This article is part of the “Job search tips” series.
Businesses everywhere are feeling the strain from staffing shortages. In the healthcare industry, it’s even worse. Pharmaceutical staffing shortages can be disastrous for our community’s overall health because it means we may not have the right kind of people working in the highly skilled or trained jobs that we need them to be in.
If you’re in pharmaceuticals, you’ve probably felt the strain of staffing shortages and as a result, you, and your coworkers have had to pick up the slack tenfold. I know firsthand how much of a struggle staffing shortage can be in regular business but in the pharmaceutical industry, it’s ten times worse.
If you’re a boss, you’re probably already stretched thin to trying to make sure the same amount of work gets done with half the staff you actually need. You may not have much time to go over applicants carefully and efficiently as you would have been able to do before. This is where pharmaceutical recruiters can take some of the weight off your shoulders.
Pharmaceutical recruiters
Pharmaceutical recruiters are individuals who find highly skilled and knowledgeable individuals looking for a job and pharmaceutical companies with job openings, together. Basically, they verify potential candidates and determine whether or not they would be a good fit for the roles you need to be filled in your company.
If you’re the one looking for a job, then they can help you find jobs in your specialty far easier than you would be looking online. They’re the ones with all the connections. All they have to do is pull from their roster and find you something that matches everything you’re looking for.
Think of them as an ambassador for the job seeker the company looking to hire. They want what’s best for both candidates so they tend to match companies with the best fit. How do they do this?
By asking questions. They want to get to know the company they’re working for, the job positions open, what kind of candidates the company is seeking, and who each candidate is as a person as they meet them. It can take time for recruiters to find good candidates for jobs, but their job isn’t to just fill the position. It’s to fill the right position. Some jobs they can help place job seekers in can be found within this list: https://www.topmastersinhealthcare.com/faq/what-jobs-are-available-in-the-pharmaceuticals-industry/
There are a few things you need to be wary of when it comes time to work with a recruiter as both an employer and an employee.
Payment
If you’re an employer using a recruiter to find job candidates, then you should expect to pay a recruiter a fee. Fees differ from each recruiter, but you should know that you pay recruiters based on certain milestones or criteria set about in your contract. If a pharmaceutical recruiter asks for money upfront or asks to be paid a salary, then that’s a huge red flag.
If you’re an employee looking for work and are approached by a recruiter, you shouldn’t pay them at all. It’s important that if they say something like “I have this job you might be good for. I’ll set up an interview for a short fee,” then you shouldn’t interact with them anymore. It’s a sign that they’re trying to scam you or double-dip. The only time a recruiter should be paid is by the employer based on whatever agreement they decided upon.
Loyalty
Just because a recruiter is working for a pharma company and not at an independent firm working on behalf of the company, doesn’t necessarily make it a negative. As long as they’re transparent about their employment, you should be fine. Recruiters want what’s best for the company they work for so they won’t try to force you into a job that isn’t a good fit for you because you won’t be a good fit for the company.
Knowledge
Pharmaceuticals is a highly complex industry. Education is extremely important for those working in the industry. Individuals go through years of schooling and train in specialties to gain complex expertise in specific fields of study.
A recruiter needs to have some background knowledge of what it is their employers do so they can better assist in finding candidates. I’m not saying that they need to have a pharmaceutical degree, but they should be able to properly pitch the job opening to potential hires.
This helps both the employer and the employee. An employee will have a better understanding of what the job is based on what the recruiter says and the employer will have better candidates as a result. It’s a win-win for both parties.
Experience
This goes hand in hand with the knowledge portion of this. If you’re an employer working with a recruiter who has zero experience working within the pharmaceutical industry, then that’s a problem. As I said before, Pharmaceuticals is a complex field and the employee’s a company needs to hire have to be specialized as well. If they don’t know what they’re doing they could bring in potential job seekers who aren’t good candidates for the job in question.
This doesn’t just waste the employer’s time; it also wastes the potential candidate’s time. As both an employee and an employer, you should ask the recruiter about their previous work. If they’ve worked to find candidates in the pharmaceutical industry before and have had success, then you know they have some experience backing them up.
The good news is there are a lot of experienced recruiters out there who know what they’re doing and how to find potential job seekers. Recruiters with experience use a wide range of methods to find the perfect candidates. Click here for some of the methods recruiters use to find experienced job seekers.
Recruiters are a great way for both employers and job seekers to connect with each other. They only want what’s best for the company that hired them and the job seekers they bring in for the interviews. If you’re someone looking to fill positions at your pharmaceutical company or a job seeker looking for your next career move, look no further than a pharmaceutical recruiter.
