If You Want To Recruit Top Talent – Take A Personal Approach

By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @RfwrightLSL

By  Rob Wright

I recently interviewed two executives for stories in Life Science Leader magazine. Both had something in common to which they attribute their success – surrounding themselves with top talent. How do they do it? Believe it or not, some of this comes down to the personal connection, or as I like to say, one’s “gut feel.” When I was a hiring manager in the pharmaceutical industry, I tried to find people that had the “It” factor. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but my gut was telling me that they had “It”. A lot of this came about through my personal review of resumes, phone screens, interviews, and from me calling references —- not delegating the task to someone who would not have to deal with a bad hire. Successful companies and successful people realize the importance of attracting and retaining top talent. So how can they do this? Take more of a personalized approach.

How to Recruit Top Talent
Last year I was laid off. During my career transition, I utilized a variety of search methods including, networking, job fairs, online search, recruiters, and classifieds. What I found consistent —- especially in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology industries —- no matter the method utilized to uncover the position, the majority of companies require the completion of an online application and usually some standardized test. Most of these forms have required fields which don’t allow for much, if any, explanation. For example, desired or previous salary requires a number. Most don’t have a spot for explaining a willingness to negotiate. Once you have completed this process, you will receive the standardized email from the “do not reply” mailbox which basically indicates, don’t call us, we’ll call you. Don’t hold your breath.
Ok, I get it. Big pharmaceutical companies try to streamline the hiring process because of the sheer volume of resumes they receive. However, this impersonal approach is not a best practice when it comes to truly attracting top talent. Many of the websites I went to were so cumbersome and non-user friendly, I would imagine many folks giving up before completing the process. I have heard hiring sales managers use the excuse that if the person really wants the job, they will be persistent. They want to see this quality in a salesperson. Conversely, I have heard others who express annoyance with the overly persistent candidate. This came from managers within the same company and represents the communication of a mixed message to potential recruits. If you want to hire top talent, take more of a personal approach and get involved in the hiring process. Don’t make the process akin to the quest for the Holy Grail. If you are going to be working closely with the person, don’t leave the initial screening process up to someone in the HR department. I once learned that lesson the hard way, showing up to conduct interviews with a pool of unqualified candidates. If you want a person to change, you have to start with changing yourself. If you want to recruit top talent, you need to take a different approach — a more personal approach.

The Right Hire
I had the opportunity to meet Patrick Ropella, author of “The Right Hire.” His book lays out the steps for recruiting and hiring top talent. In the third chapter, Ropella discusses the components of building an effective employment brand and how to brand to attract high performers. One tip that really hit home with me was on p. 68, “Provide every employee with an arsenal of information and stories they can share with colleagues, candidates, and in the media about what makes working for your organization the best possible opportunity.” This is the personal approach I mentioned. Recruiting top talent should be everyone’s job. As such, it needs to be built into a company’s corporate culture, one of the key components to effective employment branding. Nowhere did I see Ropella advocate making the process impersonal and difficult. What message about your company’s corporate culture does your hiring process communicate?