Q&A with Hamish Corson, Business Manager

How long have you worked at i-Pharm Consulting and what are the main responsibilities of your role?

I started at i-Pharm back in November 2018. My day-to-day responsibilities are managing a team of three consultants, looking after our relationships with our Key Accounts and MSP accounts across the UK/EU and delivering into those programmes. I also carry out resourcing for various roles, specifically within the Quality Assurance, Technical Operations and Engineering space.

Tell us a bit about your Functional Specialism

I specialise within the Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Technical Operations and Engineering market with a focus on contingent workforce recruitment. The roles are all based on manufacturing floors, on the production line of drugs and in a lab environment.

How did you get to where you are now?

A lot of hard work, long hours, perseverance and determination. I started as a Trainee back in November 2018 and have now progressed into a Business Manager role. I had quite a few setbacks along the way initially. I wasn’t one of the lucky ones who fell into recruitment and just started billing since day one. It took me a little while, but I’ve perfected my trade and now I’ve got a smooth process that I rinse and repeat every single time.

What do you enjoy most about working at i-Pharm?

I like working with our clients. I really do believe in what they’re doing, the therapies and the products they are producing to combat these rare diseases. One of the companies we work with; Kite Pharma in Amsterdam focus on producing T-cell therapies to combat blood cancer and different forms of that. I see the end goal in what I’m doing. I guess you can say I’m a very small cog in a very large wheel.

What do you think makes your team a success?

Being an agile recruiter, being someone who can pick things up quickly, learn quickly and listen very well. It’s also vital to implement the process from start to finish which has been proven successful for multiple years within the business. That’s what makes someone good in my team and allows us to work well together.

What have been your proudest achievements, individually and as a team?

Individually, my proudest achievement is billing the most ever in a month within the business. As a team, I’d say it’s how fast we are growing. When I first joined, we were still quite junior and although we were delivering reasonably well, we’ve grown and now have a well-oiled team who understands the market and are consistently performing well.

What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?

I used to be a choir boy back in Newcastle at the local cathedral. I was the head chorister. I was singing from age 7 to 14.

What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t in recruitment?

It would definitely be a sales role of some kind as I’m a people person.

If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet?

Alan Shearer as I’m a Newcastle United fan.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to get into recruitment?

It’s a common misconception that things are just going to happen for you and that you’ll ride the wave and get interviews. Recruitment is a job where whatever you put in you get out. If you put in a lot, you typically get good successes. If you don’t put in very much work, you won’t see many results. One of the biggest things about recruitment, if you’re going to get into it is realising that you have to  work hard or things just won’t happen.

Check out our Careers Site for more information on life at i-Pharm.