Have you ever noticed how in Life Sciences it’s really hard to define specific job profiles? I notice it again and again when dealing with clients who need to find out who they are looking for. But also, in my own business I come across the real difficult task to define, who my client really is. I don’t have to explain why an up-and-coming startup from the biotech scene with less than 50 employees has very different needs from a big player in the pharmaceutical industry. Rightfully so!
Job profiles and skill sets are very much in motion in Life Sciences: industries merge, new technologies arise, and people need to live up to challenges they didn’t even know, a year ago, existed. Leading to very agile and almost fluid jobs and professions. And now imagine you need to find people for these jobs!
A lot of fish
But don’t get scared! Sure, you might think: it’s so much easier to know exactly who you want to hire and find someone with the exact right profile. Usually that’s a person whose current job is just at the right point of the “career ladder” and who has tons of years of experience in the industry. Well, look at it this way: with agile job profiles you fish in a pond with a lot more fish in it!
A lot more fish may sound like a needle in a haystack, but what it really is, is a much bigger chance for diverse candidates, “out of the box” cross-industry thinking and thus more innovation and preparedness for the ever uncertain future.
The perfect hire
Of course, sometimes I would like to work in a field where jobs are just what they are and always have been. But I don’t and in the end, I don’t want to, either. Finding the right people is a very interesting process and I get in touch with a lot of different candidates with very different skills which get me in touch with more interesting opportunities and a vast and diverse network that I enjoy. So what, I can’t provide ten identical clones for a position that’s been filled a million times? The perfect hire always goes down to an individual level. And that’s necessary for jobs that require more a mindset than a skillset.
Navigating the pond
And again: when you have a more open hiring process, you have much more opportunity to find someone really great! So, navigating a bigger pond is actually a good thing and if you have someone who can fish in the right places, you might just get yourself a really good catch!
What’s your experience? Comment down below!
From: Stephan B. Breitfeld
