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It has been a challenging year. As we look ahead to the 1st Quarter 2023, there will certainly be growth opportunities and new positions coming available. Perhaps you have been reading newsworthy articles of slower times are ahead, but historically the pharma/biotech industry has weathered the economic storms of years past with respectable job activity and clients who continue to hire with approved budgets and new headcount.

In today’s employment atmosphere, many agree it is truly a candidate-driven market with more jobs available than people to fill them! Only a handful of times in recent years have we seen this indicator. Companies do need great candidates. Fortunately, PharmaOne Search continues to be well connected and providing top-tier talent across the board with our existing client base and future prospects.

However, if headwinds continue to develop and persist with a slower economy, we will be ready. We have performed well during these uncertainties and continuing our successful record for finding great candidates, offering counsel and individual career coaching services.

Not exactly sure what the hiring landscape will look like? Let me offer some tips to be prepared and get on with it!

Here are some thoughts and recommendations that stand out, and they work:

  • Field new communication from reputable Recruiters. My philosophy is simple. You don’t know what you don’t know. Take the call, answer the email, be courteous. You only need to spend 10 minutes to determine if the position(s) offered fits your criteria and timetable.
  • Evaluate all department opportunities within your current dept. If you feel “stuck in neutral” at your current position, explore the next opportunity with a focus of learning something new and stretching yourself. We all go through stages of disappointment, discouragement, rejection, and missing out on that key promotion. When it happens, we have the tendency to be upset and flee. Instead, consider staying the course. Do the extra work. If remote, get to the office at least 1-2 times per week. Be visible. Out of sight means simply, ‘out of mind’ when it comes to being evaluated for a future promotion.
  • Will working remotely hurt your promotion chances? Yes, and no. According to Meg Embry 3/29/22  What Will Working Remotely Mean for Your Career Trajectory?…”One of the biggest things you can do to advocate for yourself  is to make your manager’s job easier: Keep careful track of what you do each month so they don’t have to work too hard to see the value you bring to your organization”…Meg is right. Don’t let yourself be forgotten.
  • Find out your timetable for the next promotion.This is key. Normally your supervisor needs to hear from you as to why moving to the next level is deserved and justified. Often times we don’t plant the seed early enough. Make your desire for advancement known. It’s a bold, and even uncomfortable move for some people, but it shows initiative and commitment.
  • Make sure bonus percentage and salary increase are in line with your performance.Many supervisors routinely ask their direct reports to self-evaluate. This is ideal, and to your advantage. Be honest in the evaluation and highlight accomplishments as well as skills you want to improve. Detail study/project documents to help support your facts are necessary. When you meet to discuss with management, be ready with additional information highlighting past projects and campaigns. In that meeting, you are selling yourself.
  • Staying connected on social media sites (e.g., LinkedIN, Twitter, etc) are more inclined towards business. When convenient, pick up the phone, have a conversation with people you trust, and/or want to get to know. People need people You will glean new information and it will be good to know. Make the time to network.

And finally, in the game of golf there is a saying, “commit to the shot”. When golfers do this, the outcome is likely better. If you are focused, and have gathered your info, go ahead and follow through. Seldom do impulses work long term. Gather your facts, and commit to the shot!

Make it Count!

Steve Kane, President

PharmaOne Search, LLC

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In today’s work environment, the pace can be grueling. You work long and hard. Sometimes the list of responsibilities never seems to end. You wonder what happened to the joy and satisfaction you once dreamed of. Juggling “everything” has left little margin to think through whether you are doing what energizes you at work, and if you are satisfied with your life away from work.

Fortunately, you can discover how to make choices and changes towards rewarding work and personal time that renews you.

A Career Coach can help you expand your career footprint in areas of job satisfaction, compensation, and promotion opportunities, with proven methods to use and build new channels of success.

How will a Career Coach work with you towards this? By partnering with you to:

  • Clarify your top priority
  • Bring your desired outcome into clear focus
  • Identify the challenges and mindsets that limit you and replace it with the mindset you need for growth
  • Establish realistic personal and business goals and the near- and long-term solutions to support them
  • Develop clear action plans that build self-confidence and motivation towards a richer life

Take the step to learn more about how to invest in yourself and your future. Sign up for a FREE 20-minute no-pressure discovery phone call with me personally on my calendar link below:
https://calendly.com/steve-kane-coaching-1/zoom-intro-q-a-call?back=1&month=2022-10

I’ll listen to what’s important for you and offer some thoughts about how an individualized career plan might help you achieve what you’ve longed for.

Make the appointment now. This will be well worth your time.

Best, Steve

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“Talent scarcity” is the new buzz word when it comes to hiring, and it’s truer in 2022 more than ever.

When it comes to hiring, candidates meeting nearly 100% of the job requirements, and settling for nothing less can be utterly frustrating. The reality is you may be waiting quite a long time. My recommendation? Consider candidates with unique qualities (in addition to tangible industry skills) more so than waiting for someone who checks ALL the boxes before making a formal offer. Reasons for this strategy are outlined in an article I wrote last year about candidate qualifications versus their availability for hire, (Check it out here: The Most Qualified Candidate Is Not Always Your Best Candidate).

A year later, that strategy may in fact be more attractive given the amount of time, effort, and energy HR departments expend recruiting competent and available candidates.

So what now? Do you keep consistent and wait for the right person to apply? Do you engage a recruiting firm to assist in the process? Will your hiring manager be willing to wait a little longer for the “right fit”? All legit questions in a candidate-driven job market where the ideal candidate may have 1-2 other offers being considered.

Here are 3 solutions for overcoming the elusive perfect-candidate dilemma:

  1. Develop Candidate Relationships

This practice takes time, and time is not necessarily on your side when a job opening is–well, still open. Your HR team should be on the phone, sending emails and even a text or two to continue the communication bridge of establishing that all-important link to build credibility and confidence with the candidate pool.

Often, passive candidates become active candidates. If HR and Talent Acquisition team members are not systematically making targeted calls (emails, messages, texts) each week, start now. Relationships are a useful entry into developing trust and credibility.

 

  1. Contact an Experience Recruiting Agency

According to industry research, HR departments are now leaning on these recruiting firms to hire highly sought after talent more than ever.

You may be thinking: “Why use recruiting firms when I have a Talent Acquisition team in-house?’ These recruiting firms have individual career relationships built over many years. They can locate (through intelligence research and other very targeted resources) qualified candidates and how best to get them to respond. Here at PharmaOne Search we have a database of over 9300 subscribers that we communicate with quarterly to inform of new position openings and communicate industry trends.

 

  1. Use Market Analytics and Insights

So much of the pharma/biotech industry is rich in data. Data drives most strategy decisions. For the more experienced pharma HR departments, the analytics are being implemented as an effective sourcing tool, ranking applicants based on qualifications met to further qualify internal talent mobility.

The benefits are:

  • time savings for HR
  • increased productivity
  • increased quality hires
  • better utilizing existing talent databases

 

All sounds high tech, and it is! But not all HR depts. have accessibility to these AI-driven sourcing tools which is another reason to use a qualified recruiting agency that uses data tools, as well as relationships, to help find qualified individuals with both speed and accuracy.

Let PharmaOne Search make that a reality. Contact us today.

Make it Count!

———————————————–

Steve Kane

PharmaOne Search, LLC

803.230.7484

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A candidate-driven market is surfacing again. And if you thought the candidate market was challenging pre-pandemic, experts are predicting 2021 will be one of the toughest to find top-tier talent the pharma/biotech industry. We agree.

But intentional hiring in the pharma/biotech space is gaining momentum! It’s a welcome sign of good things to come. We are hearing clients are much more aggressive in posting new job openings, even during the summer months.

We are also witnessing commercial side job postings (catching up vs clinical job postings) on a steady upward rise from stagnation over the past 18 months due to Covid-19. So far, a sustainable mode of activity is in the works.

So with increased job postings you would think candidates are applying and anxious to pursue a new position with a new company? Not exactly. Even with access to some of the best real-time job opening databases available, there has been a lull in applications for these new openings. But why?

With all the unsettledness, what are some effective strategies to land the evasive “top-tier” candidates for your organization? Here are four areas you must consider:

  1. Face the fact there is competition for your best candidate(s).

Compensation (mainly salaries) have not adjusted to the shortage of candidates. We continue to recommend if you find and interview someone who is really ideal for the job, move to hire and offer quickly with a very attractive, yet competitive salary.

 

  1. Be flexible. Candidates are requiring remote-based, work from home opportunities to consider a job change.

The pandemic has changed our lives and our work. It wasn’t long ago that everyone’s job was at risk. And in prior years, 4 days inside the walls of an office per week was the norm. But now the trend is work from home – provided efficiency and productivity is maximized. So offer that flexibility as part of the job description. Candidates are looking for that option.

 

  1. Relocation can be a non-starter for top-tier candidates.

Two income families, and other personal factors, are very common in the workplace so being open to offer the new position remotely is a good strategy for new hires. Some companies allow for up to 2 years before actually having to relocate. Be creative. Adapt to whatever HR policy allows (with some exceptions) to land the new candidate.

 

  1. Demand is up for recruiters assisting both clients and candidates.

When you combine all the above factors, it makes sense to use trusted and well experienced recruiters for advice, coaching, and strategy. If recruiting firms can maintain the personalized service while delivering qualified candidates in a timely fashion, then the frustration of finding top talent will be lessened and the process streamlined dramatically. Top industry recruiters have a strong following. Use the ones who know you best!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How many times have you heard hiring managers say; “Gotta hire the most qualified candidate. Can’t take any chances.” In an era of accountability, many hiring managers count on the least likely candidate to fail. It’s a safe bet—protecting how senior management perceives your hiring skills in identifying a great hire versus mediocre one.

Every hiring manager wants to make the best selection possible, ensuring new employees that stand out and add value. When a new hire turns out to be a star employee, everybody wins and the company propels forward. When the opposite occurs, a cloud of doubt hovers over the hiring manager with questionable skills and competencies to recognize future top-tier talent.

As recruiting consultants to many of the top industry pharma clients, we have interviewed and placed hundreds of candidates over the years. Clients value our resources and recommendations, recognizing the right candidate for the right job.

Let us share some secret ingredients you can focus on for being the right fit:

  1. Measure your intangibles along with qualifications – Meeting 100% of the job requirements is certainly the goal, but measuring and evaluating your intangibles like personality, attitude, motivation, and connection to other people are just as important. These skills rise to the top for long term success.

 

  1. Is the new opportunity a step up or lateral move? – In this challenging hiring environment, a candidate needs to evaluate the intermediate and long-term career growth potential. In prior years, the rule of thumb was never take a new job unless there is a title promotion. Not any longer. Titles are mixed and can mean different levels of responsibilities across different companies. That’s why defining the role and asking specific questions about the role are important as you decide to pursue an opportunity or not.

 

  1. Hone your virtual interview skills – 85-90% of first-time interviews are now virtual due to Covid. First impressions still matter, even on a computer screen. There is much to master in today’s virtual interview prep, but the short answer is practice, practice, practice. Ask a friend or colleague to evaluate how you come across on screen. Do a Zoom call with someone an hour or two before the actual interview. It will calm you down and increase your confidence to have some practice before the real deal. Try it. You’ll be glad you did.

 

Meeting job requirements are important. I don’t want to downplay experience and qualifications for the potential job. But take a step back. Even though you may not meet the job requirements, your approach and preparation along with thinking through these tips will always give you a better chance of landing the job. Make it count.

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2020 has been quite the year. It’s becoming a common question not only in business circles but as a casual conversation topic amongst family and friends (often via Zoom!): “How long will this pandemic go on?”

The future is starting to look brighter from a business perspective. The reopening of many states is slowly but steadily unfolding. We are trying to get back to a sense of normalcy, balancing work and family decisions, staying healthy and safe. I have spoken to many of you who want to figure out whether to make a move or just stay put for fear of uncertainty in the job market. It is difficult to get into a mindset of what to do next right now.

But not to panic. These uncertain times doesn’t mean you should put your aspirations on hold. There are many attractive positions out there and companies are still in an active mode of recruiting – they are looking to grow and thrive, and need talented folks to make that happen. Don’t wait. Keep focused, stay positive, act and think like a leader. Pursue a range of possible opportunities. Investigate that dream job you see posted. You have options, see where they lead!

Here are 3 actions to take now to propel your career growth:

  • Evaluate all department opportunities within your group. If you seem stuck in your current position, look at the “total job” first. Has it changed in the past 4-5 months? If so, measure what the job will look like in the next 6-12 months. Do you like what you see ahead? We’re all experiencing various stages of discouragement, rejection, and missing out on the normal routine of the past. The future can be just as uncertain in the best of times too. So it makes sense to open yourself up to new opportunities and keep yourself resilient to future change ahead—be it within your own company or outside.
  • Consider what your next planned promotion should be, based on your last performance evaluation. This is key. Normally your supervisor needs to hear from you as to why moving to the next level is deserved. Yes, you can plant a seed of pursuing the next promotion from your home office by keeping connected with your boss, preferably a virtual face-to-face. Remember, “out of sight, out of mind” applies even when working from home. Bypass the email or text message. Get on the video when talking with your boss. Visuals are memorable.

It’s easy to think because of the pandemic there is no need to get on the radar for that next level promotion. Wrong. Internal promotions are moving right along so don’t hesitate. Make yourself and your intentions known up front about that next career step. It shows initiative.

  • Reconnect with contacts outside your company and in the industry. It’s easy to think social distancing is not a great moment for building and extending your network. But with more people than ever communicating online, it could be a good chance to reconnect with old contacts too. Some studies suggest distant connections (old college friends, roommates, past colleagues) are often better places to offer you new perspectives and honest advice than your nearest and dearest trusted family and close friends. Make a bold move and pick up the phone and ask, “hey, any new positions in your company?” Yes, it could feel awkward but just reconnecting and telling stories of good times past could be all it takes to rekindle that relationship and put you on the radar for new opportunities and connections.

Especially now, you could be in one of two places in life: moving forward or stuck-in-a-rut. Which one are you in? Take small steps forward to advance your career—even in an unprecedented year of challenges. Make it count!