Shawn Clark served for 25 years in the US Army, retiring in 2018 at the rank of First Sergeant. Clark effectively translates the skills he gained in the Army working as an engineer, police officer, and recruiter to his work as regional director of UPHS Ambulatory & Corporate Talent Acquisition.
Clark credits the Army Transition Assistance Program (TAP) for helping prepare him for working in a corporate setting after retiring from the military and effectively translates the skills he gained working as an engineer, police officer, and recruiter to his work as regional director of UPHS Ambulatory & Corporate Talent Acquisition.
“That’s part of what’s so awesome about the military. It prepares you for life outside of the military, it prepares you to navigate corporate America and your second career. And that’s where my passion lies, with helping service members navigate that,” says Clark. “When I myself was going through the transition assistance program, we had executives from Boeing and Xerox present to us about interviewing and writing a resume, and it just kind of resonated with me. I said, ‘that’s what I want to do!’ I knew I was going to stay in recruiting in my second life.”
Talent Acquisition Manager Sharon Watson says that Clark “immediately established expectations for his team, had a team charter developed, solicited input to identify our regional competencies, and focused on guiding the region to form an identity and personality. He continues to drive relationships and always advocates for his recruiters.”
One initiative particularly near and dear to Clark’s heart is the military recruitment program. Clark leads a small but dedicated team of five other recruiters who are focused not only on recruiting and retaining military service members for Penn Medicine jobs but on partnering with groups focused on professional development and career coaching for military service members and veterans to help them land civilian jobs. As an employee partner with the Army TAP at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, “we participate in mock interview days, a resume workshop, and career fairs, including one coming up in June 2024,” says Clark.
Clark’s team has partnerships with the US Army Reserve Private Public Partnership (P3) and Four Block, and actively recruit on Indeed and other online platforms commonly used by service members. “Penn Medicine recognizes the talents of army medical personnel, from treating traumatic brain injury, infectious diseases, chemical exposure, and so on. We understand the value that health care professionals from the military bring, and the tremendous experience they have,” and how all that can be leveraged in the health care setting, Clark continues.
Clark and his team are seeing increased success in their recruitment initiative, and he attributes their success to teamwork. “In the military, we focus on the team and the mission, and achieving the mission as a team,” and this carries over to everything they do.
Clark encourages Penn Medicine employees who are also service members or veterans to reach out to him at Shawn.Clark@pennmedicine.upenn.edu to become part of a growing network of Penn Medicine service members.