Your pharma and medical devices talent pipeline? You do have a plan, don’t you? In honesty, not every organisation does.
This is concerning when you consider the skills shortage many companies are facing in the MENA region.
In this post, we want to review what to consider when it comes to creating a talent pipeline and where you will need the help of a specific pharmaceutical recruiting partner.
What Is A Talent Pipeline?
For those of us schooled in sales and business development, we all know and appreciate the benefit of our ‘pipeline’. It’s those potential new clients who we want to convert to purchase our product or service or a current client who might want an additional product or service from us; the classic upsell opportunity.
In many pharma and med device BD situations, sales don’t happen overnight, and a potential prospect or key stakeholders might need to be identified and then cultivated before we see a return on our time and resource investment.
It’s a similar context when it comes to developing your talent pipeline within your organisation or department.
A talent pipeline is a pool of candidates who are ready to fill a position either now or in the future.
These can be employees who are high potential recruits ‘earmarked’ to fill pivotal positions in the future or high performers identified by your recruiting partner who has mapped the market for individuals who have both a skill and culture fit for your organisation.
The Many Upsides Of Developing Your Talent Pipeline
I am sure many of you reading this post have experienced that uncomfortable moment when one of your ‘star’ performers sends you a letter of resignation.
It’s likely you didn’t see it coming either. However, though it’s never good when this happens, and there are ways to avoid this situation which we will cover in another post, if you have a pipeline process it’s unlikely the situation will turn out as bad as it initially seems.
Why? Logically you will have a number of individuals being developed who could step into the role. Alternatively, your recruiting partner will already be aware of business-critical roles within your organisation and will have proactively been connecting with ideal new employees.
All this is so much better than the alternative that is a rushed recruiting campaign which often leads to hiring managers recruiting people who aren’t right for the role, team or organisation.
Analytics and Planning Are Key
For many pharma organisations, planning can start years in advance. Let’s assume that you have a new product in development that you anticipate will be approved by the various regulatory bodies within a set time period. Ahead of this, you will be considering building a designated market access team, perhaps a new business unit, with an experienced sales team primed and ready to go on launch day.
Some of these individuals might come across from other departments whereas some business critical roles with specific therapy area expertise or experience will need to be recruited into your organisation ahead of time.
With all of these elements to consider it is vital to hone your workforce planning. This will involve understanding turnover rates, training needs and succession plans. The goal is to understand the skills that a talent pipeline will need.
How To Build Your Talent Pipeline
Logically, when you recruit new people into your organisation, it’s vital to consider their knowledge, skills and attitude for the job at hand AND to consider their potential to develop into new roles too.
Only this week I had a conversation with a sales manager of a well know medical device supplier about their recruiting criteria. One in every four individuals had to have the skills and abilities to move further within the organisation; this particular organisation had a talent pipeline at the forefront of their recruiting agenda.
Your pipeline will grow from the current individuals you develop within your business and also from those you identify externally and then recruit with the help of a specialist recruiter like Kinetic.
Be Attractive
There is a global skills shortage in most markets and pharma, and medical devices are no exception.
Fact: High performers are often classed as ‘passive candidates’. In other words, they are not currently looking for a move. However, for the right role in the right company, they are open to a conversation.
Though the recruitment consultants are pretty exceptional here at Kinetic when it comes to connecting and engaging with talent; you have to do your bit too!
That involves having a respected employer brand which we will cover in another post you can find here.
Whenever we talk to/approach candidates on your behalf, the first thing they do is jump online to look at your corporate footprint or to check out the various career forums where your reputation will often precede you.
Can We Help?
Here at Kinetic, we have been recruiting pharma and medical devices employees for organisations across the MENA region. We can even run your entire process as we are a recognised RPO provider. Send us an email here, and one of our team will get back to you straight away.
Thanks