April 20, 2015
By Angela Rose for BioSpace
In today’s recovering economy, top-quality biotech and pharma professionals are in high demand. If you’re an employer who wants to land the best of the best in this highly competitive industry, you may want to consider alternate candidate pools—such as “passive” job seekers—when recruiting for open positions. These are professionals who are doing well in their field and are not overtly unhappy at their current organization.
Though they are not actively seeking a new position—i.e. sending out resumes, cruising job boards or networking —passive job seekers may still be interested in opportunities that happen to come their way. In fact, according to Jobvite’s recent 2015 Job Seeker Nation Study, “45 percent of workers will jump ship for a new job even though they are happy in their current position.”
Of course, not all currently employed biotech and pharma professionals are passive job seekers. Some actually have no interest in changing employers or positions. If you want to target the currently employed, you must first identify those who are recruitable and not a waste of valuable time.
1. He or she hasn’t updated their resume or social media profile.
Maintaining an updated resume and social media profiles takes time. Top-performing professionals who are not interested in changing jobs can always find better things to do. If you find a particularly accomplished b>medical laboratory technologist with an outdated resume or incomplete work history in his profile, chances are good that he or she is not interested in hearing about opportunities at your biotech firm.
2. He or she he doesn’t return your phone calls or emails.
Top-performing professionals got where they are by focusing on their jobs, not returning unsolicited phone calls or emails that have no immediate bearing on their careers. If you have reached out to a clinical document control specialist who hasn’t bothered to respond within a week, they are most likely not interested in the possibility of changing employers.
3. He or she doesn’t visit typical online job boards or your company career page.
Online job boards and company career pages are both essential recruiting tools, especially in today’s world of the mobile job seeker. However, top-performing biopharma professionals—whether interested in new opportunities or not—are unlikely to research other employers or search job listings. You’re more likely to get his or her attention if you post that senior scientist position on an industry website such as BioSpace.com. Professionals visit such resources to catch up on industry news; those who are passive yet open to possibilities glance at the job ads as well.
4. He or she he is not unhappy with her current position, employer or career.
Many top-performing candidates got their current position through a referral. Some landed their job thanks to networking. You’re likely to find quality candidates through both channels. However, if you—or one of your employees—meets a research associate who has potential, but they responds positively to questions about her current situation, it’s likely he or she is not looking for a new opportunity and won’t be a good use of your recruiting time.
4. He or she is a recent college graduate.
Recent college undergraduates can be a great source of entry-level job candidates. However, many of them are actually not looking for employment. Some plan to go to graduate school, while others are in the process of starting their own biotech businesses. If you stumble across one who interests you, make sure you understand his plans for the immediate future before you launch into recruitment.
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