In a recent interview we conducted, Steve Twinley, Head of Pharmaceuticals at SLS recruitment, gives his view on how candidates can stand out in a saturated market.
SLS have built a small, highly specialised pharma team – and operate somewhat differently to the standard pharma recruitment firm. Firstly, they segment the market geographically, focusing on London down to the South Coast, representing the majority of pharma and pharma related organisations in the area. Secondly, they have established a specific niche in the field of clinical trial supplies. As such SLS can find candidates from graduates to directors, positions in areas that perhaps they had never considered, but which lead to enriching roles with great security.
Interestingly, despite the economic slowdown, Twinley sees the sector as becoming more labour intensive. Where typically SLS would receive 30 CVs in the past, they are now receiving 200, and not necessarily the best CVs as some companies use recession as an excuse to offload lesser employees.
There is also increased candidate indecision, and frustrating situations where candidates are offered a job and turn it down. SLS have witnessed this increasingly as some applicants are ‘keeping an eye out’, feeling their role might be under threat of redundancy, but when it comes down to a real job offer decide to stay with what they know.
As a result, SLS are increasingly selective in exactly which candidates they choose to take on, to ensure their clients have the best chance of meeting their resource need and that their candidates receive the best service possible.
So how can a candidate stand out in this more fastidious market? From a graduate perspective, Twinley expresses frustration that candidates don’t elaborate on their CVs about what they have done.
“Most CVs show a 2:1 or 2:2 in pharmaceutical sciences, a couple of lines about the degree, and then focus on their employment history which for many graduates is bar/shop work. When you have 100s of CVs you want to know what this candidate can offer which no-one else can. It is far more compelling to give more information about relevant experience, i.e. marks acheived in each module, what projects they did, what their dissertation was about.”
And for people with experience, it seems obvious, but SLS stress CVs need to be relevant to the role applied for. Amazingly, many candidates don’t include a cover letter with their CV, and as this is the first introduction of the person to the company, such applicants will rarely get a call back. Also, cover letters are often not specific and relevant to why the applicant wants the job. In a market where people are applying for anything and everything, if a role applied for appears to be a sidestep, it is essential that the applicant explains why they want to sidestep and shows an understanding of the transferable skills needed. Clients want people who show an active interest in the role they are applying for.
The message would seem clear, job hunters need to put real effort in if they expect to get a good recruitment company representing them and interviews from that representation.
Twinley was also keen to discuss the impact of increased competition amongst recruitment firms currently:
“You see 100s (of recruitment firms) advertising in Pharma Focus. It is very saturated and for a candidate in sectors such as sales & marketing, if you post your CV on a site you will be jumped on by 20 recruitment companies within 48 hrs.”
Even though the SLS niche approach protects them from such aggressive competitors, they are increasingly noticing large recruitment firms attempting to access the 3rd party sector.
“We have come across situations where other agencies will mailshot CVs without candidate approval and also some agencies who are dropping recruitment fees.” says Twinley.
Whilst SLS are nothing if not competitive, they point out this strategy might be appropriate for short term gain, but drives down margin in the long term. The costs of providing a professional service do not change, so value will undoubtedly be compromised somewhere if fees are reduced, a factor which could jeopardise important client relationships.
Such strategies can be tough for small firms like SLS to weather and Twinley admits that 2009 has been a steadier year than high growth years such as 07/08, although putting it down to fewer roles being available rather than clients leaving.
It would seem a tough market indeed with fees being driven down, candidate overload and client expectations, however, looking to next year, Twinley is optimistic about the future for SLS:
“SLS deals with many companies offering 3rd party services and these 3rd parties are doing well as big pharma outsources more and more. The industry is obviously not going to die, but it is changing so it makes sense for people to move from big pharma and join specialist start ups, biotechs, 3rd parties providing outsource services.”
Given the SLS client base, this change in industry emphasis is likely to have a positive impact for the business going forward.
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