Finding Your Next Role: 5 Ways To Uncover Hidden Jobs

In an employer-driven market where competition for biopharma positions is high, the hidden job market has become increasingly important, three talent acquisition experts told BioSpace. However, they noted, most biotech and pharma professionals aren’t accessing it.

“The hard part about tapping into the hidden job market is it takes a lot of work,” said Alex Benjamin, vice president of talent acquisition and FSP delivery at OnPoint Clinical, a clinical trial staffing agency. “It’s a lot of trial and error. It takes a lot of persistence. It’s doing things that you probably should have been doing before.”

The hidden job market typically refers to positions that aren’t publicly posted and are often filled through referrals, internal promotions, networking or recruiters. It can also include roles that are advertised but not easily found.

Hidden jobs are often associated with biotechs, especially smaller ones, noted Bryan Blair, vice president of life sciences at talent solutions firm GQR. Sometimes, he said, those companies only post positions on their websites, making them difficult to locate.

Pharmas also have hidden jobs. However, Blair noted that they’re usually executive-level roles.

The hidden job market can include several types of positions:

• Senior leadership roles: Companies don’t have room for much trial and error when filling these positions, according to Benjamin, so they often contact people they know will be good fits rather than post the jobs. In addition, Blair noted, if businesses are replacing current leaders, they won’t advertise those roles.
• High-impact positions: Companies that need senior managers and senior-level associates who have a niche skill set or who must work out once hired will usually first consider people who are known entities, Benjamin said.
• Jobs that haven’t been posted yet: Businesses sometimes ask recruiters to watch for candidates who will be good fits for positions they’ll post soon, according to Angie Allen, managing partner for pharma/biotech at Kaye/Bassman, an executive search firm.
• Openings following layoffs: Companies that recently let employees go could still need talent but don’t post job openings—or not as many as they actually have—because of how it would look from a public relations perspective, according to Blair.
• Grant-funded positions: Grants normally don’t include funding for job postings, Blair said, so grant-funded roles are listed outside of costly avenues such as LinkedIn or Indeed.
• Contract roles: Companies with headcount restrictions rely on contractors or other outsourcing support, according to Benjamin. Blair noted that these businesses tend to use recruiting firms to find talent to avoid having a high volume of job applicants.

There are several ways to access the hidden job market, according to Allen, Benjamin and Blair. Here are five key methods.

Networking and relationship building gives job candidates some traction with businesses so that they’re known quantities instead of just people spamming the company with a resume, according to Allen. There are multiple ways to network, she said, from attending trade shows or professional development events to getting together for coffee to sending a quick LinkedIn message.

Benjamin recommended staying lightly in touch with former managers, colleagues, direct reports and even vendors and principal investigators. He also likes LinkedIn as a networking tool.

“Build your network around people that you want to work with and work for consistently, even when you don’t need to, because you’ll see their posts, they see you, you like and share things,” Benjamin said. “You become a little bit of a known entity. Yes, you may be a little bit more active when you’re job searching, but at least you’re not just a ghost that’s popping up out of nowhere trying to look for something.”

Companies that recently laid employees off may have openings—posted or unposted—for certain key functions, according to Blair. He recommended looking for organizations that have active clinical trials that could make or break their business, as they may need people to work on those trials. To find those trials, Blair recommended reviewing press releases or joining earnings’ calls.

Because HR and talent acquisition roles are often among the first ones to get cut, Blair advised reaching out to hiring managers, such as medical directors who oversee studies. If the company doesn’t have trials-related jobs posted, he said the message could be something such as, “I saw you recently had layoffs. I’m sure there’s gaps within your team. I’m interested in working for you and your company on this trial.”

Whether or not there’s a posted position, Blair recommended biopharma professionals share why they’re a good fit for the business and its open trials.

Biopharma professionals should look for signals that a company will hire people soon, according to Benjamin. He recommended checking industry news for funding rounds, which some businesses need before adding headcount, as well as pipeline updates and executive changes.

“If someone’s hiring a new executive—a VP of something—they’re probably building out a team, for example,” he said, adding that by spotting signals early enough, biopharma professionals can then get on a company’s radar.

Allen and Benjamin highlighted the value of working with recruiters, noting that because they often find out about positions before they’re posted, they can connect biopharma professionals with job opportunities early.

“You want to be on top of our list,” Benjamin said, “because when something opens up, we’ll go to you, and the more eyes and ears you can have finding opportunities is going to be huge.”

Allen said, “I feel like one of my primary duties with really talented people is listening for them so that I am that extra door knock.”

Biopharma professionals can find job postings that aren’t on places such as LinkedIn and Indeed through AI platforms including Perplexity, according to Blair. He recommended using Boolean search strings to identify those positions, noting that they can guide information requests in as narrow of a direction as possible to provide the best information.

Blair said biopharma professionals should start the search with their most recent job title and then use variations of it, along with the names of companies of interest. He warned against entering chunks of more than 50 businesses at a time, as it doesn’t typically yield the best results.

Once biopharma professionals find hidden job opportunities, they should be ready to move quickly on them, according to Benjamin. That means having a resume that can be customized within 24 hours, knowing their elevator pitch upfront and being able to clear their calendar to have any needed conversations, he explained.

“We’ve seen all the people who just missed out because the timing didn’t work out,” Benjamin said.
“They weren’t ready to jump on the opportunity, while someone else was.”

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