3 ways to hire — and keep — your biotech talent

The biotech field is incredibly niche. With so many specialties and subsets, what you know and how it can help people is of the utmost importance.

But the particular responsibilities the biotech field carries don’t necessarily mean employees are treated differently than they would be in some other industry. You can still put the same premium on employee satisfaction and safety as a larger company might — all you need is high-quality work and a deep knowledge of the company.

Find a way to satisfy both of those extremes. Doing so can be the difference between a biotech company that maintains top-flight talent and one constantly dipping its toe into the hiring pool.

A Randstad Pharma engagement study notes that 51 percent of biotech or pharmaceutical employees will seek new employment opportunities within six months, compared to 38 percent of all other respondents. The top reasons listed include not being paid enough (36 percent) and fewer growth opportunities (34 percent).

Identifying issues such as these is the first step a biotech company can take toward lowering employee attrition. Apply these three tactics to make sure the biotech hires you make end up sticking around for the long term:

Don’t impulse-buy
Having the right candidates will absolutely affect the health of the company. If employees aren’t happy and don’t feel supported, the company will suffer.

Employees can be major problem solvers, and it’s a simple truth that many employees in biotech are intelligent and amiable. However, you should make it a point to seek out people who have similar goals to the ones possessed by your company.

Find hires with the right mix
In the biotech field, your employees need three qualities: lots of knowledge with a knack for conjuring up unique insights, a strong passion for the company and its objectives, and coachability.

Biotech employees are known for strong, independent thinking and entrepreneurial skills.

When you make hires, construct effective management tactics that bring out the best in them and the company as a whole.

Inspire devotion
When employees have a positive history with a company, they become more loyal to the brand and its overall vision. There’s something special about having shared experiences with your employees and evolving together as you build something from the ground up.

When those employees leave, you may replace them with people of equal talent, but it can be hard to replicate and retain your best employees. Show appreciation in any number of ways to make them think twice about looking for work elsewhere.

Make them understand that you value employees beyond their specific skills. Respect their talents, and use them as inspiration to improve and evolve your leadership. They should be able to appreciate your vision for the company and evolve along with it.

These approaches will allow you to build your company in a way that sometimes conflicts with your goals — and that’s the point. People skills are invaluable to most employers, and biotech is no different.

Attack the hiring process with diligence, pick the right candidates, and show them appreciation. Do that, and you’ll find yourself with the type of talent that will take your biotech company to unimaginable places.

Photo:  siraanamwong, Getty Images

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