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Author: amanda

Leading Biopharma Company Creates a Cost-Efficient R&D Recruiting Solution

Written by amanda on . Posted in Blog, Customer Stories.

Client Challenge

The HR team for one of the world’s top biopharmaceutical companies was having difficulty balancing increased demand for recruiting with their already heavy workloads. As a result, hiring managers were going to multiple agencies to service their staffing needs. As expenses grew, the client decided a more controlled and cost-effective approach was necessary.

The company selected DoubleStar to co-design and execute a pilot RPO to determine how it might work in their environment.

Our Solution

After reviewing a number of service providers, the client selected DoubleStar to conduct an RPO pilot in one of their most challenging areas: R&D. DoubleStar worked closely with the Senior Director for R&D Recruiting to plan, structure, and implement a 12-month project with a specific focus on difficult-to-fill R&D positions.

The project was implemented in three phases:

Phase I – Planning and Initial Rollout

  • DoubleStar worked in partnership with our client to understand current hiring needs and likely future demand to size the project.
  • Based on the positions assigned to DoubleStar, a project team was deployed with strong experience recruiting for biotechnology organizations.
  • DoubleStar helped fine-tune recruitment processes, such as improving utilization of an applicant-tracking system and implementing new sourcing and screening techniques to identify viable candidates more quickly and accurately.
  • DoubleStar introduced recruitment metrics that helped the organization better understand recruiting effectiveness.

Phase II – Assuming Day-to-Day Recruiting Responsibilities

  • The client moved the entire recruiting process to DoubleStar, including directly interfacing with Hiring Managers without HR involvement.
  • The client and DoubleStar assigned project leaders to manage the recruiting relationship and ensure all service-level agreements were met.
  • Fine-tuning opportunities were identified and changes made to enhance process effectiveness.

Phase III – Transition from Pilot to Steady State

  • Once demand levels became more predictable, DoubleStar adjusted the project team to a more flexible model to accommodate fluctuating needs.
  • DoubleStar assigned a permanent project team to support a long-term recruiting solution.
  • Other areas of the company were added.
  • Formal project milestones were established, and periodic reporting/metrics were implemented.

Business Impacts

Following a successful RPO pilot, the client is fully engaged in a long-term RPO relationship, and other divisions have come on board. Benefits include:

  • Cost-per-hire reduction by more than $5,000 per hire in R&D
  • Elimination of at least $250,000 in annual agency spend
  • Creation of a centralized, efficient, and coordinated recruitment effort for R&D
  • Achievement of positive client satisfaction survey results indicating the pilot was a success
  • Development of a database of R&D candidates for future use
  • Provision of a scalable recruitment solution that can expand or contract depending on the client’s business needs

Global Pharma Company Identifies & Hires 60 Sales Reps in Record Time

Written by amanda on . Posted in Customer Stories.

Client Challenge

An unexpected increase in demand for new products created an immediate staffing need for a leading generic pharmaceutical company. To capture the market opportunity, the company needed an instant expansion of its US field sales force. The goal: hire 60 new sales reps and regional managers throughout the US and enroll them in pre-scheduled sales training classes within 8 weeks.

Our Solution

DoubleStar partnered with the client’s HR and sales leadership to develop a detailed recruiting project plan to meet their time and cost requirements. We assigned our team of recruiters and sourcers with extensive sales force expansion experience and created regionally focused teams to attack the roles by specific geographies.

Our solution included these components:

  • Researching/sourcing all candidates by using multiple planned sourcing initiatives
  • Coordinating all facets of the interview process, including scheduling, resume and interview summary distribution, and logistics
  • Attending on-site interview days to manage and/or participate in interviews as an additional voice/decision-maker
  • Conducting debriefing sessions with hiring managers at the completion of interview days
  • Executing and documenting reference checks, background checks, and drug screening on selected candidates
  • Extending and assisting in closing verbal offers
  • Coaching managers on best practices during the process

DoubleStar’s solution resulted in the filling of all 60 positions within 8 weeks at a cost below $3,000 per hire.

Business Impacts

The cost savings on this project were significant, estimated to be at least $400,000 compared to the company’s traditional recruiting methods. But the business impact was even more significant. Because the positions were filled on time and with the right talent, our client was able to increase market share and secure new relationships with hospitals and physician groups faster than their competitors. In addition, the client received over 9,500 candidates that we identified during the sourcing process that they will use in subsequent recruiting efforts. Finally, we left behind our methodology for running this project so that the client can replicate it in the future using their own staff, if they desire.

Specialty Pharma Firm Reimagines Recruitment

Written by amanda on . Posted in Customer Stories.

Client Challenge

A publicly traded specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the research, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of prescription pharmaceutical products wanted to find a cost-effective Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) partner that could manage:

  • Full lifecycle sales recruitment and strategy
  • Candidate generation and identification
  • Talent database development
  • Applicant tracking
  • Metric reporting
  • On-boarding of new hires

The recruitment efforts were to focus on identifying and hiring top pharmaceutical sales talent for two associated companies. DoubleStar was selected to provide a customized RPO approach that offered a cost-effective, high-impact solution tailored to this client’s specific needs.

Our Solution

DoubleStar’s analysis of the organization’s recruiting needs suggested that combining and centralizing the divisional recruiting efforts for all sales roles nationwide would produce the most efficient and effective result. This required DoubleStar to assist in defining a single recruiting process that would address the needs of multiple sales forces and to provide an automated solution using a Web-based ATS.

In addition, DoubleStar implemented a customized, tiered RPO solution as follows:

  • Developed a comprehensive Recruitment Plan that mapped the entire project operation, roles and responsibilities, and expected budget impact
  • Developed a custom recruiting toolset for recruiters and managers to drive efficient project execution
  • Implemented a dedicated direct-sourcing effort to focus on hard-to-fill roles and geographies
  • Implemented a Comprehensive Sourcing Plan that minimized costs to acquire active and passive candidates
  • Assigned a core team of recruiters with pharmaceutical industry experience to conduct detailed interviews, document results, and consult directly to hiring managers
  • Assigned a support team to handle national scheduling and candidate care
  • Applied Coordination Design, a flex deployment model that adjusts resourcing levels based upon shifting demand targets

Business Impacts

DoubleStar’s customized RPO solution has enabled the client to maximize limited resources and respond quickly to market changes, including:

  • A cost-per-hire under $3,500 for 5 years running
  • 30-day average time-to-fill
  • A centralized, automated, scalable, solution, with increased candidate flow and shorter hiring cycles
  • Combined recruiting efforts for two separate field sales forces into one integrated solution
  • Detailed, qualified candidate database that serves as an ongoing recruiting tool
  • Reporting on talent-generation metrics, ROI, and EEO compliance

This client now has a reliable recruiting solution that can respond to hiring spikes, deliver targeted hiring initiatives in hard-to-recruit occupations/geographies, and flex to meet changing business requirements.

Global Pharma Developer Increases Interview Slate Diversity

Written by amanda on . Posted in Customer Stories.

Client Challenge

The US Division of a Global Pharmaceutical company sought to increase the representation of diverse candidates on interview slates to a minimum of 25% per slate for targeted roles. With precious few diverse candidates in the target populations, meeting this challenge would require a focused, deliberate approach.

Our Solution

In partnership with our client’s Talent Acquisition Team, DoubleStar led the development of a diversity recruiting initiative that used a combination of deep web-based research, focused sourcing, direct outreach, and disciplined screening to identify and qualify robust pools of diverse talent.

Our solution included:

  • Identification of specific targeted roles
  • Customized research and direct-sourcing initiatives for each role, including a different approach to provide candidates for current openings vs. building talent pipelines for likely future roles
  • Proactive, multichannel outreach initiatives, including cold-calling
  • Conducting detailed phone interviews to determine fit and qualifications

Business Impacts

This project was measured against very specific outcomes. The most important result is that 85% of the positions assigned to this effort now have at least a 25% diversity representation on interview slates.

Also, 200-400 qualified diversity candidates are added to our client’s talent database each month for use in future recruiting initiatives. Additionally, 250 new diverse candidates are added against current openings each month, of which 50% are moved into the hiring manager’s inbox. This means that 125 new diverse candidates are being identified each month that would not have been found using the client’s standard sourcing methods.

Fortune 100 Retailer Expands Corporate & Store Management Talent Pools

Written by amanda on . Posted in Customer Stories.

Client Challenge

The U.S. Division of a Global Retailer was falling short of its aggressive recruiting goals in critical retail-specific leadership and flagship store management roles.

Further, owing to low turnover, Division leadership felt that the group had lost touch with the external talent market in their industry and sought to develop benchmarks for talent practices among their key talent competitors.

Our Solution

DoubleStar’s Research Team partnered with our client’s HR leaders to identify target talent pools in key competitors, build targeted recruiting databases, conduct research to determine talent practices (including compensation models, promotional paths, career development opportunities, and benefits program details), and develop talent maps of competitors’ organization structures and hierarchies.

To gather this data, our team used web-based sources to identify potential candidates, executed outreach and engagement initiatives, conducted one-on-one interviews, and integrated talent information from a variety of external sources to develop the following deliverables:

  • A talent map of this client’s top 5 competitors, including org structures and complete lists of employee names and titles
  • Job descriptions and compensation structures and practices for all targeted roles
  • Talent management information for all roles and career paths
  • A recruiting database of prequalified prospective talent for use in current and future direct-recruiting initiatives

Business Impacts

Our client utilized the talent management information to adjust their employment proposition to become a more attractive destination for top talent looking to accelerate their careers. They also adjusted internal talent management practices to increase their market competitiveness, resulting in increased employee satisfaction and engagement and a decrease in annual attrition rates in key roles.

The recruiting database was used as the centerpiece of a recruiting initiative that targeted filling 30 key roles in the following 4 months. Sixty-five percent of those hires were sourced through the database, saving an estimated $450,000 in agency fees and other recruiting costs.

Acute Care Hospital Creates Targeted Direct Recruiting Initiatives

Written by amanda on . Posted in Blog, Customer Stories.

Client Challenge

An acute care hospital was having difficulty filling RN roles, and with more requisitions opening each week, they were falling further behind. They knew they needed to change their approach to their market but didn’t quite know how to attack the problem.

Our Solution

DoubleStar partnered with the client’s TA leader to analyze the problem and generate new solutions. The hospital employed about 1,800 RNs but had very little market intelligence about the remaining 4,500 RNs who lived in their county. As a first step, DoubleStar’s Talent Intelligence team developed a database of all RNs in the hospital’s county and close-in areas outside of the county. This database enabled us to create a ZIP code–specific view of the local RN population to determine RN market size by ZIP code. We then combined that data with hospital data on their current and former RN workforce.

With this data, we could determine the hospital’s market share of RNs in each ZIP code, and more importantly, how many RNs were available to be hired in each ZIP code. The hospital was able to use this information to build targeted recruiting campaigns, such as open houses, meets and greets, and outdoor advertising in new ways, knowing that their investments were highly targeted and more likely to be reaching their intended audience.

Business Impacts

Armed with a targeted list of RNs and a ZIP code–based market-share analysis of the regional RN talent market, this hospital was able to increase RN attendance at its recruiting events by 40+%, decrease its time-to-fill for RN openings by 3 weeks, and develop a pipeline of pre-qualified RN candidates for future recruiting needs.