Power Recruiting

Effectively Hire the Best Talent in Your Industry

Diana Y. Ji

• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781631952319
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology & Healthcare Industry
• Index: Business

Power Recruiting unfolds the mystery of how to effectively recruit in the biopharma industry.

Diana Y. Ji is the founder and president of Bongene Search, an executive search firm dedicated to handling critical talent search needs in the biopharma industry. In Power Recruiting, she brings her twenty years of experience in corporate talent acquisition and executive search fields to teach hiring managers and recruiting professionals:

• The key to finding top talents and getting them onboard
• How to identify a good hire and avoid the bad ones
• The best strategies to make their company more attractive to potential hires
• Guarantee a successful hire every time
• Tips to getting ahead in the hiring game

CHAPTER 1

SIMON’S FRUSTRATION

Simon is an energetic vice president of clinical development at Genetec Bio Science (GBS), a promising biotech company based out of Boston. He joined the company in late 2018 to lead a robust clinical development organization. GBS was established in 2008 with a vision to become a key player in the rare diseases area in order to serve patients’ unmet needs. Simon was recruited to this newly created role from New Jersey after a successful stint at another biotech company, where he served for eight years as the director of clinical development. Simon was referred by a colleague he used to work with who had become the head of the procurement at GBS. The interview process went quite smoothly, and the GBS team was impressed by Simon’s leadership skills and experience in global clinical development across all phases of drug development.

Generally speaking, Simon’s new role at GBS checked all the boxes of what his ideal career would be: it was at a rapidly growing company with a great vision set forth by its founders, he was working with a highly talented team with a nimble organizational structure, and he had the autonomy to make decisions to shape his team. He was also part of the senior leadership team and able to influence the direction of the company.

After settling in for a few months at GBS, things were going in the direction Simon envisioned. The founder and president had a superior business background and set forth an exemplary vision for the company. Though quite demanding, Simon’s boss was also a good listener and supportive of Simon’s work. Additionally, the people at GBS were amazing. Simon interacted with a lot of senior staff members in research and development, and they all seemed to be extremely bright. Ninety percent of the scientists on his team had PhDs, and some of them had graduated from top schools. Simon was really inspired by working with them.

Though the company did not have any FDA-approved drugs yet, the results of early clinical development seemed quite positive. Employee morale was quite high, as was the energy at the workplace. People talked positively about the culture of the company, their managers, and their peers. Rare disease was one of the areas Simon wanted to focus on in his career, as he really hoped that by doing so, he would make a bigger impact in patients’ lives. The company’s direction, science, and vision all made Simon’s daily work life fun to experience.

On the other hand, Simon faced a lot of challenges. Since the company was a pretty flat organization, he had quite a large team reporting directly to him. So, he worked with his HR business partner to redesign the team structure. A few years ago, the clinical development team was primarily using contractors and vendors to provide services. Over the past year or two, however, he converted most of the contractors to permanent employees. Simon had five direct reports, all at director to senior director levels, most of whom were promoted from within. These directors did not have extensive managerial experience when they started with GBS, but they gained that from working their way up.

Facing the company’s rapid growth, over the next two years, Simon expected more of these employees to continue to step up and develop new skill sets quickly. But Simon felt that his managers lacked strong managerial experience. The scope of the responsibilities under certain directors was still quite narrow, compared to what Simon used to seeing from his previous company.

Beginning in 2019, Simon was approved for five full-time headcounts at the director level, but only three were hired. Out of those three, Simon got a resignation from one of them, who received a fantastic VP offer at a startup company in California. He was one of Simon’s key senior directors, and it was really hard to see him leave when he was such a crucial employee.

The three new senior-level positions on Simon’s team, in addition to the other continuing challenges from the business end, put a strain on the team’s resources. In the senior leadership meetings that Simon attended, the company confirmed it had an ambitious growth plan. It would increase its clinical development by another 80 percent in 2019 and expected to have its first drug approved by late 2020 or 2021. In other words, Simon’s team would continue to expand at least another 40 to 50 percent in the next two years, adding three or more director-level positions in 2020. Simon needed to hire at least two senior directors of clinical development and one director of clinical operations, in addition to other mid-level managers on his team.

“Where can I find these people?” Simon asked himself during his short coffee break between his morning meetings. “And where can I find them quickly, by March of this year?” He paused and frowned.

No doubt, Simon was concerned about recruiting. This was not his area of expertise, yet his organizational goals would be very much affected by whether he could staff the right people and onboard them quickly.

Simon was a bit frustrated about the previous year’s recruiting results as well. Not only was this not his area of expertise, but he did not feel he had much time for recruiting. Simon’s calendar was typically booked up with meetings and business travel up to two weeks in advance. For example, this morning alone he attended four meetings, including a meeting with the project development team and a senior leadership meeting with the CEO. Simon knew that HR called him at different times, and he still needed to find a time to reply back to them.

Simon had a dedicated talent acquisition specialist and HR business partner supporting the clinical development department. They were both pleasant to work with and had rich experience with HR and recruiting in the biopharma industry. He trusted them, and he expected them to take care of finding the talent. If Simon were asked what areas of the hiring process he would change, he would probably say that he wished to review higher-quality résumés and interview candidates he really liked, not spend time with candidates that he wasn’t really excited about.

With twenty-five years of experience in biopharma and twenty years of leadership experience, Simon also knew that yes, he was judgmental. He expected to only interview the best candidates within his busy schedule, and he expected the people he brought on to complement what he had already assembled on his team. He wanted these candidates to have a strong passion for what the company did (rare diseases) and be energized and motivated by working in a smaller company. He wanted to see candidates who not only focused on short-term gains but also aimed for long-term growth. Simon wanted to see talents who were the top stars at their current companies, the most driven, talented, and energized talents that almost every hiring manager dreams of. Above all these, he expected candidates to come in sooner rather than later for the interviews. He expected candidates he really liked—like the one he met with last month—to accept the GBS offer in the end. In Simon’s ideal world, these expectations would all be met.

In reality, Simon received ten résumés from HR since his five positions opened up within a month. This wasn’t bad; however, after reading the résumés carefully, Simon did not want to interview some of them, and some candidates he did want to interview backed out and got different offers from other biotech companies. After two months, Simon ended up interviewing three people, and bringing two on-site. One was really good, and one was disappointing after the face-to-face meeting.

The candidate Simon really liked was not approved of by everyone. Some of the people on the interview panel expressed concerns, but Simon went ahead and extended an offer anyway. After two rounds of offer negotiation with HR (adding an additional three weeks in the process), the candidate turned down the final offer and decided to work for another company.

Simon’s reality was three months of searching and no hires. Simon was quite disappointed. He realized that he needed to start the recruiting process all over again with HR. His extensive business travels throughout September and October, and the holiday seasons in November and December, didn’t make it easy. Without a doubt, Simon wished for a good recruitment year. This was the year Simon would be focusing on building his team and establishing his leadership.

Simon thought about the need to recruit candidates for a few seconds while drinking his coffee, rang HR, and left a voicemail. Everyone was busy in the company—there was never idle time—but he needed to keep moving forward with recruiting.

With that, Simon started a new email to his HR talent acquisition specialist, Jennifer, and copied his HR business partner, Kevin.

Subject: Recruiting for 2020

Jennifer and Kevin,

Happy 2020!

I would like to schedule a meeting together to kick off our recruiting in 2020. Let’s brainstorm how we can meet our staffing needs. As last updated in December 2019, we still have two remaining positions and one recent resignation. When we have our headcount approved next week, my reserved estimate is about fifteen for my department this year by then.

How soon we can meet up to discuss?

Regards,

Simon

Five minutes later, Simon got an email from Jennifer and Kevin:

Simon,

Happy New Year!

Love to meet, and we definitely have new ideas to propose. Let’s meet this afternoon, if you are available, 4—5 p.m.

Jennifer and Kevin

With the kick-off meeting between business, recruiting, and HR set, 2020 recruiting at GBS has turned to a new chapter. Simon is looking forward to the meeting and envisions shaking hands with his new team members in the coming months. His team needs people, and together, they have big goals to accomplish this year.

CHAPTER 2

MY JOURNEY AS A RECRUITER TO BONGENE SEARCH

When I was in my early twenties, one of the hardest decisions I faced was choosing a profession. I always wanted to be a journalist, as I loved to write and liked to connect with people. However, my education did not really provide me with the tools and background required to become a journalist. So, I got into HR, and then recruiting later, without a plan; in retrospect, all the dots connected and led to the path that I am taking today.

Upon graduating from Zhongshan University in Guangdong, China, as an English major, I submitted my résumé through campus recruiting to the Walmart Asia headquarters, Shenzhen office, in the spring of 2000. After a few rounds of interviews, I received an offer as a management trainee in their HR department, a field that I almost blindly chose. At that time, I was preparing for my GRE exam to apply for graduate school in the United States. I did not think I would work in China for a long time but, rather, just wanted to find a job to support myself while I worked on the graduate school application. I also thought that working would help me figure out what I was good at and would ultimately help me decide what kind of jobs I should stick to. However, those three years working in China turned out to be one of the most worthwhile experiences in my career and my life.

The Walmart Asia headquarters started its management trainee program around 1999, three years after the corporation established its business entity in China, to meet the increasing need for well-trained management talent. I selected HR as my first choice department because I thought I would really enjoy working with people, even though I didn’t know exactly what human resources meant at the time. Luckily enough, the HR department also selected me, and I became one of their four management trainees.

The HR management trainee program at Walmart was a fantastic experience. We spent six months in corporate and at stores learning about the business, helping with HR programs, talking to associates, and greeting Walmart customers. Even today, I remember Walmart cheers and the clapping hands ritual employees did to boost the energy when they got together and planned to start a meeting. Walmart has a strong culture, and it was a great example of how people and business can link together and form a legendary company.

After six months of the business rotational program with Walmart, I started my first HR specialist role in employee relations and then was later asked to help with recruiting. I was my manager’s right-hand person, and I was a fast learner. I quickly learned to conduct interviews and always recommended the right people for the job. In my first year, our team hired a few hundred employees. The company quickly expanded in China and recruiting talent was the number-one HR priority.

After two years working in corporate HR, I wanted to try something different. At the time, the field of executive searching and recruiting was just starting out in China, and there were not many experienced professionals in the field yet. Naturally curious, I decided to give it a try, so I joined a new, internet-based recruiting company as part of its newly created executive-retained search team.

I remember my boss, David, interviewed me in his office after the end of my workday. I was offered the job on the spot and started working three weeks later. My role at the time was not only to recruit for senior-level talent but also to find clients who needed top talent. I had no book or instructions on how to do this kind of work, so I relied on my own research, starting with one cold-call client and developing our list from there. I just focused on one client at a time while making sure that I gave them the best service, and they kept hiring me and referring me to other people in the industry.

In no time, I grew my recruiting business steadily and quickly.

The business was 100 percent retained, and my new clients asked, “How can I trust you when we have not worked with you and we are asked to pay the retainer up front?”

Instead of answering them directly, I asked them what they really wanted and then explained how I thought I could help. I remember there was a client who needed an Asia-Pacific finance director and the role had been open for three months. He wanted someone with very strong leadership experience across Asia-Pacific markets in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) field. I related my Walmart recruiting experience to this and convinced the vice president at the time to hire us. I worked day and night for that search and contacted more than one hundred finance directors in Shenzhen and nearby cities.

At that time, there was no LinkedIn or any other authoritative database, so I researched all the major CPG companies and mapped out their finance directors’ information. Oftentimes their profiles were not public due to the nature of their roles. Throughout the entire sourcing and recruiting process, I visualized this director of finance working in his office and the ideal talent that I should pursue. To this day, this visualization process is the start of all my searches. It gives me unwavering confidence that the top talent can be identified and hired.

Back to that particular search—through my har...