Life as a Talent Acquisition Manager

Shanique, based in our Horsham, Pennsylvania, office, is a Talent Acquisition Manager at Avalere Health. She also works alongside our Diversity & Inclusion Lead to execute and advocate our D&I initiatives. Here, she discusses how her work in D&I drives her achievements in Talent Acquisition.

What prompted you to pursue an opportunity in talent acquisition?

I’ve always enjoyed learning about other people’s career journeys. After graduating from Rowan University, I worked in recruitment for a few years, across different industries. I’m driven by creating impact and affecting positive change on people, but I didn’t achieve this with the industries I was recruiting for then. That feeling disappeared once I joined Avalere Health. Since then, I have been able to enhance both the candidate experience and recruitment process, whilst also expanding into a hybrid role of working in our D&I team. Ensuring a connection between Talent Acquisition and D&I is imperative to diversify our recruiting efforts, including facilitating appropriate interview training.

What do you find most rewarding about your work?

Being in a curated role of Talent Acquisition and D&I, I have full sight of the employee experience. What’s enjoyable about my role is the opportunity to play a part in creating an inclusive and open culture for everyone and speaking on those aspects in my conversations with candidates.

I also love working with colleagues on different initiatives from our Employee Network Groups. These are our employee-led communities designed to help drive a diverse and inclusive workplace aligned with the business.

I’ve always taken a “people first” approach in HR, so creating an inclusive and equitable space for all is my goal. I’m particularly inspired when I see the support, participation, and positive feedback from our employees. I also use my D&I work to inform how I assess and acquire talent and enjoy getting to share these experiences with candidates.

What are the key highlights of your time at Avalere Health?

Throughout my time at Avalere Health, I’ve enjoyed being hands on with different initiatives in talent acquisition as well as D&I. Within talent acquisition I’ve loved participating in interview training, and within D&I I thoroughly enjoy delving behind the scenes of our Diversity Dialogues. These are a series of internal, open-dialogue sessions where colleagues and external speakers are invited to share their experiences on a range of topics relating to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Additionally, I’ve really enjoyed connecting with others across the organization and honing my project management and leadership skills.

Why work for Avalere Health?

The career development and team support everyone at the organization receives is unrivaled. Additionally, our teams value unique, innovative ideas and authenticity in the connections we forge, which follow through in the client work and relationships with our clients. Witnessing how the organization has evolved including the expansion of capabilities and teams is something I’m definitely proud of!

How do you manage your work-life balance?

I’m a very organized person! My Outlook and iCalendar have been a saving grace over the years, and compartmentalizing my day with workouts and social events has really kept me sane.

Utilizing my PTO (paid time off) and ensuring I can completely switch off is also a priority for me. I’m grateful that I have never been offline and had to worry about putting out a fire at work—my team has been great with respecting boundaries during time off.

After a busy work week, how do you unwind?

I like to head down to the shore or explore the city of Philadelphia. At home, I try to make easy meal prep recipes I find on TikTok. I am also a Bravo fanatic! ‘Real Housewives’ or ‘Below Deck’ are my go-to TV shows that help me unwind.

Do you have any advice for future candidates?

Think about what you want from your career experience. Do you want a predictable workday, or are you ready for a new way of thinking and executing projects and initiatives? Is career growth important to you? Are you looking to work with dynamic teams and discover new thought processes, or do you prefer working independently? These are important questions everyone should consider when applying for a job.