Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Adams.
Jennifer, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up very poor in a remote, country town in the middle-of-nowhere Maine. After earning my Bachelor degree in Biology at the University of Southern Maine, I got a job working for an attorney. When I did my taxes the following year, I realized that I fit into the “poverty” category. This was extremely upsetting and disappointing considering I was the first person in my family to get a college degree. I knew then I had to move to the “big city” of Boston, if I wanted to advance. I went out and bought the Boston paper, scoured the “want ads”, and sent my typewritten resume to a handful of places. Ideally, I wanted to secure a position utilizing my degree, saw an ad for a scientific recruiting agency, and thought “I could go work for a pharma company and work my way up!” I sent my resume to the associated agency, the Wilmark Group. A few weeks later, I got a call back and went in for an interview. Three interviews later, my soon-to-be-boss asked “have you ever thought about recruiting?” I looked him square in the eye and replied “no, not at all!” Naively, I still thought I was interviewing for an entry-level biopharma job. Surprisingly, he ended up making me an offer, and even more surprisingly, I accepted. Embarrassingly enough, I barely understood what my roles and responsibilities would be…. I just needed a job. I was taking a risk by moving to a city where I did not know anyone and then to top it off, I was taking an even bigger risk by starting a new profession in which my knowledge was nascent at best. And with that, I began my recruiting career circa May 2000. Little did I know then that within 7 years, I would own my own staffing firm.
I soon discovered how much I truly enjoyed scientific recruiting. I learned about the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, emerging technology, the human genome, and I literally was talking to scientists who are trying to find cures for cancer. This world completely fascinated me. A few years in, I was actively recruited to start a biotech division for an IT staffing firm. At first, I didn’t pay much attention to it. I was happy with my current company; I was treated well and respected, achieving a certain amount of success within their little microcosm. After about a year of coercing, I started to wonder what it would be like to start something new from scratch, to have ownership over something that I created. The owners of this firm were promising a stake in the company, and I was definitely not getting that where I currently was. About this time, I started to heed those calls from the IT agency. At Wilmark, I worked very closely with another recruiter, Phil Mericantante, and we had been talking about how exciting it could be to start something and how rewarding that would feel. After many discussions, we decided to go for it. This was in 2003. Because we were so successful with Wilmark, the owners of the IT firm had given us complete autonomy to name and run the biotech division as we saw fit and I clearly remember the day we figured out what we wanted to call it. Phil and I were traveling in a car and trying to come up with names. Our goal was to do “clinical and laboratory staffing” and I looked at him and shouted “ClinLab!” and thus, ClinLab Staffing was born. I knew I wanted a 3-D DNA double helix for our logo, and soon after, we had one created. We worked with ClinLab for almost (4) years and turned that into a very successful business model. We were very proud of the work and team we created there. However, Phil and I decided to part ways and take the ultimate leap of faith to go into business for ourselves. Heck, we had basically already started something from scratch, on someone else’s dime. We could do this again, right? This was 2007.
Once again, Phil and I discussed what we would call our new company and after thinking of some not-so-original names (they were already taken), he merged our last 2 names together to form Adante. And voila, Adante was born, circa 2008, the beginning of the recession. Were we crazy to start over? To do this again? During the beginning and height of the recession? Well call us crazy, and we may have been, but here we are (10) years later…. still going strong!
My role through the years has changed a bit but ultimately the job hasn’t changed: we partner with innovative labs and companies that are looking for solutions to personalized medicine and are literally trying to find cures for the sick. As a company, we look to provide a very specialized service and align ourselves with talented scientists. At the end of each day, we want to be proud of who we work with and who we represent, not only because our name is in the title, but also because we believe in a bigger purpose. We want to be instrumental in finding the team that does find cures for any and all diseases and truly heals the sick.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. I remember my junior year in college, I asked one of my professors to write a recommendation for me for grad school. He looked at me directly and bluntly said “No, I won’t. You aren’t what grad schools are looking for.” His words stung but I learned a highly valuable lesson.
Our profession is highly competitive due to the geographic area we work in being the #1 area for research. Previously I mentioned the recession where virtually every industry was affected. But you know what industry wasn’t really affected? Our area of BioPharma and Research, which was a blessing and a curse. We saw an uptick in IT recruiters, HR professionals and lots of outside folks claiming to be “scientific” recruiters and jumping on-board to a profession where we had worked hard to establish ourselves and our areas of expertise. So struggles we faced were weeding through the noise with new clients; we were constantly being told “no” and lumped into the same category as beginners and other “annoying” recruiters, despite us truly having a good amount of experience under our belt specifically in the BioPharma field.
I point out these examples because despite being told “no” by many, many people throughout my life, I have always had faith in my ability to persevere, work hard and follow-through. The key here is to always have faith in yourself, believe in what you can achieve and have the mind-set to completely follow through.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Adante Staffing Inc. – what should we know?
We are a boutique talent acquisition firm specializing in the Biotech, Pharmaceutical and Life Science industries. We work as a collaborative partner and offer a personalized friendly approach while delivering flexible and cost-effective staffing solutions.
I am very proud that we have had long-lasting relationships due to our unwavering integrity, respect for others and a deep understanding of the Life Science industry.
I believe that we are very approachable, good mentors and are flexible. We haven’t forgotten our company is a “people oriented” business, which I think often happens with recruiters who are just out to make a buck. We truly want to find the right fit not only for our clients but for the candidates we work with as well. I definitely think this is what sets us apart from others and why we were able to withstand the recession when other recruiters were throwing in the towel.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I think there are a few qualities and characteristics that are most important:
• Faith: Always believe in yourself
• Perseverance: don’t give up under any circumstance,
• Work-ethic: maintain a solid work-ethic,
• Responsibility: don’t shy away from taking more on, and lastly
• Education: don’t ever stop learning.
Contact Info:
- Address: Adante Staffing Inc.
1 Pleasure Island Road, Ste. 2A
Wakefield, MA 01880 - Website: www.adantestaffing.com
- Phone: 7819385900
- Email: jenn@adantestaffing.com
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adante-staffing/
Image Credit:
Image #2 (5 girls) was taken by Michael J. Charles (Michael J. Charles Photography)
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