Jack Blackton is a division manager at our London HQ, who’s been here for just over four years. He is one of our best performing billers who also leads and guides his own team.
He’s a great example of getting out what you put in. In being driven and always going that extra mile, Jack has learnt and achieved a huge amount since joining Meet. He even made it onto a company incentive trip to Monaco within the first two years of his career.
Let’s hear more about his growth and passion for the life sciences industry.
Jack is originally from Cheltenham, in the southwest of England. After finishing school, he went on to study at Bristol University, where he graduated in 2014. His main ambition at that time was to travel and explore different parts of the world.
Despite planning to travel for one to two years max, he ended up travelling for five. He lived in Australia, New Zealand and across both Asia and Europe, and spent time in the US and in Africa. Over this period, he met loads of people, experienced a wide variety of cultures and gained new insights that only travelling can give you.
During his travels, Jack had been working as a freelancer in finance. He would spend 8-9 months working and spend the rest of the year travelling. However, he had met countless people who told him he’d be great at recruitment – which is initially what made him consider switching career paths.
When he finally returned home, he was still thinking about becoming a recruiter. It felt like a sure sign because so many people had told him he’d be a natural – and unsurprisingly they had all been right.
Before joining Meet, Jack wanted to leave his comfort zone one last time by moving to London. It was only then that he discovered the company and was interviewed by our Division Director Matt Lowe-Laurie and CEO Hannah Haigh.
He could tell very early on that Meet was the right company for him, and he very swiftly received and accepted an offer in 2021. In the four years since he's been here, he hasn’t looked back.
Jack’s niche in the life sciences recruitment market began as clinical operations. And while he loved the initial challenge of cold calling and building out a new client base, he said that his current blend of sales and management is a lot more exciting.
“I’ve got a lot of great clients and several key accounts, so with that comes a fair share of account management. Alongside that I’m supporting my team and hoping to lead them down the same road that I’ve been very fortunate to have been on.”
Jack also mentioned that guiding his team members brings a new wave of challenges, but that it’s really rewarding to see each person grow and develop.
Jack felt passionate about working in life sciences due to some of the personal losses he’d experienced in his life. Alzheimer’s was a key area of focus he wanted to help develop – and “it was [his] main motivator for going into life sciences”.
“The disease is so debilitating ... and I felt like I hadn’t chosen the right education path to make a difference directly. The best access point was for me to go in as a recruiter and help put professionals in the right places.”
Next, we asked Jack to consider his greatest achievement during his recruitment career.
He said that curating the teams who work on exciting breakthrough therapies is up there. Especially when you get to see all the people you’ve placed working together in harmony and really shaping the future of health outcomes.
In his own words: “My biggest achievement is that I've managed to gain trust and instill belief that I'm the right individual to build life sciences teams. These are the people who are working and creating these really innovative products and life-changing studies”.
When it comes to favorite moments, Jack said he’s been really grateful for all the lunch clubs he’s been able to attend (where top performers are treated to fine dining and upscale restaurant meals).
“I hadn’t gone to restaurants like that before my time at Meet”
He couldn’t pinpoint one specific favorite moment, but the two company incentive trips that he went on were hugely memorable and amazing experiences.
“Monoco was the first one, so it had that unknown factor. St Lucia was slightly more special, but overall, both trips were amazing.”
He made a point of highlighting that at Meet, you’re rewarded for being dedicated. Whether that’s vouchers, holiday incentives or the countless lunch clubs and activities.
Jack concluded our conversation with why he thinks Meet is worth applying to.
“If you're an individual that wants to grow and develop on both a professional and personal level, that you should click apply.”
For those who are driven, want to do well and are willing to go that extra mile, you’ll be surprised by what you can achieve with Meet’s support.
Stay tuned for the next installment of our Talent Spotlight series. We’ll be interviewing people from all across the company and we're looking forward to sharing their exciting stories and journeys!
And if you’re interested in joining the Meet team, please do reach out if you’d like to apply for any job vacancies or upcoming academies.
