Paul L

"I first met Mr. Paul Lazarus when he responded to a call for a research assistant in 2014. Paul stands out among the college graduates with whom I’ve worked as being particularly thoughtful, engaged and articulate. He didn’t hesitate to step in to an unfamiliar situation, quickly learn the ropes, ask questions, share his perspective about the subject matter, and take the initiative to do what was required to meet objectives.

As a research assistant, Paul couldn’t have been more engaged, organized, and hard working. He was curious about the content area and asked thoughtful questions. Once I described the tasks that I needed completed, Paul worked independently and made significant progress. When he stopped to ask questions, it was clear that Paul was giving quality thought to what he was doing, and on many occasions, he made suggestions for how to improve processes. He not only did an outstanding job of completing assigned tasks, but he contributed to the research direction and to my thinking about the implications of our findings. He earned my trust and respect as an intelligent, articulate individual who could balance enthusiastic engagement with concentrated focus and persistence. Paul enjoyed thinking deeply and broadly about subjects related to the social sciences, human resources, and organizational processes. Paul has an admirable desire to balance lifelong learning with application. Paul particularly enjoyed learning about people and organizational systems. Success in life requires a deep curiosity about processes and systems, a willingness and capacity to work hard to master knowledge and skills, and the ability to work well with others to learn and support mutual success. I witnessed Paul meeting these requirements in many ways while we worked together.

I believe that Paul is unusual among his peers in his maturity and professional integrity. He looks for opportunities and welcomes challenges. He takes the initiative to create circumstances that will support his professional development, and then he finds like-minded others to join him in imagining the possibilities, doing the work to make it happen, and benefiting from the outcomes. I know from experience that success in life requires not only intellectual capacity but initiative, hard work, and follow-through, often while working with others. I can confirm that Paul has all of these qualities. I enthusiastically recommend him as a highly qualified candidate for any position."