While Lea Pachur was doing her shifts as a receptionist at a large business hotel in Munich, Germany, she didn’t imagine she would soon work in the healthcare industry. However, when the German government suddenly restricted travel as a response to COVID-19 in March 2020, Lea started looking for a new job. She wanted to try something new.
“What I liked about working at a hotel was being of service to others and supporting them in the best way possible, but now I wanted to try to apply those skills in another industry,” Lea remembered. “I told myself to only apply to companies with a product or a mission that I can identify with, something with a positive impact that resonates with me. When I stumbled upon Novocure, I was hooked by their mission of helping people with difficult to treat cancers with a unique therapy, and I thought this company had potential.”
Our Munich office happened to be just around the corner from the hotel that Lea worked for. “I realized I had been giving some Novocure employees their room keys as a receptionist, when they arrived in Munich to hold larger meetings,” she said. “That was a nice coincidence.”
Lea applied and was hired as a Management Assistant and Office Manager at our company. “Even though I knew precious little about medical products, during the interviews I understood quickly that I would be able to transfer my skills gained from working in the service industry,” she said.
“My colleagues are doing important work to make a difference in cancer,” Lea explained, “whether that’s taking a call from a patient and assisting them to receive our therapy as soon as possible, or whether it is submitting a 100-page document to regulatory authorities for review, so that we can eventually bring our therapy to even more patients.”
“I like being of service to my colleagues. We are doing important work to make a difference in cancer, and we need to support each other along the way.”—Lea Pachur, Junior Specialist, Marketing New Indications Oncology Germany
Lea set out to work diligently in the background, organizing and solving problems so that colleagues could do their best work. Her efforts brought tangible results for her colleagues. They would enter a well-organized office each morning, with good coffee, tea and snacks waiting for them. They would be able to focus on their immediate tasks, rather than worry about whether the printer or air conditioner would work on that day.
By taking on bigger projects after a while, like organizing our annual meeting with over 150 participants, Lea developed her project management, communication and problem-solving skills further. The weeks leading up to these events were always intense.
“Seeing our colleagues enjoy themselves on the big day, receiving the recognition for organizing it, that made it worth the effort,” Lea says. “I always felt supported from the team, whether it is a marketing colleague designing the invitations for me, or random colleagues helping me carry boxes at the venue.”
Eventually, Tobias Weizel, General Manager, New Indication Oncology Germany, who had originally hired Lea, offered her a chance to become a Junior Marketing Specialist. It was an opportunity for Lea to support the local marketing and sales teams, who increase awareness of our therapy in newly approved indications.
“It was reassuring that the marketing team agreed to spend a significant amount of time tutoring me, to let me try out difference aspects of marketing, so I could explore what I enjoyed and can excel in. It gave me the confidence to take this next step in my career,” Lea said.
Lea is grateful to be able to develop her career at a company with a mission that resonates deeply with her. Together with our patients, we are striving to extend survival in some of the most aggressive forms of cancer.
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