In conversation with Kenzie Morris

In this series, Samuel Knight Group Marketing Lead, Emma Dark, sits down with employees from across the Samuel Knight Group portfolio to discuss life at SK and what’s happening within their sector at the moment.

This week Emma caught up with Kenzie Morris who heads up the SK Dallas office, managing the team there operating within the US Renewable Energy sector.

Hi Kenzie, tell me a little about yourself…

Hey Emma! Okay so I’m the Recruitment Manager here in our Dallas office which means I manage the entire USA team out of our Dallas base. I have been with Samuel Knight for just over a year now and have over 7 years of recruitment experience myself. I started off my recruitment career in Canada then I moved to the US a few years ago, so I have a broad range of both perm and contact recruitment experience within several different industries.

I have also actually been to 32 countries; I love to travel!

Before working at SK what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?

I used to work as a swim instructor and lifeguard for a couple of years alongside my studies which was a lot of fun!

What attracted you to Samuel Knight?

I was attracted to the family environment and the work culture of SK, when you join you definitely feel like you’re being welcomed into a family, the people that I work with are great!

Steve, the company CEO was another huge reason for me coming on board, I loved his energy, and his passion for the company and Renewables was infectious, I knew that I had to be part of his vision for SK!

What does an average day look like for you at SK?

This is hard as every day is so different, so it all really depends on the day, the month and what’s going on. Although as a general rule of thumb, typically every morning I come in and look at my emails to catch up from the day before, I always wake up with so many emails as the UK teams are ahead of us here!

I’ll then usually start by looking through the open positions that I have and seeing what’s the most urgent. I like to start off my day doing recruitment as I’ve found that if I message people in the morning, replies will trickle in throughout the rest of the day. Then in the afternoon I’ll focus more on business development.

What does the Renewable Energy industry look like at the moment for women, do women still face challenges working within the sector?

There’s definitely still a huge gap between male and females within the Renewable Energy industry, it’s getting better however it’s nowhere near where it should be yet! I think that changes are happening just at a slow pace.

I was recently at the Clean Power 2022 conference in Texas with a colleague and we were one of the only females at the conference which was sad to see as it’s such a large and booming industry however there’s just truly not a lot of females or people of colour within the sector. I was talking with other attendees, and they said this was the most females they’ve seen at this type of conference, which shocked me! There’s still a lot of work for the industry to do as a whole, especially for women in those more executive C-suite roles, VP’s and Director roles.

A lot of our clients are reaching out to us specifically looking for more women and people of colour for their roles now which is great and does show that the sector is moving in the right direction as people are putting diversity at the top of their hiring strategies.

What actions should the Energy sector be focused on to accelerate change?

Companies within the sector should definitely be putting more time and resource into their diversity hiring plans for women and people of colour in order to increase diversity and foster a better gender balance within the workplace. This could be anything from exhibiting at certain events, visiting schools and approaching females who are graduating from certain programmes such as engineering.

Are there any misconceptions people have about your role as a recruiter?

I actually think for me the most common misconception about my role is that it’s easy! It’s actually quite difficult, I face daily challenges and there’s so many ups and downs, it’s almost like being on a rollercoaster, you never know what’s coming especially on the staffing side of things. Recruitment does take a lot of dedication and patience, it’s not an easy ride as some people would suggest, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, that’s what makes this job so exciting!

What does the future hold for you at SK?

This is something I talk to the management team about all the time, we are really passionate about growing out our US presence and forming a large team here. I’m aiming by the end of 2022 for at least 10 full time employees here in Dallas. We are also looking at a new office in California and another in the East Coast! So, lots going on at the moment and for new hires it’s definitely an exciting time to be coming into the company!

Most memorable moment at SK?

Being trusted to manage the US team makes me so proud however hiring Alissa and Mahuder for the Dallas office was really memorable and special for me as I was the only one permanently based here until then so it’s been a great feeling to be able to grow the team!

Finally, at SK we have the motto ‘team work makes the dream work’, do you have a favourite quote? Motto or personal mantra?

Work hard and be kind, and amazing things will happen!

To find out how Kenzie can support your next project within the USA Renewable Energy industry, please contact kenzie.morris@samuel-knight.com