BIOTECH RECRUITER, EXECUTIVE SEARCH, RECRUITING DONE RIGHT, LIFE SCIENCE RECRUITING
Finding new employees in the life science industry continues to be a challenge, and there are no indicators that the talent war will cease anytime soon.
The talent shortage is a dilemma that needs to be resolved for your business to prosper.
In a recent blog post, I spoke of 6 Unique Techniques to Hire Life Science Employees. This article will expand on hiring candidates who may not be a perfect fit but could excel in the position with some training.
Our firm, Connexis Search Group, places over 200 life science candidates per year, and the number of search assignments we are receiving is higher than any other time in our 21-year history. Many of the searches we receive are challenging to fill due to the lower than needed compensation to attract candidates vs. the pool of available candidates. Most companies are not aware that base salaries are increasing due to the shortage of candidates. Candidates realize that they are in demand, and most of them will only consider opportunities that offer a 15-30% increase in their current base salaries. The other factor that drives up base salaries is your competitors are willing to pay higher base salaries. Companies that provide benefits such as stock options, medical insurance, and company cars or car allowances have a better chance of securing candidates.
Employers have a choice to make---increase compensation enough to attract the appropriate candidates or consider candidates that do not have the exact qualifications but with training, they could be effective. Most companies we work with have limited flexibility in compensation which means hiring a candidate with potential may be the best option.
Why do hiring managers want to hire a candidate with the exact qualifications? That is easy—they want a candidate that does not require training and that can "hit the ground running." Over the last 10-15 years, hiring managers have been fortunate in that they were able to hire candidates that meet their specifications. But with the advent of candidate shortages, hiring managers need to be more open to hiring candidates that don't have all the qualifications but can perform the job with training. CEOs and presidents of life science companies need to support their managers by giving them the resources to train and develop new employees. They also need to adjust the expectations on onboarding new employees—it may take a few more months to get a new employee productive.
Hiring managers often have a position open for 3-6 months due to a lack of candidates with the desired experience. Many hiring managers will conduct an extended search to find a perfect candidate, disappointed by unmotivated candidates and rejected offers. A better solution than leaving the job open for an extended period is to hire a less qualified candidate and train them. You could hire and train a person with potential in a shorter time frame than waiting for a perfect candidate. Another benefit of hiring candidates with potential is that they appreciate the opportunity, resulting in loyalty to their new employer.
Connexis Search Group is a 21-year-old permanent placement recruiting firm specializing in helping early-stage companies find talented employees. We enjoy working with small companies helping them to determine critical positions to hire, create compelling job descriptions, compensation packages, develop interview scorecards, and find the best future employees.
Our typical clients are diagnostics, life science, biotechnology, and medical device companies. Our team of twenty-five recruiters, located throughout the United States, place a wide variety of candidates from senior-level executives (CEO's Presidents, Vice-Presidents, etc.) to individual contributors (scientists, pathologists, sales reps, marketing, revenue cycle, managed care) in all positions. (Operations, Finance, R&D, Sales, Marketing, QA, RA, Engineering, IT, and Manufacturing).
Connexis Search Group has helped numerous CEOs build their companies by hiring talented team members.
*A partial list of searches we fill: Oncology MSL, Medical Affairs, Life Science Tools Sales Reps, Oncology Sales Reps, Diagnostics, and Life Science RA/QA, Field Application Scientists, Strategic Account Sales Reps, Variant Scientists, Bioinformatics, Life Science Service Engineers and Post Sales, Managed Care, Revenue Cycle, IT, Life Science Engineers, etc.
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