Great employees are a biotech, pharmaceutical or medical device company’s lifeline. As Virgin founder and CEO Richard Branson once pointed out, “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your clients.” Indeed, top-notch employees can make or break your business. However, the challenge is finding the right people for the right position within a short turnaround. Securing top-tier specialized talent is a significant priority for every kind of biotech business.
Here are five ways to hire staff quickly and effectively, including best practices and how you can maximize your investment in human capital to bolster your biotech or medical device company’s market position.
1. Create an Appealing Job Description
When job seekers look through employment postings, it’s natural to gravitate toward the most appealing job descriptions. As such, generic job descriptions and titles such as “accountant wanted” won’t make the cut.
An appealing job description succinctly encompasses what the job is and what your company has to offer. For instance, “finance professional for fast-growing asset management firm” is far likelier to pique interest than “accountant wanted.”
It’s also important to make your job description search-friendly. In other words, be sure to include keywords that will attract the right candidates. Vague searches such as “great job opportunity” or “good pay and benefits” may not appear in search results. For instance, “experienced C++ programmer for a cloud-based firm” includes several keywords such as “programmer,” “C++,” and “cloud-based.” Including the right keywords enhances your ad’s chances of reaching your target professional.
2. Build a consistent pipeline
Building a consistent pipeline is a must for businesses with ongoing hiring needs. For instance, service and hospitality industry companies typically have ongoing staffing needs; establishing a consistent pipeline saves time and money.
Matthew Caldwell, Head of Talent at Instacart, clearly sums up this point:
“A good recruiting process focuses and aligns recruiters to deliver the best to the organization. Ultimately, recruiting should be viewed as a business partner, someone who is critical to the success of the business.”
Indeed, building a robust talent pipeline helps your company’s recruiting process become a trusted and reliable business partner focused on your organization’s best interests.
3. Think Outside the Box
Recruiters sometimes fail to look beyond their traditional talent sources. For instance, they may keep posting the same ads on the same job boards. However, casting a wide net can significantly improve your company’s chances of finding the right person for the right position. Here are some “out-of-the-box” talent sources your company may consider:
- Expand your company’s social media presence. Companies and brands that frequently advertise on social media can quickly leverage their presence to attract top-notch talent.
- Focus on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the world’s premier business social media network. As such, your company cannot disregard LinkedIn as a go-to source for qualified talent.
- Recruitment databases. Data-providing firms compile sizeable databases on candidates. Thus, partnering with a data provider can help you access a vast array of candidates arranged according to various profile filters.
Most importantly, don’t be afraid to consider outsourcing your company’s staffing needs! Particularly, outsourcing your company’s staffing needs may ultimately save your employees time and effort, thereby allowing them to focus solely on their core tasks.
Ana Alonso, Global Marking Head Recruiter at Shell, offers this insightful thought, “Engagement has to be human because people trust people more than brands. Our employees are the ones who personify Shell.” Indeed, focusing on maintaining a human touch throughout your recruiting process will help put a face to your company’s name. In the end, the human touch ensures you attract genuinely committed folks looking to deliver the results your organization needs.
4. Cut Down on Your Hiring Cycle
Cutting down on your hiring cycle often involves a careful revision of your company’s staffing practices. Specifically, identifying bottlenecks is a crucial step in reducing your “days to hire.” The first step to reducing your hiring cycle is to automate as many of your processes as possible. However, automation on its own won’t have the impact you expect. It’s how you manage your system that makes all the difference.
Shonezi Noor, Chief of Staff at Sampler, offers this interesting tidbit, “Using a tracking system helps you stay organized and makes sure no one slips through the cracks.” As your company grows and your systems become more complex, effective tracking reduces the likelihood of wasted time and effort. In particular, tracking data over time allows you to see which practices and strategies yield the best results. The more you track, the better you can spot processes that work. And you’ll be able to eliminate those that don’t deliver the results you expect.
5. Use Metrics to Gauge Results
Tracking effective strategies requires you to employ metrics to help you gather objective data and determine if a strategy delivers expected results. Without metrics, you can’t make informed decisions about your recruitment process and, needless to say, it will be challenging to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
Here are five key metrics to consider when measuring your hiring process’s effectiveness:
- Days to hire. This metric gauges how long it takes for you to post an ad, review applications, interview candidates, and make a final decision. Ideally, your hiring process should deliver qualified hires in the shortest time possible.
- Cost per hire. Your organization must quantify how much money it spends on hiring new workers. The ultimate goal is to spend the least amount possible. Often, using unconventional tactics such as referrals can significantly reduce your business’s cost per hire.
- Qualified candidates per posting. This metric reveals the number of qualified applicants per job posting. In essence, a low number of qualified applicants generally means you’re not advertising on the right channels.
- Establish channel effectiveness. In addition to qualified candidates, hires also determine a channel’s effectiveness. For instance, if all your hires come from social media posts and none from newspaper ads (let’s face it, who is looking here?), you can determine that newspaper ads are not delivering the results you need. Therefore, you may consider cutting out newspaper ads altogether.
- Quality of hires. Lastly, this metric determines how well hires work out once on your staff. Suppose hires leave soon after coming aboard or don’t meet expectations. In that case, you may need to establish which parts of your staffing process fail to screen candidates appropriately.
How Can Simply Biotech Help You Optimize your Hiring Process?
At Simply Biotech, we are experts in filling your specialized staffing needs. Whether you need on-site or remote employees, we’ve got you covered. We can assist when you need to hire staff quickly by taking care of the heavy lifting. Our associates have the expertise needed to recruit, screen, interview, onboard, and train remote employees. We take care of your biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device staffing needs so you can focus on what you do best: delivering value to your customers.
Learn more about how Simply Biotech can help you hire staff quickly today!
This post is made available for informational purposes only to provide a general understanding of the topics discussed herein. It is not intended to provide specific business, legal, or professional advice, and should not be relied on as such. Simply Biotech is not liable or responsible for any damage or loss arising from any reliance placed on such materials.
