Biotech: Recruiting

A Washington based biotech company gets fully staffed with high quality talent over a flexible 18 month Talent Services engagement.

Challenges

Highly specialized people needs

Rapid growth goals

Lack of recruiting process and structure

Objective

Our Client is a biotech company headquartered in Seattle, WA. They had been using our Fractional SwiftHR® service and were in a position to grow headcount significantly. In May of 2021, our SwiftTalent™ Consultant was brought in on a full-service engagement to grow the team and fill skills gaps. She is a highly experienced recruiter with more than 20 years of experience.

Solutions

Our Consultant began by working with the leadership team on the hiring forecast. They strategized on the timing and priority of critical roles. They also built a recruiting structure because there were not many processes in place for talent for this early-stage company.

Our Consultant:

Implemented an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to manage job postings and facilitate the hiring workflow

Coached hiring managers and interview teams on conducting effective interviews

Had a strategy meeting with each hiring manager and customized a search plan for each of their open roles

Wrote effective job descriptions to keep the hiring team aligned and share with candidates

Throughout the engagement our Consultant worked hard to maintain an excellent candidate experience.

“Candidate experience is super important to me. I do a lot of research on the company I am working for so that I can answer questions and help each candidate be more successful. I respond back quickly and coach hiring managers to do the same. Throughout the process I keep candidates engaged because if I don’t, there is a good chance they will go somewhere else.”

Our Consultant was able to flex her time up and down with the volume of work in order to go faster when she needed to. At the end of our engagement, we had filled 29 roles in 18 months in a wide range of departments. Several of the roles like Director of Bioinformatics, and Physician Scientist had specific criteria and required some creative sourcing. When the need for hiring new people significantly slowed, the Client was able to simply end our engagement instead of finishing out a long-term contract or having to terminate an employee.

Results

Fully staffed with highly competent talent who enjoy their work

Newly created roles with robust job descriptions that attract qualified candidates

Trained employees who know how to conduct effective interviews

Organizational structure including an applicant tracking system that makes the recruiting process seamless

Positive candidate experience that will keep potential hires engaged and improve the employment brand

Cost Comparison

Over the course of 18 months, this Client spent $256,000 for our recruiting services for 29 roles successfully placed. When we conservatively compare this cost to alternatives, we are confident that our Client received excellent value for their investment.

Cost estimations for recruiting alternatives:

Full-time Contract recruiter – working with them directly: $90/hour for 3,120 hours = $280,800

Full-time Contract recruiter – working through an agency: $125/hour for 3,120 hours = $390,000

Full-time Experienced Recruiter $150,000 base salary + benefits & taxes = $292,500 over 18 months