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REC Award Nominees: Christina Giakou

15 Oct 2021
REC Award Nominees: Christina Giakou

christina giakou

Introducing Christina Giakou

Nominated for: Permanent Recruiter of the Year

Over the past year, Christina has helped 22 people find their dream job, which is a huge achievement considering the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. Christina works in a fairly night area of the life sciences sector but was able to place people into jobs where they'd be developing a new generation of cancer therapies, vaccines and lifesaving drugs. This is one of the driving factors that encourages Christina to work hard in her job because she knows her work is making a real difference.

Christina's achievements are extensive, but some of the highlights of the past year include:

  • Becoming one of the highest billers in the Loughton HQ for permanent toles
  • Promotion to Senior Recruitment Consultant 1 in December 2020
  • Further promotion to Senior Consultant 2 in June 2021

When asked about her career at HRS so far, Christina said:

"I was not a high biller from my first year but I was always working hard in order to become better. Working in the recruitment industry proved to be very challenging especially coming from a non-English spoken country. At the beginning of my career at HRS, I had to work double the time compared to my peers because I was still not confident in my language skills. Being in an environment where my peers could succeed with less effort, inspired me to compete with myself daily which resulted in exceeding my personal targets."

An example when Christina went "the extra mile" for one of her clients:

In October 2020, Christina came in contact with a senior scientist who was in the process of being made redundant due to the impact COVID-19 had on his company. One of his top priorities was staying in Cambridge so that he could care for his sick mother-in-law. At the time, Christina didn't have any local opportunity available for him but wasn't going to let this stand in her way. She was determined to support him in his job search. Christina checked daily for new job postings to ensure she didn't miss any that would be a good fit for him. She also contacted lots of her local clients to see if they had any new opportunities coming up.

After only a few days of searching, a job was posted by a start-up company that looked promising. Christina arranged a call with the vice president of the company, who explained that this role was a critical hire. The main responsibility would be to set up a new facility from scratch. Without this person, they would not be able to start their research work. Christina's candidate was successfully recruited by the company!

Christina said:

"I’m a strong believer that things happen for a reason. The candidate has been in this role for a year and he has successfully set up the new lab, further supported the business with the recruitment of five more scientists and is working on a novel therapy to tackle cancer diseases. On the other side, our client has been very pleased with the service provided and how quickly the hire was made at such an early stage of the company’s growth."

Starting the HRS book club

In addition to all of Christina's recruitment work, she also took the initiative to start a book club at HRS during lockdown. This helped keep everyone connected and gave them something, other than work, that they could use to improve their mental health. The book club has been a great success so far, with Christina organising meetings and keeping all members up-to-date and involved. 

A fellow recruitment consultant, who is part of the book club Christina started, said:

“I am so grateful to Christina for starting the book club. She did this at a time where we were all really struggling with lockdown and we needed to fill our time with something that was not work. I have never been much of a reader but the club gave me some accountability and I can’t stop reading now! I feel so much happier within myself and the social side has made a real change to my mental health over the last few months!”

For all of Christina's achievements over the past year, we really think she's a great candidate for Permenant Recruiter of the Year & we wish her the best of luck at the upcoming awards.

Want to become an HRS life changer too?

Here at HRS, we are always looking for people like Christina to help change people's lives in a range of scientific industries. If you think you have the skills to become a talented recruiter, then we want to hear from you! Take a look at all the current roles at HRS below, or give us a call on +44 (0)203 910 2980 to find out more!

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