Outsourced, In-House, Or A Combo: An Agile Recruiting Strategy Fuels Growth In Pharmas And Biotechs

By Ruba Asmussen, founder and CEO, RTA Consulting

Life science professionals are accustomed to uncertainty and change. It’s a high-risk business, especially for small to midsize pharma and biotech companies that rely heavily on precarious investor funding and government grants. Fluctuating interest rates also creates tension – hikes can trigger greater scrutiny on budgets and ROI while increasing pressure to hit milestones.

On top of these struggles, a study by McKinsey & Company found that “rapid advancements in science and technology are challenging pharma and biotech companies’ approaches to talent.” For instance, demand for rarer digital skills in R&D, including AI and digital trial enablement, has grown while demand for foundational skills, such as statistical analysis and site management, is status quo.

When the future is unpredictable, and the skills needed are rapidly evolving, a different approach to hiring is imperative. But many smaller organizations continue to use outdated strategies that do more harm than good.

Being Intentional With Clear-Headed Action

Large pharma and biotech organizations are at an advantage when searching for talent — they have bigger recruiting budgets, robust talent pipelines, and brand-name recognition. Many also contract outside firms that have experience specifically in recruiting for life sciences positions.

Traditionally, small to midsize businesses (SMBs) handle recruiting in-house, often with an internal employee such as a hiring manager who has multiple other responsibilities and isn’t a trained recruiter. Or they hire a single recruiter without first putting in place the basic recruitment infrastructure and providing clear guidance and oversight.

Already overextended, these employees can take a reactionary approach to hiring – either trying to go it alone, bringing on a staffing agency for a quick fix, or not getting around to it at all. Ultimately, this diminishes innovation, jeopardizes the project, and hurts the organization. Instead, companies should develop hiring strategies that are intentional but can grow and change based on evolving internal and external conditions.

The good news is there are strategies pharma and biotech SMBs can use to hire smarter.

Making The Decision To Invest In In-House Recruiting, External Recruiting, Or A Combination

A dedicated in-house team is worth the investment if you expect to be consistently hiring and can take on the fixed cost. It should include a strategic leadership role; recruiters that focus exclusively on locating and screening applicants; a hiring manager to scrutinize the candidates; and the necessary personnel to organize operations and manage the tech stack.

Some companies are not ready to put a solid stake in the ground with an internal recruiting capability where the ROI can be months or years down the line. Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) firms have a flexible cost structure and the experience, personnel, networks, and tech already in place. They do all the same things as in-house teams, plus solve challenges such as ramping up a large team, hiring for niche roles, or deploying a mature recruiting operation. Increasingly, smaller organizations are turning to RPO firms to manage the talent acquisition process.

Many SMBs find it effective to start with an outsourced partner and transition to in-house later when the process is mature, infrastructure is in place, and hiring volumes are more certain.

In all cases, enlisting a team that understands the life sciences business and its unique talent needs is crucial. They need to know how recruiting a lab technician differs from recruiting a regulatory affairs expert. Similarly, professionals further along in their careers often have more niche experience but transferable skills. A recruiting team that can discern the nuances is imperative for making successful hires across all roles.

Here are three best practices to help elevate your hiring strategy.

1. Conduct a due diligence exercise

When you’re in a high-growth, fast-paced field like pharma and biotech, it’s understandable to want to accelerate the hiring process. Perhaps the company just received major funding and the team is anxious to scale quickly. Taking a pause to perform a comprehensive appraisal before making any hiring decisions can help avoid costly mistakes.

Some suggestions include:

• Examine past hiring experiences and identify what worked and what was ineffective.
• Determine how many hires and what positions the company needs to fill to achieve its goal.
• Identify a time frame for building the team — is it 100 total employees over the course of a year?
• Map out a cadence — do they need to be hired in the first two months or can they be phased in over 12?

This type of intentional hiring will help ensure resources and personnel are aligned so that all teams are on the same page and new hires can be seamlessly integrated. An RPO partner also can provide analytics, build a solution, and help with a realistic project plan.

2. Define and design each position

There’s a lot to consider when hiring new talent, especially if it’s at scale. Just like designing a new product, start at the very beginning with an intake process where you map out all the specifications of each role. Ask yourself: What talent gaps need to be covered? What is the impact of this role on the organization? What experience and background are required? Where can we train and upskill? What type of decision-making capabilities does each role require?

There are also different staffing options for building an agile and scalable team that can quickly react to shifting needs, resources, and funding. This is especially important for SMBs that need specialized roles but can’t afford to have them on permanent payroll.

These include:

• Direct, internal hires for ongoing needs: These positions are a fixed cost and fall in line with the core capabilities your business wants to build and where there is enough work to justify a full-time employee (FTE). They’ll be the heart and engine of building the business, not only capability wise, but by being culturally aligned to your goals and values. These positions also need to prioritize employee engagement and be designed with clear career paths, compensation plans, and benefits in mind.
• Fractional hires for specialized positions: These individuals are in high-level positions and are paid a premium salary but still cost less than an FTE. They typically fill a role outside of the core business capabilities and are experienced leaders who can work independently, for instance, a fractional CFO, CHRO, CIO, etc. They can be excellent business partners to help guide your business. Eventually, when the work increases, it may make sense to bring some of these roles in-house.
• Outsourcing: These jobs also typically fall outside of the core business capabilities and don’t always require an FTE. Examples include marketing, accounting, recruitment, and IT. Outsourcing is also a great option for "testing" a function to determine what works, and doesn't work, in the organization before bringing the role in-house. As contractors, these employees require internal oversight and should have measurable goals to maintain accountability. Outsourcing can offer long-term cost savings, but there is an up-front investment. Some partners also can be unpredictable, so it’s important to choose wisely.

From there, consider the different personality types that can thrive in each role. Many pharma and biotech SMBs require employees who can take ownership of their work yet still collaborate across disciplines. And, as AI and machine learning become more prevalent, they’ll need to be adventurous when it comes to utilizing new technology.

3. Strengthen the candidate search

There are two distinct sides to finding candidates: knowing where to look for them and understanding what they want.

You must expand your talent pool to improve the quality of candidates you attract. Continuously returning to the same sources may have worked in the past, but they may not continue to work as you scale. Instead, use data to help locate candidates by:

• pinpointing where pharma and biotech talent exists nationwide
• identifying candidates with transferable skills
• analyzing what competitive compensation packages are being offered
• revealing how strong your brand awareness is in the market.

When it comes to the candidates themselves, remember that they’re valuable stakeholders in the recruiting process. While your organization cannot be everything to everyone, it helps to identify the different candidates’ priorities and design an environment that is true to the corporate culture yet takes into consideration various workplace priorities.

For instance, a recent Lighthouse survey found different generations have different wants when choosing where to work. Gen Z prioritizes work/life balance, millennials want job security, Gen X is interested in compensation, and boomers want more job responsibilities. As the report notes, these are all things to consider when developing job postings, social content, and interview questions.

Increasingly, organizations are using the principles of product design to improve the candidate and employee experience. This requires developing a new set of workplace strategies that put talent at the center, much in the same way that product design teams focus on the customer throughout the development process.

Agility Is The Secret To Hiring Success

As noted in the McKinsey study, one cause of stagnation in the industry is a failure to reinvent the talent model to meet the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing biopharma ecosystem. But pharma and biotech SMBs are in a unique position to change the paradigm. As entrepreneurs and risk-takers, you’re open to new ways of doing things, including different strategies for attracting talent such as using an RPO. If you commit to a recruitment strategy that is agile, flexible, and robust, you’ll find yourself, and your organization, better equipped to not only adjust to rapidly changing scenarios but thrive in a world of uncertainty.

About The Author:

Ruba Asmussen is founder and CEO of RTA Consulting.