COVID-19's Impact on the Job Search process

2020 was a year filled with uncertainty and new normals.  Our society adapted to a new way to educate our children, stay connected to friends and family and perform our jobs.  The pandemic also changed how companies hired and how job seekers thought about starting new positions.  Let's hear from one of our new Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA) colleagues, who decided to jump in with both feet and brave the new hiring process.

Meet Ritwika

Ritwika Mukherkee began working for Fresenius Medical Care in August of 2020.  In the few short months Ritwika has been with us she already feels the impact her team is making on our patients and clinical staff.  Read on to learn more about Ritwika's experience graduating, finding a new job during the pandemic, and how she is happy to call FMCNA home.

LET’S HEAR WHAT RITWIKA HAD TO SAY:

Q: Why did you join the FMCNA team?

A: At FMCNA, everyone is working towards improving the quality of life of dialysis patients. I joined the Data Solutions team within Global Research & Development (GRD) because I had the opportunity to work on products that would improve lives of patients and health care professionals directly. We intersect medical and machine data with advanced data analytics and AI to make smarter machines. But we do so while bearing the needs of patients, nurses, and doctors, which makes my work interesting but also important.

Here, I have the chance to work on projects that span a wide variety of domains with collaborations both internal and external to my team. This is amazing because I have been able to work with like-minded people with unique backgrounds. This has added context to my projects and helped me gain perspective that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Q: What was your experience like beginning a new career during a pandemic?

A:It was an odd experience. This is not a novel thought, but the pandemic by itself has been an experience of a lifetime that all of us are fighting to understand. But starting a new chapter in my career during this time was not easy. The entire process - from finding the opportunity and working through applications to being interviewed, hired, and trusted as an employee happened virtually. My team is primarily based in Berlin. This meant that I only had one conduit to interact and communicate with everyone. Reaching through to people was important to me and I am constantly working on it.

I have not met my team in-person yet and it is going to be several months before vaccines make traveling safe again. But despite the geographic differences, we have found ways to build our community solely through the online medium. Casual coffee breaks, sharing an occasional unexpected laugh during meetings or through workshops. In many ways, the non-traditional methods of working together have become our new normal.

Q: The pandemic has required us to all adjust our daily routine.  How are you adjusting to staying safe?  Is there anything you are doing to help maintain both safety and/or connection during this time?

A: Because going to an office or meeting colleagues is not possible right now, we have all been using the online platform a lot. I hope for the day when we can all meet safely, but for now we are all doing the best we can. In these unprecedented times, staying healthy physically and mentally is number one and that is true for me and my team.

Q: What would you tell anyone hesitant about starting a new career during this pandemic?

A: I was extremely fortunate to find a new and exciting opportunity in my career, but more importantly I found a set of people across the globe that I could relate with and learn from. In the pursuit of finding a new role, I found my community. I hope that is true for anyone starting a new career.

However, the pandemic has definitely removed safety from our lives and introduced vast proportions of uncertainty. So, on days that seem difficult, it is important to remember to be kind to oneself. I have to remind myself that every one of us is trying to figure out this situation and facing unique battles of their own.

Q: How do you feel that your role is a "vital part" in supporting our patients and our company?

A: As a data scientist, I use my skills to provide solutions that improve care for patients. My projects range across performing predictive analytics of machines, predicting health risks in patients early on, and to creating dashboards for nurses and patients to allow time for more interactions. If I am able to bring even the smallest improvement to the monumental efforts of the nurses or improve care for patients by improving their interaction with the machines, I would consider myself successful in my goals.

Q: Do you feel that you have a powerful effect in you role? If so, how?

A: I can speak for the tremendous work that has already been done by my team within the company. As a young and dynamic team with diverse backgrounds, we are bridging gaps and developing collaborations within GRD to make data-driven solutions be available to nurses and patients alike.

Q: Do you feel that your role allows you to be a partner in caring? If so how?

A: My team is in a unique position to be involved in building entire product lifecycles. We define our projects, collaborate for experimentation, and create pilots to eventually deploy to scale. This allows us to understand pain points at each step and lets us be creative and holistic. With our collaborations within GRD, Global Manufacturing, Quality, & Supply (GMQS), and Global Data Analytics, we persevere to combine perspectives while delivering solutions.

Q: Describe an experience or feeling that stands out when thinking of your career with FMCNA?

A: 2020 has been an absurd year. After defending my PhD thesis during lockdown in March, I was immediately thrown into a state of uncertainty. I knew that I wanted to apply myself in a way that would directly effect people. I wanted to find a role that would not only let me work on complex technical concepts but also communicate them to people with different backgrounds. At FMCNA Data Solutions, I do both. I apply current statistical and mathematical techniques on diverse pools of data while acting as a liaison for our US collaborators.

My first interaction with colleagues at FMCNA was positive and encouraging. I could talk about myself with honesty. I met a group of people that was dynamic, open-minded, but also focused on the task at hand and I knew that I would learn a lot from each of them. Getting a chance to be part of a new team with a variety of personalities and backgrounds is so exciting. The atmosphere is one where I can ask questions freely allowing us to be productive while nourishing our individual skillsets.

At FMCNA, I have found colleagues that are willing to go the extra mile to build relationships to innovate and lead together. We have the creative freedom to push boundaries and are determined in our efforts to improve the lives of both the patients and health care professionals. A task even more imperative now due to the pandemic.

About Fresenius Medical Care

We have become a global leader in healthcare because of the unwavering dedication our people bring to work every day. Whether that means developing new-to-market dialysis technology or educating patients, our team touches the lives of more than 190,000 patients through innovative care and profound, personal connections.

With Fresenius Medical Care North America, you will “be the difference,” enabling patients to thrive, providing comfort to families, supporting coworkers so they can realize their goals, compelling our company to achieve through innovation and performance, and driving the development of your career.

Our team is made up of over 70,000 dedicated employees in North America. All of them focus on being the difference and delivering the highest-quality care to people with kidney disease – helping them to lead longer, better, and healthier lives.