To find gold, you need to know where and how to look
Sometimes you get lucky: you interview a bunch of candidates, one of them stands head-and-shoulders above the pack, and there’s no decision to make. Ready, aim, hire. More often than not, though, you must choose between several candidates who seem fairly equally matched. Do you go for the person who exudes warmth and confidence and would clearly fit into your organization? Or do you opt for the shy young candidate with a patent in their resume? Or maybe the all-round achiever with connections in high places?
Criteria that count
Let’s backtrack a little. If more than one person will be weighing in on the hiring decision, you need to make sure you all agree on the important criteria before starting the search.1 Otherwise, you’ll likely find yourselves clashing about the choice.
This raises the question: which criteria have the greatest value in the life sciences? A 2019 BioSpace survey identified three priorities: 1
Recent (and relevant) work experience: Fully 91% of survey respondents put a premium on this criterion. It stands to reason: recent experience in a similar role or organization puts a candidate in the mindset to perform well at the starting gate.
Strong communication skills: Prized by 65% of respondents, such skills signal an ability to argue for ideas and stick-handle the conflicts that inevitably arise in group settings.
Leadership skills or potential: If one defines a leader as “someone who inspires positive change and motivates others,” it’s not hard to understand why hiring teams value this quality—even in positions that don’t involve direct responsibility for other people.
For Robert Ward, who saw the Boston biotech company Radius Health grow from 6 to over 600 employees during his 4-year tenure as CEO, the list should also include a track record of success, which he defines as “delivering on projects and working to create a culture that supports diversity, collaboration and innovation.”2
What about criteria that matter less?
Notably, only 24% of respondents to the above survey placed a high value on holding an advanced degree, though the importance of those letters obviously depends on the nature of the position. A further surprise: A mere 8% viewed attendance at a highly recognized educational institution as key. That Stanford insignia may impress, but it won’t necessarily rescue a candidate who falls short in other respects. Talent acquisition experts also caution against “fear-based” hiring—a mindset that may include overreliance on people you know or an inflexible commitment to hire fast.3
The search for a researcher: asking the right questions
If you’re looking for a biotech researcher, guidance from LinkedIn Talent Solutions4 can help you zero in on the right interview questions—and the responses that signal competence. To get a feel for a candidate’s expertise in study design, for example, you could ask: “What are some factors you consider when designing research studies?” Response themes to look for include sensitivity to risk factors and budgetary constraints. And a question like “If you were given X sample and X chemical, what tests would you run?” will put anyone who lacks technical skills on the spot. See https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/resources/interviewing-talent/biotech-researcher for the complete interview guide.
When looking to fill a role, it is also important to consider the environment in which the new hire will be working in. Sometimes the most outgoing candidate is not always the right fit. If the role you are filling does not require excellent people skills or an ability to lead, don’t always lean towards the candidate who is highly confident in their ability to communicate and take charge. For example, when hiring a research associate who will work exclusively in the lab, you don’t want to rule out someone who may be more introverted. They may be a standout candidate as they bring an arsenal of lab experience to the table, but not necessarily wow you with charisma in the interview process. Assessing the environment you are hiring in and the true requirements of the job will give insight to what skills your candidates should excel in.
Whether you need someone next month or next year, working with a specialized biotech can help you save time without sacrificing thoroughness. Experienced biotech recruiters know the right people—and the people who know the right people. Their industry-specific expertise and tools cut through the laborious process of advertising, screening, and interviewing a string of candidates who may not match the required profile.
At Sci.bio, we make good on our promise of high performance, flexibility, and speed. We invite you to contact us to learn more.
To deliver the results you expect, your recruiter needs your support
Working with a recruiter differs significantly from doing business with, say, a laboratory equipment supplier. You’re not just trading a product for some cash, but joining forces to produce a result. Think of a recruiter as a partner—and all good partnerships operate along two-way streets. Consider these tips to help you get the most from the alliance.
Spell out your requirements: It’s not enough to tell the recruiter you’re looking for a good communicator with experience in precision oncology and industry contacts. Specify the must-have and nice-to-have criteria1 – and spell out your reasoning. For example: “Diversity is always a consideration, but never at the expense of finding the best person for a job.” Or conversely: “We’ve been called out for our lack of diversity, so we’ve made diversity our top hiring priority for the next year.” Discuss deal-breakers (such as unwillingness to work extra hours) as well.
Pass along the intel: Keep your recruiter abreast of R&D news in your organization. Has your flagship drug entered phase 2 trials? Is one of your assays being tested in a medical laboratory chain? Such updates can alert your recruiter to consider a candidate they may have otherwise overlooked—perhaps the assay developer with two patents to her name. Same goes for new business developments:2 if the company is gearing up to reorganize, having the information can help the recruiter adapt their search to the new company structure.
Share insights from top performers: Help your recruiter understand what a top performer looks like in your organization. Start by getting the info from the horse’s mouth: the superstars themselves. Ask them questions to uncover common themes:3 What skills have enabled you to be successful? What training was most useful to you? What motivates you in new roles? How do you keep things fresh after a long time on the job? Catalogue these insights and share them with the recruiter, who can look for similar qualities in the search for your new superstar.
Transmit the passion: Tell your recruiter what gets you excited about the company. Passion is contagious, and communicating what gets you jazzed up—whether it’s the travel opportunities, mentorship programs, or partnerships with patient advocacy groups—will help the recruiter find candidates who bring a similar energy and vision to the table.
Keep talking: A two-way street doesn’t serve much purpose if nobody uses it. If you pass on a candidate, tell your recruiter exactly why. For example, “They ticked all the boxes but seemed to lack energy and passion” tells your recruiter that you’re looking for more than a collection of skills. And don’t leave such exchanges to chance: a scheduled feedback process will keep you and the recruiter on the same page.
Supporting your recruiter helps them conduct a targeted and productive search. It goes both ways, of course: your recruiter also has a responsibility to ask clarifying questions and to provide feedback. At Sci.bio, we understand that successful recruitment depends on such two-way communication. It’s the magic that makes successful recruiting happen. We also live and breathe science, and it’s not by accident that most of our recruiters have degrees in the life sciences. We invite you to find out more.
If you need specialized service, it makes sense to use specialized expertise
Garbage in, garbage out. We’ve all heard this motto and we’ve all lived it. Perhaps we slapped together a grant application at the last minute and ended up with a form rejection. Or maybe we bought a vehicle without doing due diligence and got stuck with a lemon. Life is a game of effort, and low effort yields predictably low results.
It’s no different with hiring. If you don’t put in the work, you’ll end up with middling talent. And that’s not good enough, especially in a highly specialized and competitive field such as pharma and biotech. The stakes are high: whether you’re looking a scientist who can test a game-changing drug or a liaison who can forge relationships with rock-star clinicians, your company’s entire future may depend on hiring the right person. And that takes time, techniques, and tools.
That’s where a specialized recruiter comes in.
But does your company really need one? Here are some questions to consider.
How specialized is the skillset you need? If you need an entry-level lab technician to bridge a parental leave, you may be able to manage the search on your own. But if you seek expertise in aseptic processing or international regulatory requirements, a recruiter can ensure your treasure hunt doesn’t turn into a wild goose chase.
Recruiters can likewise help you zero in on “cross-functional” candidates—people who combine disparate skill sets such as assaying experience and a flair for the podium. If, like so many other life sciences companies, you operate with a thinned-out workforce, you’ll probably need many of your science hires to wear more than one hat.1
How much real-world experience do you require? If you’re looking for a data scientist to complete a team, a recent graduate may meet your requirements. A recruiter matters most when previous experience tops your must-have list—for example, if you need to hire someone who has worked with top physicians.
How competitive is the playing field? The best candidates tend to work with recruiters. According to recruitment consultant Beverly Savage, “Top candidates are reluctant to apply directly to a company’s job posting [and] prefer to use recruiters to represent them in order to protect confidentiality.”2 If you’re vying for a limited number of candidates in a competitive arena, it makes sense to tap into a recruiter’s database and network.
Are you pressed for time? A biotech recruiter can help you shorten the recruiting process without sacrificing quality.3 The less time you waste on reviewing CVs and interviewing almost-but-not-quite candidates, the more your workforce can use its core skills to support the company’s mission.
Questions to ask a life sciences recruiter
● What is your experience across the life cycle of a medical product?
● What is your placement rate and the attrition rate of the people you place?
● Do you have access to international candidates?
● How do you customize your approach?
● What happens if you recommend a candidate who doesn’t work out?
Not to be discounted: peace of mind
When you work with a specialized biotech recruiter, you can relax in the knowledge that you’re in expert hands. They speak your language. If you ask them to find you a “medical science liaison in precision oncology,” they’ll know to look for that elusive mix of tumor-profiling experience and people skills. Finally, reputable recruiters offer a guarantee period to protect you against the unlikely event that a candidate leaves prematurely.2
At Sci.bio, we pride ourselves on our experience, expertise and integrity. We know we can deliver what we promise—including peace of mind. Feel free to ask us all the questions you want, including the hard ones.
AI can assist in the search for science talent, but doesn’t substitute for human judgment
Hiring in biotech is not for the faint of heart. You’re looking for a set of highly specialized skills – but so are your competitors. You may get a mountain of applications, but only a fraction of them will match your needs. With so much at stake, pharma and biotech companies are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to help streamline the interview process and find the diamonds in the pile. In the destabilized job market resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, companies offering this technology are reporting a surge in demand.1
A branch of computer science, AI involves programming computers to perform tasks that mimic the human mind, such as problem solving and decision making.2 AI has the ability to process much larger volumes of data than a human could handle, uncover meaningful patterns, and translate them into actionable information.
A tool in the shed
The use of AI in recruitment ranges from algorithms that scan resumes for key words to sophisticated video software that serves as a high-tech bouncer, screening candidates at the front door. During video interviews, AI technology can analyze a candidate’s facial expressions, vocal intonation, and choice of words to help assess job fit.3 The candidate may have no idea that, in effect, a robot is assessing her suitability for a position.
One Australian AI company offers a chatbot that poses open-ended questions to candidates and analyzes their responses to assess personality traits like drive, initiative, and resilience.4 The company is even developing a machine-learning model to predict the likelihood of changing jobs frequently—a propensity that employers naturally seek to avoid in their candidates.4
In theory, AI can also reduce hiring biases that a human interviewer would almost always bring to the table, even if subconsciously. For example, you can configure AI to ignore age, race, gender, and other variables when assessing candidate profiles. AI can also increase candidate engagement through automated chats, assessment questionnaires, and next steps.5
Not a panacea
As it turns out, AI’s alleged objectivity doesn’t always play out in the real world. AI relies on patterns—and these patterns can cause AI to fall prey to bias, just like humans. As explained by Prasanna Tambe, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, “AI systems learn to make predictions based on data, and so predictions are generally more accurate for groups which have more data available.”3 If data on certain groups are scarce, the system won’t have the evidence to put forward candidates from these groups, creating a catch-22 of “no data, no deal.”
Equity concerns aside, some employment experts fear that AI could drive down wages. For example, some AI-based personality tests weed out candidates inclined to press for higher wages or support unionization.4 It also bears noting that candidates prepared to job hop—a red flag for many AI programs—may have more to offer: they know their own worth and have confidence that a competitor will recognize it. An AI algorithm that filters out such candidates may cause employers to lose out on the most creative and dynamic employees, in a case of “throwing out the baby with the bathwater.”
As shown in the graph below, all but 11% of respondents to a 2019 HR Research Institute survey had reservations about using AI for talent acquisition.6 Of note, 30% lacked confidence in the ROI of the technology, maintaining that it delivers too little value for the cost.6
What are the potential drawbacks of using AI for talent acquisition?
Bottom line: while AI can supplement human intuition and judgment, it cannot fully replace these qualities. When you work with an experienced biotech recruiter, you benefit from a wealth of human intuition, experience and expertise—and you can still use AI if it serves your purposes. Reach out to Sci.bio to learn how we can steer you toward the right talent at the right time.
Developing and promoting your personal brand isn’t only an activity for job seekers. It’s an important tool to distinguish yourself after finding employment: even if you’re happy in your current role, a strong personal brand will help make your job more fulfilling.
As a biotech recruiter, clients and job seekers want to work with someone who understands the biotech job market landscape. Biotech job candidates trust recruiters who are familiar with and appreciate their existing technical skills; biotech clients don’t want to explain what they see as the fundamentals of any technical role to a new recruiter, or have the recruiter bring them ill-suited job candidates. Therefore, a recruiter with a strong personal brand will find it easy to attract the right clients and job seekers, and convince both parties of their ability to close the deal between job candidate and company.
When you start out as a recruiter, you won’t necessarily have a strong or compelling personal brand. It takes several months to figure your personal brand out, and longer to strengthen and promote it to the point where it pays dividends.
Here are some questions for recruiters to think about as they develop their personal brand: What kind of positions do you most enjoy recruiting for? What kind of candidates are you most successful in finding and connecting with? What kind of roles have you accumulated the most experience on? What kind of projects and subject matters fit best with your education and previous work experience to date?
Ideally, all your answers will overlap – and that’s your recruiter’s personal brand! Don’t worry if you don’t know the answers yet, or if your experience, successes and enjoyment don’t seem to have a common theme. Come back to these questions later, or ask your mentor for guidance.
Once you have the initial outline of your personal brand, hone it into 1–2 sentences that will become your elevator pitch at networking events. For example: “I’m an executive recruiter who specializes in placing mid-level leadership candidates into agile biotech companies.”
Now you have a personal brand, your LinkedIn and other social media posts should tie into your brand. For instance, if you specialize in recruiting Medical Science Liaisons to large pharma, you should state in your posts and bio that you help connect MSLs with jobs, and share the latest news from big pharma companies. This helps establish credibility in your niche, and attracts potential clients.
If you’re worried that a focused personal brand will scare away too many potential clients and job candidates, remember that you’re going to enjoy a higher success rate with the opportunities that do seek you out because they appreciate the specific value that you offer. The people that connect with you already know how you can help them, and if they approach you, it’s because they already see themselves as a good fit for your services.
Are you a scientist looking to get away from the bench? Have you considered becoming a biotech recruiter? We are always looking for great talent! Sci.bio would love to meet you.
