The challenge

Our partner had been trying to directly source candidates for a head of clinical operations role without success for 3 months, and after establishing a relationship with our team, we were approached to support them with their search. They needed someone who had experience working in disease areas that posed similar operational challenges to its own, and the exact experience required was extremely niche because it needed to include line management and strategic capabilities. This meant that the candidate pool was very narrow from which to highlight and engage suitable candidates. Cultural values were also of great importance to our partner, as this role would then go on to build a team, and so the candidate had to align with our partner’s unique ethos.

The solution

We implemented a clear structure and timeframe for the recruitment process, and committed to identifying a small selection of highly qualified candidates. We also asked our partner to commit to set deadlines, to ensure expectations were aligned on both sides and allowed the process to run seamlessly. Our specialist team ran a pan-European search, and conducted extensive talent mapping to identify candidates that were technically suitable, using both our existing network and headhunting tools such as LinkedIn Recruiter. We submitted a shortlist of 6 candidates to our partner, all of whom were interviewed.

The outcome

Following collaboration with us, a successful hire was made, with the candidate choosing the opportunity over another as the efficiency and structure of the process made a lasting impression on the candidate.

The project was delivered within 6 weeks and within budget.

We have successfully placed candidates across multiple divisions, and are now exclusively continuing to build our partner’s clinical operations team across Europe.