It is not so simple any more.

If you’re going to conduct a search for a top-level person without using outside resources, here are some guidelines:

1. How to find good candidates for your job openings:

– Using employee referrals and networking will fill a good proportion.

– Posting to your website and to social networks will also fill some.

– Googling, Boolean Search and other software tools will fill some if your HR team has a well-trained internal recruiting group.

– But sometimes you just have to ask specific people at specific companies if they would like to come work for you.

But which companies do you consider? A limiting factor is how much you can spend to relocate the right person. Will the budget allow it?  From how far afield? Anywhere in the U.S.? Your state? Your region? Would you recruit from outside the U.S., with the attendant visa issues? It’s considered “relocation” if the prospect would have to move fifty miles or more.  (Jolyce Ledvina of Suddath at jledvina@suddath.com is a good person to talk with about this issue.)

How far afield you look depends on the position you are recruiting for. A controller can do her job in any company, but a Director of Biology is a very different role in, say, a cancer therapeutics company vs. a life science tools company, so you may have to seek more remotely.  The number of companies in your area that are working in the same therapeutic or life science area that you are may be limited. Who are your local competitors for this particular function?

Once you have decided the geography of the search, you must determine which companies within that area are likely to employ the people with the experience you need. The best tool I’ve found for this is BioPharm Insights but they are rather expensive.   Biospace.com may be a good place to go to check out other companies as is BayBio or your local biosciences organization. The old reliables are Hoovers, followed by OneSource, but both of these do all industries, so be careful about the details. Free sites are BloomsbergBusinessWeek and Forbes, but again, they are not specific to the biosciences world.

Since most of the people currently employed doing what you need to have done are happy where they are, you will need at least fifty companies.  Be sure not to include any with which your company currently has agreements or collaborations.  But do include companies that are not doing well.  Their people may be more ready to leave.

Don’t feel that you must have someone from a major pharmaceutical company. As a company gets larger, the responsibilities of a particular role may narrow, and small companies usually need someone who has broader experience.

Now you have a list of the most promising places to find the person that you need.

The next step is to identify each of the appropriate people and approach them with the fact that you would like to discuss your open job with them.  Is this something that your team can or wants to do?  There have been scandals around “poaching” people from competitors when more than one person moved from one company to a competitor.  This is not usually a problem when an outside recruiter is involved.

All of this must take place before your hiring manager can see the first resume.  How much time and effort will this take?

We have all been spoiled by Amazon and simply ordering what we want off the internet – recruiting is most definitely not like that.  People are the item which can say “No!”

Related articles

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Recruiters, like attorneys, can be very expensive if you don’t know exactly what you need from them.  You get much better results for your recruiting efforts when you do.

Job Description vs. Complex Reality (Photo credit: christophercarfi)

1.  Get a job description from each of the stakeholders: direct supervisor, department head, VP and even the co-workers or those who will be the new person’s direct reports.  You need to be sure that all of these people have the same idea of what the new hire will do.  If not, take the time now, before you spend any time or money on the search to make sure that they all agree on the basics.  Also make sure that this is really only one job and not three.  A recruiter can and will do this for you if there needs to be an external consultant to get everyone on the same page.

 2. Find out what 5 things your hiring manager(s) will want the new hire to
accomplish in the next 6 months.

These things will attract the right people and, hopefully, discourage the people who are not qualified.  People today want to know that they can do what you most need to have done and that they will learn something in the process.

3. Use your social network to see if you already know or are connected to the person you need to hire.

 Image via Wikipedia

LinkedIn is certainly one go-to spot, but there are many others.  Are all of your top performers on LinkedIn?  Are you Linked to each of them?  Are you a member of the appropriate LinkedIn groups for your industry and for the kind of person that you need?
You can do the same in Facebook, Twitter, Beeker, LabRoots, Viadeo, Xing, etc.

 4. Ask your top performers who they know who can do this job.
Employee referral programs are even more effective than job postings in filling a job.  The perceived danger here is getting a group that is too homogeneous and that you will lose the creativity of diversity.

5. Post the job and see what you get.
Only about 19% of jobs are filled through postings and you always get huge numbers of “What were they thinking when they applied?” applications and resumes.  Sort through them and make sure the ones you pick meet the requirements in the job description.

If you can find the right person with all of this, great!  If not, or if you need a more confidential search, then now is the time to hire a recruiter.

A good recruiter will need the top two items and there is no point in hiring one if you can get the right person from the next three.  But, if you are running out of time and still have not found your new hire, you may want to hire a search services professional to cast a broader net or sort through that stack of resumes.  Contract recruiters are one option, virtual and unbundled search services consultants are another.  I’ll do another post about the similarities and differences in another post.

What do you do when the hiring manager comes to you and says: “We need an X as soon as possible!!!”?  I’d love to hear your stories!

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Referred Workers Are 20% Less Likely To Quit Their Jobs

Vivian Giang | May 1, 2013, 12:32 PM | 1,456 | 1

 

flickr/nickgray

There’s a value to well-designed employee referral programs. Those who are hired through this method are 20% less likely to quit their jobs, and they are also more productive at their jobs.According to a new report by Evolv — a data provider that uses analytics to study employee retention — having friends at work encourages a more productive work environment and is a ”key contributing factor to decreased attrition.”

The report said that in the first 200 days of employment, referred workers were more productive compared to other new employees, because the referred ones “had a more realistic view of what their jobs would be like.” In the next 200 days, these workers continued to be more productive and happier in their jobs; they ”experienced more positive social treatment on the job, had better knowledge of resources and had more help navigating the business compared to non-referred employees.”

For these studies, Evolv collected and analyzed more than five million data points from nine large firms in the high-tech, call centers and transportation industries.

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This is an old post by Stephen Ham from his old blog, but perhaps even more important today

July 1, 2010

By Stephen Ham 

This is a particularly pertinent question when more companies than ever are choosing to conduct their own searches utilizing internal employees, typically either HR business partners or contract recruiters.

Let’s face it, using a recruiter costs money, typically 20% or 25% of the recruit’s first year salary, and can be as high as 34%. So on the face of it, keeping a search in-house is a huge savings; and with so many candidates applying for each open position, why pay more for someone else to do the job?

First of all, it’s important to note that there normally is little need for an outside recruiter for lower level/hourly positions, which means they’re only going to be considered for mid-level to senior-level positions. Also,  every employer should do their due diligence when conducting a search. Resources such as utilizing internal job postings, networking with peers who hold similar positions in the industry, and outside job postings are all great ideas to see if there is a quality candidate just waiting for this type of opportunity.

But what if the perfect candidate isn’t waiting in the wings, ready to swoop in and save the day? What is the plan for that contingency?

“Hope for the best, while planning for the worst.”

It’s an old saying, yet highly pertinent today, even when conducting searches for mid and upper management. Planning a proper recruitment strategy will encompass the elements of time and money, and both play a big part in determining if there is a need to outsource your search.

Time is money, so the length of the search should directly impact the decision to proceed in house or employ an outside recruiter. If the position is a critical one, the decision most likely needs to be made sooner rather than later, and perhaps significantly sooner than most HR teams would like.

Take the following example:

Day 1      – Position opens and search is begun immediately by in house recruiter or HR

Day 7      – Job has been posted internally, on a large, general job board, and also on an            industry specific board.

Day 30    – No quality candidates have been developed and outsourcing is discussed.

Day 45    – Decision is made to outsource the search

Day 60    – Search is awarded to a firm

Day 90    – Candidate is sourced who will ultimately be hired

Day 91-120 – Interviews conducted, references obtained

Day 121  – Offer is made

Day 150  – Start Date

This example shows  a 5 month timeline between the position opening and having a replacement in place. For many companies this is an unacceptably long period to leave a senior position vacant. The solution here is deceptively simple and goes back to planning.

HR needs to sit with Department heads/Hiring managers when there is an opening to determine how difficult it will be to find a replacement. If the answer is moderately to very difficult, then HR should do a quick scan of active candidates utilizing the aforementioned resources. The decision to outsource would then be made at the end of 2 weeks, rather than 2 months, because if nobody steps forward immediately, the recruit will probably have to be contacted directly. This is the type of work that HR usually cannot take the time to do, and is the realm of the professional outside recruiter.

About Stephen Ham

Agile executive Search President, Steve Ham, brings over 25 years of professional experience in Northern New England recruiting, sales management, and marketing to his clients. He works with a wide variety of businesses on senior level searches, and has placed individuals in the healthcare, biotech, banking and manufacturing industries, among others.

http://agileexecutivesearch.wordpress.com

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Young woman and boy in the 1900′s fishing

 Click here for some fishing tools!

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We had some interesting conversation at the last Supper Club about ATS systems so I decided to ask my friend Sylvia Dahlby is a Rainmaker at SmartSearch the world’s best applicant tracking system. (tongue planted firmly in cheek) what she thought.  Here is her reply:

“Hi Connie, Thanks for thinking of me and the invitation to guest blog for your HR newsletter and website.

“Which ATS is the best for small companies and which for large?”

Interesting question, I hear it a lot. There certainly are a lot of different ATS choices for different size companies in biotech R&D. When anyone asks me what ATS is “the best” the answer is always the same – it depends.

Like buying a car, ATS selection should not be a popularity contest. It’s a mistake to to compare product-to-product; products always need to be measured against requirements. The Toyota Camry is the number one best selling car in America, and Ford F-150 truck is number two. Are either of them “the best” car for you?

The comment that “if you learn one of them, you know them all” is valid.

There’s a big difference between a family sedan, a sports car, pick-up truck or SUV,  but you can drive any of them once you learn how to drive.

Your choice of car will depend on your driving habits, personal preferences, and what you need to get out of a car in terms of practicality & Performance. Budget is a big consideration of course, and you may want that ultimate driving machine but the Camry is the best choice for your wallet.

There’s also the question of “drive-ability” – are you comfortable behind the wheel? Will the car take you where you want to go? Do you want to drive it every day – now and in the foreseeable future?

 With many ATS vendors insisting on a multi-year experience with a particular system, the service contract is extremely important. There are differences between BMW engineering & service than a Ford (I’m not knocking Ford, just saying).  

Everyone needs a reliable car – and dependable customer service.

Hope this helps answer the question.

One of my associates Rob Mayers has worked in the San Diego biotech space as a corporate recruiter. He would agree that many systems can be far from ideal, or even awful.

The ATS landscape is ever-changing, volatile, and tricky to navigate. Easy to get confused, or distracted by the “shiny object” or flavor of the month. A large company – or a small start up – may  be well advised to retain an expert consultant to lead product evaluation, selection and even implementation.

Your “Supper Clubs” for HR people in Biotech sounds divine, will take a rain check for next time I’m in the Bay Area & will let you know if either of us is ever up your way.

Thanks again for the gracious invitation. Aloha, Sylvia”

She has also allowed us to have access to one of her presentation on ATS systems.  You can access it here

ERE.net has recently published a post “The 17 Things to Think About Before Picking an Applicant Tracking System”

And Sylvia suggests these links as well:

Applicant Tracking System Selection

Capterra

How To Avoid the Top 3 Mistakes Organizations Make When Evaluating and Implementing Recruiting Technology Solutions

Experts offer Tips for Selecting the Right Technology for Your Business

The post ATS – which one is right for my company? appeared first on .

Tallent community

What is a talent community and how can a small biotech develop one?

Marvin Smith of ERE.net has written on “Talent Communities”. His comment most relevant to small biotech companies is: “The second method is the popular approach of build a following and community around a career at a company with the fans of its brand. This branded talent community showcases the organization’s employment value proposition, as well as what it like to be a member of the team. This approach to community works well if you are the market leader or rising star in a particular business segment. The very nature of this type of community requires a constant supply of new members, as interest in a job with a certain company is intermittent at best.”

I disagree that the focus should be on just one job or career. In the biosciences industries, the most exciting thing is not each job, but the science the company is focusing on.  This is your “secret sauce” and what you need to be promoting.

Social media and building your company’s own particular community can be time-consuming at best, but it is well worth putting in place at least a few steps:

• Have a LinkedIn Company page where you post regular updates and use the Jobs tab there as well.
• Write and post what is good about working for your company. Get input for this from your employees.  Post it on the LI Company page, your career page, and any other Social Media property your company has.
• Offer ways for outsiders to interact with your insiders.  Have your most social media savvy employees post occasional “brags” or updates.  Or ask for emails from your employees and copy and paste into your updates.
• If you want younger, less-experienced people, put together a Facebook Page for the company.  Post the same things here that you would post to your careers page and your LinkedIn Page.
• Get your marketing consultant or department involved. You may want to check with your Legal team to make sure that you are not giving away IP.
• Engage with the people who want to work for your company, even if you don’t need them right now.
  • Offer links to training resources, associations your team belong to, events your team is attending, etc.
  • Invite people to social events, meet and greets, job fairs
  • Ask the manager of the department closest to hiring to write a short description of what the department is working on (no proprietary details)
  • Ask the people who engage to offer suggestions for what is being worked on

What are you doing?  Do you need to develop a plan?  Is this something that is just too much for your time?

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The 4 Biggest Social Media Trends in HR Right Now

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Connie Hampton Principal Consultant510-601-1343 (w) 510-409-9675 (m) 549 Aileen St Oakland, CA 94609 United States Website Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Please join us for the May BioHR Supper Club May 14, 2013 6 pm We have a table for 8 at Tomadachi Sushi Bistro24123 Hesperian Blvd  Hayward, CA 94545 (510) 940-3800 RSVP to connie@hamptonexecutivesearch.com by 4 pm on May 14th. no sales, no presentations, no notetaking Just good food and great conversation Best wishes, Connie

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We all know that referrals are the best way to get a good new employee, but sometimes you just have to post the opening.  Since a job posting is an advertisement, but it is HR which is usually in charge of writing and posting job openings, how much do you know about marketing and advertising in particular? 

You can tell how good your marketing skills are by the percentage of job seekers who send you a resume just because they want “a job, any job!”. 

Do you use the keywords, skills and descriptions of expertise that the qualified job seeker uses for the work they do? 

You don’t have to be the scientist or the marketing expert, but you do need to know how to use LinkedIn’s great tool – the Skills and Expertise pages.

You can put the title or department or desired skill into the search box on the Skills and Expertise page and get related skills, a definition, some of the people who have used this skill in their profile, three charts about the relative growth of the term, the number of people on LinkedIn who use it, the age of the people who use it, related companies, other jobs currently posted on LI for this term, locations where people who use this term are located and LinkedIn Groups where these folks hang out.

Your job posting, whether you post it on LinkedIn’s paid site or not, needs to use these keywords and be seen, read, and attract these (and other similar) people. 

How can your posting be more attractive than the ones currently posted on LinkedIn?  Where else will you post it?

One especially good place to post is in the job discussions in the Groups listed.  Of course you have posted it to your company’s career page on your website.  What other places would appeal to these particular specialists?  Where else do they visit online and off? 

Do you have a spreadsheet for the job posting sites for each of your departments? 

Do you have the keywords for each department?

How could I help you with this?  H&A Scientific and Executive Search Services can do any piece of the recruiting process that you need, including putting together these spreadsheets for you. 

Please do give me a call – (510) 601-1343 or Skype: connie.hampton or connie@hamptonexecutivesearch.com

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