Recruiting is one of the largest and fastest-growing areas in the professional services industry. However, not all recruiters know how to headhunt candidates in the life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries. The ability to recruit talent in these fields sets scientific recruiters apart from the rest.
The landscape of scientific industries is dynamic and requires a deep understanding not only of headhunting best practices but also a firm grasp of the skills required to thrive in the science industries themselves.
In this article, we’ll walk you through how scientific recruiters use headhunting skills to find top talent in some of the toughest industries in the economy.
How Science Industry Executive Search Firms Pinpoint the Perfect Fit
1. They Rely on Deep Wells of Industry Knowledge
Scientific recruiters distinguish themselves through their profound grasp of the intricacies within the life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical sectors. While general recruiters have broad talent acquisition skills and tackle tasks with an expansive focus, scientific industry recruiting experts possess refined skills that allow them to navigate the nuances of scientific disciplines. These skills allow scientific recruiters to connect with candidates and understand what they’re interested in and what their proficiencies are. It also allows them to understand hiring teams and intuitively pick up on the exact traits and competencies that will allow for real success in a role.
The life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries are unique, and so are their talent needs. When it comes to recruiting talent for these industries, recruiters must possess deep wells of industry knowledge. The concept of breadth of knowledge (which most top-ranking recruiters possess) versus depth of knowledge (which scientific industry recruiters need to master) is key here. At Cornerstone Search Group, we bring over twenty years of science industry headhunting experience to the table with each and every hire we make. In other words, you can rest assured that when it comes to breadth and depth of knowledge, we have both.
2. They Leverage Long-Honed Talent Networks for Hidden Gems
If you post an open role with a general recruiter (or on your own), finding the perfect fit might feel like an uphill battle. When you post in “normal” ways, you’ll often find “normal” results… which won’t help you get a leg up on your competitors in the cut-throat world of scientific recruiting. If you’ve run into this issue, the problem isn’t the desirability of the open role, your company, its culture, or your hiring team—it’s simply an issue with the refinement of your talent search strategy.
The talent pool in the life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries is notoriously small, and in order to give your organization the opportunity to select the best candidate from a wide enough pool, you have to really drill down. More importantly, you need to know where to drill. Employees in these industries are intelligent, focused, and by their nature, they can be extremely loyal. It’s no wonder, then, that many of them are “passive” candidates for open roles, meaning that while something could pique their interest, they aren’t actively looking to make a switch.
This scenario is where a scientific headhunter poses some of its most critical value to their life sciences, biotech, and pharma firm partners. An experienced and established executive search firm (like Cornerstone Search Group) has an expansive array of these passive candidates in their network. At any given time, they can call upon these passive candidates to put your job in front of them, even when they weren’t going out of their way to look for it. Cornerstone’s scientific headhunters are able to introduce your organization and its open opportunity personally and explain to a candidate why it’s a good fit for them—and maybe an even better opportunity than what they have with their current employer.
3. They Provide a Tailored Approach to Candidate Assessment that Gets Below the Surface
Your candidates might be qualified on paper, but can you trust that they really have what it takes to thrive in your organization? Making the right talent acquisition isn’t just about finding someone who can do the job. When you focus on filling a position to get the task off the table, you risk ending up benefiting the selected candidate without ensuring that your organization has truly benefited, too.
When searching for the right talent fit, a scientific industry headhunter is able to identify characteristics of candidates within an applicant pool that can’t be captured on a resume, CV, or cover letter and likely may not come out in multiple rounds of interviews, either. Executive search firms can integrate pre-hire assessments in your candidate search, which are able to test for various traits such as:
- tangible skills and competencies
- propensities for and knowledge of ethical choices
- decision making skills
- cultural fit
- strengths and weaknesses
- personality types (using validated personality metrics)
- stylistic preferences
- critical problem-solving abilities
- emotional intelligence
- and so much more.
A scientific industry headhunter is able to not only capture these and other qualities, they’re also able to identify which of these qualities are of the highest value to your unique organization and the team your new hire will work with and serve.
4. They Don’t Just Recruit, they Headhunt. The Industry Demands it.
The difference between headhunting and recruiting may seem small, but the gap is emphasized in the science industry. Headhunting is a specialized and highly personalized form of recruitment that targets executives, C-suite positions, higher-up managers, and employees with specific skill sets.
Knowing how to headhunt for a candidate is a skill that standard recruiters don’t always master. In the life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical spaces, however, the nature of the industry demands headhunting over typical recruiting strategies.
Cornerstone Search Group: Your Experienced Life Sciences Headhunter
The life sciences talent landscape is competitive. When you partner with Cornerstone Search Group, you gain an edge over your competitors. Cornerstone can help you tap into a deep network of specialized and senior talent, matching you with the team members who will help you take your organization to the next level.
Start a conversation with us today to learn more.
