Hays Life Sciences
October 2011
Hotspots
Regulatory Affairs candidates at the Associate and Senior Associate level in the pharmaceutical and medical device fields remain in demand. Clinical professionals, particularly CRAs and Senior CRAs within clinical research organisations are also in high demand.
In sales there is a need for entry-level devices Sales Representatives across orthopaedics, endoscopy and surgical technologies.
Other hotspots this quarter include experienced Hospital Account Managers in South Australia, Western Australian and Queensland, along with Product Managers, Senior Product Managers and Marketing Communications professionals.
Overcoming skills shortages
Companies are focusing on promoting their unique Employee Value Proposition to the candidate market. Given the shortage of skilled candidates at the Associate and Senior Associate level, companies that are able to offer a highly competitive package and flexibility are securing the strongest candidates. Larger organisations are widening their entry-level recruitment requirements to include technical salespeople or people with little or no clinical experience. They are investing more in training up entry level candidates.
The coming quarter
There is huge competition for Associate and Senior Associate level talent, generally at the two to six years experience level, across all job functions. We expect this demand to continue this quarter.
Executive recruitment
Demand remains strongest at the executive level within medical affairs and sales. However, the release of senior level roles in commercial pharma and medical devices has been cautious. The most senior level growth is in marketing and communications as companies look to curb additional spending and have more cohesive, strategic marketing and communications teams in-house.
Employer trends
An increased number of fixed-term roles are on offer, particularly in regulatory affairs. Employers who are taking longer than four weeks or more from first interview to offer are losing the best candidates. Savvy employers are realising the need to speed up recruitment processes and make decisions at a post global financial crisis pace to secure the very best talent.
Candidate trends
There is a continued shortage of experienced candidates available in the market. This remains the case across all roles in the regulatory, clinical, medical affairs, sales and marketing space.
