Minimising hiring errors

Avoiding mistakes at the hiring stage is the best strategy for pharma companies which are trying their best to control high attrition rates, writes Sushmi Dey.

Right hiring is the key to retention and stability in an organisation. Haste in hiring and omission of a detailed reference check are the common mistakes made while recruiting employees. The Indian pharma industry is witnessing high workforce attrition and there isn't enough good talent in the middle management level and for R&D requirements. In their urgency to meet their recruitment targets, hiring managers often land up compromising on the quality of the recruits which can actually be disastrous for any pharma company or a CRO.

Pharma is considered to be among those knowledge-driven developed industries based on information, documentation and quality. Hence, human resource is very crucial to the industry. All major transactions, starting from customers to products and services offered by the industry, involve a hierarchy of people like physicians, medical representatives and managers. "Pharma is a people, knowledge and technology intensive industry. Hence, people required for this industry are basically knowledge workers," says Dr Raja Smarta, Managing Director, Interlink Marketing Consul-tancy. He adds that as the need for filling up the positions is high, it is not verified whether the person is a right fit for the responsibilities.

Common mistakes

But what goes wrong in the process of hiring? Mistakes can be made at several levels. It is common for hiring managers to get carried away by CVs with big brand names. They are quick to hire an individual who has worked in the best known companies in the industry without checking how suitable he is for the job. Often, candidates are not briefed properly about the job role and the organisation. And when they start working they find themselves in a misfit.

Deependra Singh Sengar, CEO, TMI First, points out that there are two types of wrong hires, "One is a bad hire where there is either an issue of competence or of motivation. Another mistake could be of a mismatch where the expectations from both sides were not made clear and the candidate is fit for some other job than the one he/she is hired for." Sengar believes that companies also commit mistakes in preparation, screenings and interviews during recruitment. "An unprepared or unequipped interviewer is one of the single largest contributors in not being able to hire the right candidate." Not using validated tests and not having benchmark data is a mistake in screening which can again lead to a bad hire.

Be cautious

Hiring mistakes are common in most companies. However, there are always means and ways of minimising and eliminating such errors. HR managers of pharma companies as well as CROs must be cautious recruiters. "HR managers must keep in mind the three C's—competency match both functional and behavioural, cultural match and compensation," says A H Khan, Head, HR, Sun Pharma.

Job descriptions must be clear and precise. Pre-selection preparations like tie-ups with educational institutions are also an important requirement or effective hiring. Organisations must also train their interviewers since they play an important role in hiring efficient employees. According to Sengar, pre-screening of resumes also help in minimising mistakes. Referral checks are must and should not be limited to the two names given by the candidate on his CV.

Hiring process

Employee referrals, newspaper advertisements, job portals, campus recruitments, placement agencies, job postings on the company Web-site are some of the common modes of recruitment. Medical representatives and scientists are mostly hired in the industry and the process varies accordingly. While recruiting medical representatives, effort is more on getting someone with selling skills. However, companies seek for candidates with pharma or science background while hiring scientists. The recruitment process involves several stages. "Scrutiny of curriculum vitae, competency mapping, psychometric tests and aptitude tests are custom made for the pharma industry. Besides, a personal interview, reference check, medical fitness are a part of the procedure," informs Khan.

Less errors at entry level

For entry-level positions like clinical research associate, most Indian pharma companies prefer to recruit freshers directly from educational institutes. It is believed that companies make lesser number of mistakes while hiring freshers. "Recruitment of entry level positions i.e., freshers is not much of a problem," agrees Mohinish Sinha, Associate Director and Head-HR practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers. There is a relatively good supply of talent for reputed companies.

Freshers go through rigorous written tests and more than one interview round. In smaller companies, this may be less rigorous. However, when it comes to key positions, especially in R&D, a more stringent process is followed. Pharma companies insist that the evaluation criteria for freshers should be based on both technical as well as practical skills. "Most managers overvalue a narrow range of tech skills or related experiences. This leads to generalisation of the competence or incompetence of the candidate. In such cases, if critical traits like planning skills, teamwork and cultural fit are not looked at, there is a danger of wrong hiring or vice versa," emphasises Sengar.

An organised pre-screening process and proper planning is the key. "The demand for talent should be well planned and executed to avoid compromise on quality and output. Companies should tie-up with educational institutions and build a customised and well-designed curriculum as per the needs and expectations of the pharma and CRO industry," suggests Smarta. Sinha agrees that companies must desire to invest in building an employer brand in order to attract the best of entry level talent to the pharma industry and indeed to their organisation.

Senior level recruitment

For senior or lateral hiring, reference and consultant usage is more prevalent in the industry. The reason being, senior positions often require good hands-on experience. Smarta points out that recruiters are well aware of the good experienced talent in the industry, they are directly contacted and hence consultants are not preferred. In these cases, direct mode of contact or networking is preferred. Sengar albeit believes that companies often make mistake here. They must take a risk while hiring candidates at senior levels and look for people from other industries as well. "Hiring managers need to realise that the market will not have as many people in these fields and hence they have to take risk in hiring candidates from related areas and invest in training them for the newer emerging fields," suggests Sengar.

Placement consultants

Placement consultants are the main source for hiring middle management employees. Most pharma firms believe that depending on consultants for recruiting employees is a good decision. "It gives varied exposure and wider access to talent across the market. This helps to establish a wider platform where both the needs of the industry and the availability of right talent could meet ends," opines Smarta. Many placement consultants also engage in conducting reference checks. Sinha points out that this saves time for pharma HR since this process in pharma industry is yet not outsourced as in other industries. However, this method of reference checks may not be the most reliable because of the apparent conflict of interest.

The role of placement consultants is also consi-dered significant in lateral recruitment due to shortage of mid-dle management and R&D talent in the industry. "Consultants are not just helpful in hiring laterals but also at entry levels as they can provide huge cross-industry advantage in addition to cost benefits," says Sengar. It is mandatory for placement consultants to find a good replacement if the recruited candidate resigns within six months. Smarta reveals that in CROs, job portals or consultants are not the preferred source of recruiting employees. Instead, most CROs practice direct mode of recruitment with the educational institutions for the entry level positions where a huge access to potential talent is easily available.

Employee referrals are common for higher level positions. It is known to be the most effective hiring process in most pharma companies and CROs and is slowly becoming popular. These programmes need to be built over a period of time through regular communication, constant monitoring and continuous improvement of processes.