What is executive search?
Executive search involves using a specialist company to help you find, attract, and hire the right people to lead your business. Traditionally, it’s used to fill senior level management and c-suite roles. Within the life sciences industry executive search can help with roles such as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Chief Operations Officer (COO), Chief Business Officer (CBO), Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), and other senior and board positions.
The benefits of using an executive search partner include:
Time to hire - You can fill a senior level role vacancy more effectively, without the hassle of managing applications or screening candidates yourself. This saves you time and money while ensuring that you get the right person in place fast.
Sector expertise - A reliable and reputable executive search firm will have experience working with similar companies in the field of life sciences, so they’ll know exactly what skills are needed for each role within your organisation. They’ll also have an established network of qualified and experienced candidates to draw on, which may not be available to you.
Why do companies use Life Sciences Executive Search?
Executive search is often used when a life sciences organisation needs to fill a time sensitive or business-critical role. For instance, when there is no internal candidate available following an executive departure, or during a time of transition, such as a merger or special project. Specialist executive search professionals use a systematic process for finding, evaluating, and short-listing candidates for a specific executive position. Using a range of proven methods, like market mapping, the exec search team will identify the most suitable candidates based on their experience, skill set, and cultural fit for their client company.
By identifying potential future leaders, executive search firms help life science organisations by providing access to a large pool of experienced professionals who are not part of the company’s current workforce but may be interested in joining it. The executive search firm does this by tapping into its extensive network of life sciences industry contacts, interviewing and qualifying candidates to ensure they meet the role requirements and person specification set by their client.
How does Life Science Executive Search work?
It’s important that you have a good relationship and synergy with your exec search partner. You will work with them closely, possibly over several months. Executive search teams operate as an extension of your business to exclusively manage the senior level appointment process from start to finish, including support with onboarding.
The first thing the exec search team will want to do is really get to know your business and company culture. They will work with your senior stakeholders to clarify and align the job description briefing, timescale expectations, candidate screening and the short-listing process. This is an essential step in a smooth executive search process. By ensuring everyone agrees early on and is on the same page from the start saves time, money, and disappointment down the line.
Your executive search team should complete a comprehensive market mapping to identify all executives who potentially match the candidate criteria or person specification. Due to the sensitive nature of some senior level hires, a high level of discretion is needed, including non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). It’s worth asking your executive search partner how they will go out to the market, so you can have peace of mind that your company and the job opportunity are represented accurately and carefully to avoid any negative experiences.
To protect brand equity, it’s a good idea to understand how candidates will be managed through the selection and screening process. Ideally, you want your executive search company to follow a consultative approach, presenting a thorough appreciation of the company and opportunity, screening in line with your requirements, and providing detailed insight and guided preparation ahead of each interview stage.
Following market mapping and screening, you should be presented with a shortlist of candidates who match your requirements. Throughout the search process, you should expect to receive ongoing progress reports and have regular update meetings.
What are the benefits of using Life Sciences Executive Search?
If you’re wondering if life science executive search is right for your company, there are several benefits. It can offer a cost-effective solution, saving you time, money, and the hassle of trying to find the ideal candidate for a senior management role. Time to hire is one of the main reasons firms miss out on top talent. Working with a specialist executive search team can give you the edge. Their expertise and dedicated approach is crucial for reducing the length of the hiring process, without compromising on the quality of candidates, to help you stay ahead of the competition for top life sciences talent.
Board Development
Board development is a process of helping a board to become more effective. Developing a strong and resilient board, with unique backgrounds and experience, leads to more innovative solutions and better decision making in the boardroom. Board development programmes are often conducted by an executive search firm or other expert in the field, but they can also be done internally by an organisation’s human resources department or talent acquisition team. There are several benefits to developing a board with a wide range of skills and experience, including:
Improved decision-making
Diverse backgrounds offering different perspectives
Greater innovation when considering solutions
Advisory Roles
Advisory roles are a great way to help businesses grow. They can be temporary or permanent, and they come in many forms:
Advisory Board - A group of experts who provide specific guidance and advice on the strategic direction of an organisation, such as scientific.
Business Development Board - Selected experts providing guidance and advice on successfully scaling a company.
Corporate Advisory Board - The same as an advisory board but focused specifically on helping large corporations navigate challenges as they grow larger.
Interim Roles
Interim roles are a great way for businesses to get the help they need without having to hire someone full-time. Interim executive search provides c-suite personnel at short notice to guide clients through a rapidly evolving landscape, across growth and change management.
The flexibility and diversity that the ever-expanding life science industry affords client and candidate has always been integral to the sector and in the current global climate is more important than ever.
If you’re looking to fill a senior role within a sector of life sciences, consider choosing to work with an executive search team with experience in optimising shareholder value, scientific and commercial credibility, business strategy, legal and governance, public company readiness, M&A, and budgets and cash flow forecasting, and public company readiness.
The role is temporary and can be used as an interim solution for any number of issues, such as:
A life science start-up that needs help to get their company off the ground.
An established life science company looking to scale.
A company looking for an experienced leader to develop the business in a competitive industry.
Overlap between them; this saves money by avoiding paying multiple salaries simultaneously while still allowing flexibility within each role.
Conclusion
Executive search recruitment can be a vital process for high-achieving and ambitious life science organisations looking to hire top-level executives who can make a positive impact and drive business success. When considering working with an executive search partner, it’s important to choose someone you feel really understands your company’s culture, values, and goals, and has a comprehensive search strategy that identifies and attracts the best executive life science professionals in the industry.
By partnering with an experienced executive search firm, you can mitigate the risks associated with hiring the wrong person and ensure you’re making a sound investment in the future of your business. With the help of a life science executive search partner, you can get the right executive in place, so you can achieve your goals and drive growth and innovation in today’s competitive life sciences landscape.