National Career Development Month: Hannah Sauerwein
Tell us about yourself!
My name is Hannah Sauerwein and my current role is an End to End Integration Lead at Johnson & Johnson within their Pharmaceutical Company, Janssen.
What career accomplishment are you most proud of?
I'm most proud of working on the covid-19 vaccine! I supported the project through direct management of all outbound deliveries of the product from the United States. This was a really unique project not only because of its unprecedented nature, but because everyone was all hands on deck to get the product out to as many patients as possible in the safest, fastest way we could.
How do you plan to continue your professional growth?
I am continuing my professional growth by consistently reflecting on my career opportunities and using what I have gained in those experiences to propel my goals to the next level. Reflection is a huge part of understanding not only where you have grown, but who you want to grow into, so I tend to do this frequently. In addition to focusing on my gap areas, I also am gaining my Masters in Business Administration at Temple University to continue to expand my professional knowledge.
What was the biggest success/challenge you faced going from college to your job?
Jumping from college to a professional career has a lot of transitionary aspects to it. I entered into a rotational program right after college, so jumping right into a role that I would only be in for 9 months and giving it my all to provide value to the team in a short period of time proved to be challenging. It ultimately got easier is you got into the rhythm of team culture, expectations, and goals of the group and has actually made it much easier for me to transition from role to role now, post leadership development program. Also, I think having had a co-op at Johnson & Johnson really enabled me to feel like I could jump right in and provide my insights, opinions, and ideas because I knew that culture was respected and desired within the company.
I definitely recommend getting at least one professional experience before jumping from college to industry, as you'll have built a baseline business acumen that can’t necessarily be taught in a classroom.
What is the most important risk you’ve taken and why?
The biggest risk I have taken was actually taking the co-op during undergrad at Penn State. There are a million reasons why a sophomore in college wouldn’t be thrilled to miss a semester at school, but at the end of the day we are attending school to earn a degree and join the workforce post-graduation. This was an extremely risky and scary decision given Penn State’s Business Program isn’t really set up for co-ops but was the best decision I could have ever made and has led me to an extremely fulfilling career.
What do you feel you took most from Penn State to your current role?
At Penn State you meet individuals from all over the world on a daily basis, with all sorts of perspectives, insights, and ideas. Being open to diversity of thought is not only a key piece of Penn State’s culture and education, but also J&J’s. It’s absolutely vital to embrace different thinking and practice putting on new lenses, otherwise brilliant ideas, or more effective solutions could pass right by you leading to more complexities. Additionally, Penn State drove in me to never give up on a challenge. A lot of courses (SC 421 in particular) put you in position where accepting failure really isn’t an option. You must put your best foot forward, utilize your resources, and become resilient. This is also a key skillset I use daily at my job.
What is your dream job if you had no limitations?
Ha! If I had no limitations, I would love to be a founder and owner of a company. I really feel passionately about becoming an entrepreneur one day and utilizing all I’ve been taught and been exposed to to drive real change in the world. I am not sure yet what type of company or what it would look like, but I’ll keep you posted if I ever have that billion dollar idea!
