together to solve common problems within the team. So that's been great. I really do enjoy that aspect of having a larger team to fall back on as well.

How would you describe Ksenia's leadership style?

She's my boss but we very much work together as a team and when I need advice or guidance, she is there for me and I really enjoy her leadership style. I feel like we're on the same level and we think in a similar way, but she's still able to pull me up on things in both a professional way and a friendly way too.

If you were trying to convince a friend to come work at Brunel, what would you tell them?

The trust that's put in you to do your work is massive, and I think sometimes it can be underestimated how important that is. And I love the opportunity to explore different areas within my particular vertical. Brunel has been open to me exploring different avenues beyond the general manufacturing side of things. If I put a business case forward, the team will always listen to me. And so I feel like you're definitely heard and trusted here at Brunel and those are two of the most important things for me.

There's also all of the great compensation and perks in terms of we're well paid, there's a strong commission structure, and we get great PTO!

I love the opportunity to explore different areas within my particular vertical. Brunel has been open to me exploring different avenues beyond the general manufacturing side of things. If I put a business case forward, the team will always listen to me.

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Liz Gleeson on the freedom and autonomy of working at Brunel

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Final question, what are you looking forward to during your 2nd year at Brunel?

I've gotten to be part of the global Life Sciences Drivers Team. So we're collectively working on some great prospects globally. So I'm really excited to work more closely with the team moving forward. For my particular prospective client I'm collaborating with Australia, the Netherlands, Germany and the US and I'm really excited to see what will come of that. Hopefully we'll have a lot of success together in collaborating globally and it'll be a great opportunity for me to grow my skills.

We've also got a few Conferences lined up for the end of this year for the beginning of next in Canada and the states that we're really excited about. I'll be at Biotech Week Boston with a lot of our Global Life Sciences team as well so I'm looking forward to that!

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Women pose next to each other holding coffee mugs at a trade show

Liz (left) and Ksenia (right) attending CHFA NOW in Toronto

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Connect with Brunel

Thank you to Liz for her excellent work throughout her 1st year at Brunel and for joining us on the blog to revisit. If you'd like to learn more about Brunel's Food and Beverage recruitment services by connecting with Liz and Ksenia, get in touch with us at the form below. And to stay up to date on the latest from Brunel, follow us on LinkedIn!

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Liz Gleeson Reflects on 1 Year of Work at Brunel

Introduction

About Liz Gleeson

What's it been like for you shifting into 360 Life Sciences Recruitment this year? Is that something you had done before?

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What are some of the lessons you've learned during your first year at Brunel?

How have you enjoyed working with the rest of the Food and Beverage team?

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The Food and Beverage team also exists inside of the larger Life Sciences team, can you tell me about the dynamics of that?

How would you describe Ksenia's leadership style?

If you were trying to convince a friend to come work at Brunel, what would you tell them?

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Final question, what are you looking forward to during your 2nd year at Brunel?

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Connect with Brunel

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Share this article

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What's it been like for you shifting into 360 Life Sciences Recruitment this year? Is that something you had done before?

What are some of the lessons you've learned during your first year at Brunel?

How have you enjoyed working with the rest of the Food and Beverage team?

The Food and Beverage team also exists inside of the larger Life Sciences team, can you tell me about the dynamics of that?

How would you describe Ksenia's leadership style?

If you were trying to convince a friend to come work at Brunel, what would you tell them?

Final question, what are you looking forward to during your 2nd year at Brunel?

Connect with Brunel

Share this article