Great work-life balance helps data scientist find a ‘healthier version of me’
Shawn Squire had a list of must-haves when he was looking for a job. First and foremost, he wanted to continue honing his skills as a data scientist. He wanted the flexibility to set his own schedule and the opportunity to work from home most of the time.
But the trouble was that he wasn’t finding the right job on his own. And the headhunters that flooded his in-box with job opportunities didn’t seem to know anything about him other than the fact that his resume had the right keywords.
With the help of Averity, Squire landed a job as a senior Data Scientist at Medical Solutions. We talked with him about how he finally found a position that met all of his needs.
Congrats on the job at Medical Solutions! It’s only been a month or two, right?
I think I'm going on two months now. It’s been really great so far!
Talk about what the job search was like.
I wasn't in a rush to leave my last job. I was casually looking for opportunities, just paying attention to things that piqued my interest. I was probably sending out about three resumes a week at that point.
What was your number one concern about looking for a new job?
I really wanted a job that was more aligned with what I wanted to be doing. At my previous job, the work environment was great, and I was doing a lot of interesting stuff. But I wasn't doing data science, which is what I wanted to do.
I also was looking for a little flexibility in the work schedule. I’m not a clock in at 9, clock out at 5 kind of guy. And more money would be nice, as well.
Did you get an overwhelming amount of email about jobs?
Yeah, I was getting a lot of spam from headhunters. I was mostly ignoring the ones who reached out to me unprompted. A lot of the times they contacted me because my resume happened to match on a vague keyword. They didn’t really understand the kind of job that I was looking for.
How did you connect with Averity?
I applied to a posting by Averity for another data science position. Hardly any time had passed — maybe a day — when Mark Howland reached out and asked if we could set up a phone call. After talking with me about what I wanted he said that the job was not going to be the best one for me, but he and his colleague Chris Decrescenzo suggested some others.
The process was pretty painless. Medical Solutions was one of the ones that they suggested early on. There were one or two other openings that were promising, but I ended up accepting the job with Medical Solutions because it had everything I wanted. It was the right position, had the right opportunities, and the fact that it was remote was great.
Averity’s belief system is that “people hire people.” Did you find this was the case?
Yes. They were constantly checking in with me, letting me know how the process was moving forward and asking if I had any questions. They handled most of the back and forth with the company. And they negotiated for me. By the time I accepted the offer, the salary was 20% higher than what I was hoping for.
How do you think your new job affects your day-to-day life?
My last job was hybrid, but I found myself spending more and more time in the office. The fact that this one is completely remote is amazing. My wife and I even get to go to the gym in the middle of the day. Now it’s like a healthier version of me.
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