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Specialty Pharma Firm Reimagines Recruitment

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.