How to Save Time and Money when Recruiting in the Life Sciences

Seuss Recruitment life sciences time money

The right hiring choice can bring huge benefits to the growth of a life sciences company. How can you make the best decision while saving time and money?

In Europe, a bad hire costs employers an average of almost €60,000, starting with a minimum of €6,000 that rapidly escalates with the seniority of the role and can represent up to 150% of the employee’s salary. The damage doesn’t stop there. Indirect costs from hiring the wrong person include productivity loss, lower morale, reduced work quality and customer dissatisfaction. The performance of the rest of the employees will be affected even long after the problematic person is fired.

Direct and indirect ways companies report to have paid for hiring the wrong employee in a survey conducted by Careerbuilder
Direct and indirect ways companies report having paid for hiring the wrong employee in a survey conducted by Careerbuilder

All this trouble could be avoided by improving the recruitment process, since 80% of employee turnover is directly caused by bad hiring decisions. Improving recruitment practices and getting expert help can definitely be a sound investment. We talked with the expert team at Seuss Recruitment to understand what are the key factors to a good hire in the life sciences industry. In their experience, the key to reducing the costs of hiring is to reduce the time it takes, without losing quality. Here’s how they recommend doing so.

Knowing what you’re looking for

The first step towards making a good hire is to take the time to find out what the company really needs. It might sound obvious, but many skip this step and start recruiting without really knowing what they need. This is essential to find the right questions to ask candidates. Finding a good match means Hiring Managers must take into account important factors such as the company culture and needs beyond the technical expertise required for a certain role.

What fits your needs? What doesn’t? It’s essential to have it clear before starting the selection process
What fits your needs? What doesn’t? It’s essential to have it clear before starting the selection process

Take a step back and think, as a whole, what does the company need the new employee’s role to be? Does it call for someone with strong leadership skills? An infusion of creativity? What can the company provide to employees to attract and retain the best workers? This first step is all about transforming these needs and goals into questions that will reveal how well a candidate fits the role. Whether internally or externally, the hiring process should revolve around a true understanding of the company.

Sabine Hutchinson, CEO of Seuss Recruitment, highlighted how offering the possibility of having a recruiter working on-site can make a big difference in the process. “Our clients benefit from the flexibility of our recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) services when their needs are for a dedicated recruiter, on a temporary basis. This allows an expert to help manage the project and better understand the business needs.”

Focusing on what you do best

Most life sciences companies, particularly smaller biotechs, have HR management, but no recruitment team exclusively focused on the hiring process. But tackling any new hires without a specialized team can certainly take valuable hours away from the work that makes the company grow. This often translates into less time dedicated into properly onboarding the new hire, a process which is essential for integration, productivity and making the best employees want to stay.

Seuss Recruitment bad hire reasons

Outsourcing this process can free the company’s management to focus on what’s important, while the recruiter employs its expertise into making the hiring process more efficient. As the team at Seuss Recruitment points out, a good recruiter not only manages the process, but educates clients on what the best practices for hiring are.

Finding the right fit (for both sides)

Finding the ideal person to fill in a role is particularly challenging in the life sciences field, where highly specific and technical qualifications are needed. Even fewer people are qualified to simultaneously meet both the scientific and personal aspects that a role calls for.

Seuss Recruitment recommends companies should find a recruiter that understands the science and therefore all the requisites of a role. A good recruiter will be able to communicate with candidates what they’ll find in their future position and the value of the role for their career and personal development.

Seuss Recruitment life sciences hiring

Following these tips will help you start to make the best use of the limited and precious time to keep up with the fast pace required to succeed in the life sciences sector. To learn more about making the most out of the hiring process, make sure to drop by Seuss Recruitment’s booth at Labiotech Refresh to get the best tips from the experts themselves!


Images from Mindflash ; muchomoros /Shutterstock

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