How Praxent Became Everything I Didn’t Know I Needed
By Molly Middleton, Recruiting Manager at Praxent
I get it. You open this post and see a recruiter wrote it, therefore, it must be premeditated. As my title suggests, my main career focus is attracting talent and then retaining that talent. So it’s natural to think there has to be an ulterior motive here, right? But I’ll let you in on a little secret. Scoot in real close for this one.
Are you ready?
Here it goes.
I am human, just like you.
I too have goals, dreams, needs, and wants. As you’ll discover below, many of my personal values align with Praxent’s. Therefore, this comes straight from my heart. Praxent has become everything I didn’t know that I needed in an employer. Here’s how:
Positivity
One of my self-proclaimed weaknesses is that I naturally err on the side of “glass half empty”. I tend to expect the worst and be surprised when it turns out better than I thought. However, Praxent has helped me to be more positive. Praxent uses a “Cheers For Peers” system where we’re all consistently “cheers-ing” each other. If you’re having a tough day and looking for a bit of positivity, you can log on and re-read all of the impactful things everyone is saying about one another, and about you.
Caring
Praxent has healed me. I am familiar with the world of layoffs, having experienced it firsthand three times by the age of 23. You can probably imagine how someone like me would put walls up in many ways. One of Praxent’s core values, “Care Deeply”, doesn’t just apply to caring for our clients; Praxent cares deeply about their employees, too. I’ve never trusted strangers faster than when I came on board at Praxent. From open-door policies with management, to Habitat for Humanity build days, to closing the office the entire last week of the year for everyone to spend time with their families, Praxent cares.
Challenges
Praxent has pushed me. A lot of my individual values align with Praxent’s core values. Specifically, “Never Settle”. I’m a perfectionist by nature and while Never Settle can be misinterpreted as perfectionism, that’s not the motivation behind this core value of ours. The amount of autonomy I have been given in my role has allowed me to push past some of my personal roadblocks while being able to make a difference along the way.
Confidence
Another area I’ve identified for my personal growth is increasing self-confidence, and Praxent has grown my confidence significantly. The thing I love most about my manager at Praxent is that he will happily tell me when I have an idea that isn’t the best (which I immensely appreciate). The majority of the time, though, he encourages me to cultivate many ideas and also empowers me to do what I need to in order to make it happen, while supporting me in the best way that he can. On an executive level, our CEO has openly admitted that he’s made mistakes, and while I’m sure that isn’t an easy thing to do, there’s something so humbling and motivating about that.
Honesty
Practicing what you preach is a quality that is hard to come by these days. For example, how many times have you been told that your company is remote work friendly, to then feel the backlash afterwards when you choose to take advantage of that “perk”? (I’m raising my hand high to this one!) Funny story: one of the first times I worked from home, I sent over a calendar invite to let my team know and someone said, “Wait, do we have to tell everyone when we’re working from home?” And it’s like my eyes had been opened to a whole new world. Praxent is honest and sticks by company values every time.
Family
Praxent has become family to me. Like it or not, life happens in the workplace. I’m very close to my family, and in moving away from them about a year and a half ago, I really missed having that support close to me. On top of that, I’ve had health issues this year that have pulled me away from the office to sit in hours worth of doctors’ visits. Anyone who has had health challenges knows how much of an emotional toll this takes. Sometimes a girl just wants her mama. During this time, my team has reached out to me several times asking what they can do, how I’m doing, and how they can help. Praxent is a home away from home.
I talk to people all day long about what it’s like to be here at Praxent. The thing I love most about my job is having the ability to add team members and continue growing Praxent “family tree”, because I can attest firsthand to how great it is to work here.