Staffing Companies, Today’s Valuable Option for Pharma Companies

Finding and attracting top talent in today’s employment market is especially challenging in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are finding that their technical positions have become harder to fill because the professionals they seek are decreasing in number and the ones that exist are most likely employed (i.e. passive job seekers). In light of this shrinking workforce, coupled with the impending threat of increased regulatory pressure, companies are being forced to find alternative ways to source candidates in order to better focus on efficiency gains and cost-savings. For many, partnering with experienced staffing companies is the best option.

Pharmaceutical and biotech companies can strategically use staffing companies to fill their most critical positions. By partnering with staffing companies that specialize in the biopharmaceutical industry, companies can save time and resources. Staffing companies possess the recruiting resources needed to reach the best candidates, particularly passive job seekers. They actively recruit on a regular basis and maintain long-term relationships with candidates in order to meet their present and future employment needs. Furthermore, candidates also leverage the benefits of staffing companies to gain experience or direct access to the most lucrative employment opportunities. For this reason, many pharmaceutical and biotech companies find that staffing companies are the most cost-effective way to gain the greatest amount of exposure to the professionals they are trying to hire.

Our recruiters are continuously building relationships with passive job seekers to learn their employment preferences and job search habits. We attend industry specific networking events and advertise regularly to maintain and increase our pool of qualified professionals. In addition to our internal database, Aerotek has a proprietary job board that gets an average of 650,000 hits per month. Our expertise within the biopharmaceutical industry has allowed us to be human capital consultants for many of our clients.

Pharmaceutical and biotech companies that are considering supplementing their business model with a long term staffing partnership should take the appropriate steps to qualify staffing companies to ensure the best compatible match. One way method of doing this is to implement a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to screen them for best pricing, industry knowledge, service quality and recruiting capabilities. Key research questions include, but are not limited to:

• Does your company specialize in biopharmaceutical recruiting?
• How many years has your company served the biopharmaceutical industry?
• How do you screen and credential your candidates for the positions you staff?
• What fees are involved?
• Who are your top clients?
• Can I contact references for your company?
• What is your average fill ratio (the number of requests compared to the number of requests filled)?
• What are your recruiting capabilities?
• Do you have any service guarantees?

For more information about staffing companies and the services they provide, visit the American Staffing Association’s website, www.staffingtoday.net. To find out more about Aerotek, visit www.aerotek.com.

Aerotek Scientific LLC is the clinical division of Aerotek, Inc. Aerotek was established in 1983 and is a member of Allegis Group, Inc. – the largest privately-held staffing company in the United States.