Sales outsourcing has become a popular business practice across various industries. The pharmaceutical sector is still no exception. Many pharmaceutical companies continue to turn to outsourcing their sales functions to third-party vendors to help them save costs, streamline operations, and enhance their competitive advantage. In this article, we will explore the benefits of sales outsourcing in pharma and how it can help pharmaceutical companies achieve their business objectives.

Cost savings

One of the most significant benefits of outsourcing sales in pharma is cost savings. Hiring, training, and managing a sales force can be expensive and time-consuming. Outsourcing sales to a third-party vendor can help reduce costs associated with recruitment, training, salaries, benefits, and other administrative expenses. Additionally, outsourcing can help companies avoid the costs of establishing a physical presence in new markets, such as setting up offices.

Expertise and experience

Pharmaceutical sales outsourcing companies specialise in providing sales solutions to the industry. They have a wealth of experience and expertise in the pharmaceutical market, including knowledge of industry trends, customer needs, and regulatory requirements. This means that they can provide valuable insights and support to pharmaceutical companies that are looking to expand their sales operations or improve their sales processes. Furthermore, outsourcing sales to a specialised provider can give pharmaceutical companies access to a broader range of sales skills and expertise than they may have in-house.

Scalability and flexibility

Another significant benefit of outsourcing sales in pharma is scalability and flexibility. Outsourcing providers can quickly scale up or down sales operations to meet changing business needs, such as entering new markets or responding to shifts in demand. This means that pharmaceutical companies can benefit from sales resources without having to commit to a long-term investment or bear the risks associated with in-house sales teams.

Focus on core competencies

Outsourcing sales in pharma can also help companies focus on their core competencies. By outsourcing non-core functions such as sales, companies can devote more time and resources to their core business activities, such as research and development, product innovation, and strategic planning. This can result in greater efficiency, productivity, and innovation, which can translate into improved performance and profitability.

Improved performance

Finally, outsourcing sales in pharma can lead to improved performance. Outsourcing providers are typically measured against specific performance metrics, such as sales targets, customer satisfaction, and other key performance indicators (KPIs). As a result, outsourcing providers are motivated to deliver high-quality sales solutions that meet or exceed these performance metrics.

In conclusion, outsourcing sales in pharma can provide significant benefits to pharmaceutical companies, including cost savings, expertise and experience, scalability and flexibility, focus on core competencies, and improved performance. However, outsourcing sales is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and pharmaceutical companies must carefully evaluate the risks and benefits before deciding whether to outsource their sales operations. Nonetheless, with the right outsourcing partner and strategy, pharmaceutical companies can achieve their sales objectives and gain a competitive advantage in the market.

For more details on Evolve’s next-generation outsourced solutions, click here or contact Andy Anderson on 0113 457 0777.

In today's fast-paced business environment, MedTech companies are under pressure to stay ahead of the curve and drive revenue growth. One way to achieve this is by building a high-performing sales team. However, hiring a permanent sales team can be expensive and time-consuming. That's where a contract sales team comes in. In this article, we'll explore the benefits of a contract sales team for MedTech companies.

Flexibility

A contract sales team can provide MedTech companies with the flexibility they need to adapt to changing market conditions. They can be brought in quickly to cover a specific territory, product line, or sales channel. This can be particularly beneficial for companies that are launching a new product or entering a new market. A contract sales team can help MedTech companies establish a presence in the market quickly and efficiently.

Cost-Effective

Hiring a permanent sales team can be expensive, especially for small or mid-sized MedTech companies. A contract sales team can provide a cost-effective alternative. Companies can hire a contract sales team on a project or short-term basis, which can help them control costs while still achieving their sales targets.

Expertise

A contract sales team can provide MedTech companies with access to specialised expertise that may not be available in-house. For example, a contract sales team may have experience selling to specific types of customers or in specific geographic regions. They may also have expertise in specific sales channels, such as e-commerce or direct sales. This expertise can be leveraged to help MedTech companies achieve their sales targets and grow their business.

Focus on Core Competencies

A contract sales team can allow MedTech companies to focus on their core competencies, such as product development and innovation. By outsourcing sales to a contract sales team, companies can free up resources and time to focus on their core business activities. This can help MedTech companies to achieve their strategic goals and objectives more effectively.

In conclusion, a contract sales team can provide MedTech companies with the flexibility, expertise, and cost-effectiveness they need to achieve their sales targets and drive revenue growth. By outsourcing sales to a contract sales team, companies can reduce risk, focus on their core competencies, and achieve sustainable business success.

For more details on Evolve’s next-generation outsourced solutions, click here or contact Andy Anderson on 0113 457 0777.

In today's rapidly changing healthcare landscape, organisations need to think outside the box when it comes to talent acquisition. One often-overlooked source of great talent is graduate entrepreneurs. These individuals have a unique set of skills and experiences that can be a valuable asset in a medical sales role. Here’s some benefits of recruiting graduate entrepreneurs.

Adaptability

Graduate entrepreneurs have typically gained experience in adapting to new environments and situations quickly. This can be particularly valuable in a medical sales role where there may be constant changes and challenges. They’re comfortable with taking on new projects, working with different teams, and dealing with changing business environments. This adaptability can help them stay ahead of the curve and make the necessary changes to improve sales performance.

Creativity and Innovation

Entrepreneurs are often creative problem solvers who can bring fresh ideas and innovation to the sales process. They may be able to approach challenges in unique ways that can lead to new sales opportunities. Their experience of developing new products, services, and businesses can bring a new perspective and a willingness to experiment, which can help businesses to differentiate themselves from the competition.

Ambition and Drive

Graduate entrepreneurs are typically highly ambitious and have a strong drive to succeed. They’re often willing to put in extra effort to achieve their goals, which can lead to increased sales and revenue for the organisation. They possess a relentless work ethic and strive to achieve excellence in everything they do. This drive and ambition can be a real asset in a medical sales role where success is often measured in terms of meeting sales targets and generating revenue.

Entrepreneurial Spirit

Entrepreneurs are typically risk-takers who are comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. This can be beneficial in a sales role where there may be ups and downs in the market or changes in the organisation's strategy. They possess an entrepreneurial spirit and are not afraid to take calculated risks to achieve their goals. This resilience can help them weather the storms and emerge stronger and more successful than before.

In conclusion, graduate entrepreneurs can be an excellent source of talent for medical sales. They bring a unique set of skills and experiences that can help businesses adapt to changing market conditions, develop innovative sales strategies, and achieve ambitious sales targets. By tapping into this talent pool, organisations can build high-performing sales teams that can drive revenue growth and deliver sustainable business success

For more details on Evolve’s graduate solutions, visit Evolve or contact Andy Anderson on 0113 457 0777.

About me:

I joined Evolve in 2022 as an 8-week old. Due to my unrivalled ball catching ability and outspoken nature, I quickly progressed my career and have now taken up post as Barketing Manager for the company. As well as this, I have extra responsibility for raising team morale and providing on-demand cuddles to my colleagues, no matter whether they need one or not!

Every employer dreads receiving a resignation letter.

And in the age of talent shortages, it can seem logical to turn to a counteroffer as a way to retain talent.

But a rapidly scrambled counteroffer is not the way to go. In fact, in the vast majority of cases, counteroffers are poorly put together panicked responses to a misunderstood situation.

This is because legacy management strategy will have you working to formulas that simply don’t work anymore.

The annual review.

Distant and aloof leadership.

Generic feedback and performance management strategies.

These have been proven, again and again, to not work.

Staff retention means putting aside management hubris and adjusting your performance management and reward and recognition scheme to make sure you never get to the point of counteroffering.

The trick is in ignoring all your protective, responsive instincts and leaning on patient, pandemic-proof performance management techniques.

The key to successful staff retention lies in its sustainability.

Sustainability in this regard means packaging performance reviews and staff management strategies that meet the contemporary needs of your people. It doesn’t mean simply offering what other companies are offering, or getting to the point of having to counteroffer to meet a competitive new job package.

Effective talent retention relies on business owners and HR managers reaching beyond the scope of immediate job demands and take-home pay to drill into the soul of why your staff member works, and what they work for.

• This takes analysis of pay, performance reviews, appreciation of workplace mental health, career happiness, personal growth and more.
• Retention of talent requires targeted contract and workflow management. Most important to this is personalising feedback and operational support.
• Taking a one-size-fits-all approach to staff management won’t work. Context, and specificity, is key.

So here are our thoughts on why counteroffers are never the recruitment and retention fix you think they are…and how to manage your staff better to retain the best-in-class talent.

Money isn’t everything.

• “Only 12% of employees resign due to money”

This alone should tell you that throwing more money at a dissatisfied employee will rarely work. Money is important in retention strategies, but it is significantly less important than connection to company purpose, ESG or career growth, for example.

Get some context, and lead with empathy.

Undoubtedly you’ve been where your employee has been - perhaps eager to start a new role and less than satisfied with their current role. So, staff retention strategy should lead with empathy.

If you try and retro-fit a “solution” onto the “problem” of your employee wanting to leave without understanding the reasons behind it, you come across as callous and impersonal, as if you think any action is worthwhile when what your staff member wants is highly specific, nuanced solutions to their unhappiness.

Above all else, your people want to be heard.

So, engage with them, let them speak, and seek context for their career. What do they work for? Why do they like or not like working for you? These aren’t questions to be asked at an annual review or after someone’s handed in their notice. You should be asking it every week, every day if possible.

Don’t knee-jerk a response to someone quitting.

No right-thinking employee is going to take a hastily written email offering more money or a better job title without a formal meeting and a proper discussion.

So do not reply to a resignation letter with a quickfire counteroffer.

Accept the letter, express your dismay if you really want to, but make sure you formalise a proper meeting to discuss how you can improve their experience at your company.

Allow your employee the chance to prepare, and make them aware you’re eager to sit them down to clearly, and professionally, try and retain them for the right reasons.

Focus on employee positives and how they relate to career and company success.

When it comes to career management and support, focus on what you can realistically achieve for your people. Make development plans personal, and make sure any improvement of position, pay and experience focuses on how your employee’s career is valued in the context of your company.

You should not break salary rules to hold onto talent (see Money isn’t everything above) - this is neither sustainable nor fair. You cannot say things like “we were planning on doing X anyway…” after someone shows a willingness to quit because even if you were, it sounds like an excuse.

Summary

Staff retention requires patience and hyper-personal forms of performance management and recognition.

You want to make sure every member of staff feels connected to company purpose, and tangible company context.

Managers are respected more if they are candid, honest and don’t hide. Use performance feedback and continual feedback strategies as a springboard to engage more staff about their happiness and future at your workplace.

If you follow the above advice, you’ll never get to the point of counteroffering. Which is exactly where you want to be.

Evolve are employer branding pioneers within the MedTech, Pharmaceutical, Life Sciences and Healthcare industries.

To read more about our employer branding service, and how it can help your company develop a market-leading employer value proposition to attract, hire and retain the best talent for your business, visit our employer branding page.

A lesson to jobseekers everywhere - beware the counteroffer!

In today’s recruitment market the counteroffer has become a go-to staff retention tool.

As talent shortages persist in key industries, counteroffers are a last-ditch attempt to keep hold of staff. Critically, we believe they don’t offer long-term solutions to the question of why you want to leave a job in the first place unless the offer is tangible, meaningful and personal.

The reality of counter offers.

Most people will get a counteroffer at some point in their career.

“Up to 50% of candidates who resign will receive a counteroffer” from job to job, so strategising a response to one is wise.

Naturally, this strategy should go hand in hand with the reasons why you want to leave in the first place. It could be that you don’t feel rewarded, either financially or promotionally. It could be that you feel disassociated from the direction of the company, or simply that you need a change.

Counteroffers are, in our view, broad-stroke “solutions”. They are often not specific or personal enough to warrant acceptance.

Here’s why.

The Fix.

It can seem like a counteroffer does offer a fix - bosses will wrap up a counteroffer in a sweet package of more money, perhaps a new job title, an acknowledgement they “haven’t been fast enough at picking up on things”, or “we really want to give you the position you deserve now” and so on and so forth.

In reality, the vast majority of counteroffers are a poor HR sticking plaster.

They are mostly reactionary offers: short-term fixes to long-term problems. Throwing money at those sorts of issues never works. Only a small proportion of people leave jobs because of a lack of money. It's much more holistic than that.

Sadly, the stats back this up. Candidates should be aware that for all the attractiveness of a counteroffer, accepting a counteroffer is productivity and job happiness suicide unless the offer is truly personalised and it addresses the root causes of why you want to leave a job.

New job, old issues, and short-termism.

For candidates with one foot out of the door and into a new job, a counteroffer can seem like a sweet victory - finally, the job you worked for is offering you everything you wanted! They are offering everything your new company is offering, but you don’t need to faff around with onboarding because you already know the systems!

But as with many things in recruitment, if it's too good to be true, it often is. The most salient piece of research around counteroffers contains the following:

• “80% of employees that accept a counteroffer leave within six months and 90% within a year”.
• “50% of candidates that accept a counteroffer from their current employer will be back on the job market after two months”.

Counteroffers are not, in the main, long-term solutions to job dissatisfaction.

Your immediate response to a counteroffer.

So when faced with a counteroffer our advice, and the advice we give jobseekers, goes like this:

1. Never forget why you’re leaving in the first place. Constantly refer to the emotions and professional reasons you decided to hand in your notice in the first place. Analyse them, and hold them close.
2. Take a breath. Agree to nothing straight away. Ask your boss to put any offer, or any discussion around a counteroffer, in writing.
3. Allow yourself time to take the offer in. If you are utilising an external recruiter, speak to them and ask them for their advice. Unless the offer is exceptional, they will say what I say - it’s too little, too late, they’re panicking, and it’s not your responsibility to cover for them while they look for a replacement, because they will be looking for one.

But in an effort to be fair here are some examples of when to take, and when to decline a counteroffer.

When to accept, or not accept, a counteroffer.

Did the boss sit down with you?

• By this, we mean did the boss see your letter of notice and simply ping off a knee-jerk response saying “I’ll see what your new job is offering”, or did they offer to sit down and discuss your position in full?
• In short, if a counteroffer is going to be offered you want it to be tangible, realistic to your position, and packaged to answer every reason why you wanted to leave in the first place. If it isn’t, don’t accept it.

Is the counteroffer an actual “package”?

• By this, we mean is the counteroffer simply an offer of more money, or does it take a full-spectrum approach to every point of contention in why you want to leave, and aim to answer them all? Does it give you timescales, realistic KPIs to hit to improve performance or a roadmap for advancement? Does it make you happy?
• Our advice is never to accept a counteroffer that doesn’t take a total, personal, positive approach to your job, career, happiness and skills development.

The one question a counteroffer needs to answer.

After the above two criteria have been answered, ask yourself this one question: would I have gotten all the above if I didn’t quit in the first place?

If the answer is no, don’t accept the counteroffer. You should never have to twist an employer’s arm into recognising good work and rewarding it appropriately.

Summary.

In our view, the majority of counteroffers are never worth the stress and effort. In very rare circumstances are they worthwhile.

They are generally offered when the worst of the workplace damage has been done, and are done as a knee-jerk reaction to someone quitting.

As highlighted above, they are not long-term fixes for job satisfaction and we always urge any candidate facing a counteroffer to never forget why they handed in their notice in the first place!

Evolve are employer branding pioneers within the MedTech, Pharmaceutical, Life Sciences and Healthcare industries.

To read more about our employer branding service, and how it can help your company develop a market-leading employer value proposition to attract, hire and retain the best talent for your business, visit our employer branding page.

It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it - is this the hidden cardinal rule of interviews?

Mastery of “body language” and understanding what you should and shouldn’t say through utilising body language techniques, has forever been touted as the job interview secret weapon.

Everyone has heard the facts - that something like 90% of all communication is non-verbal. While this fact is not completely on the money, the principle stands - that in moments of high emotion, body language can be, and often is, your most communicative asset.

What is “body language”?

➔ “Body language is the use of physical behaviour, expressions, and mannerisms to communicate nonverbally, often done instinctively rather than consciously”.

So, think about everything you do when you’re not talking. How you sit, how you stand, your general posture, eye contact, when and why you smile, how you use your hands, how you touch or “haptics”, how you sit, how quickly your talk, how loudly or softly your talk, your facial expression, your tone of voice, your personal “space”, fidgeting, doodling, fiddling with the collar of a shirt, rubbing your neck…on and on the list goes.

The HelpGuide piece quoted above says there are 7 types of nonverbal communication. This Verywellmind piece says there are 9.

What cannot be ignored is that you are telling your interviewee or interviewer a lot more than just the content of your words.

Your body tells a message.

Body language is like a compass pointing towards what you really want to say. Your body will convey attitudes, behaviours, and messages based on the way you gesticulate, use eye contact, and tangibly contact or interact with another person from the second you step into a room or onto a Zoom call.

So an awareness of certain cues or nuances in how someone is communicating, such as via certain postures, hand gestures or eye contact gives context - to the words being spoken, and the feelings and emotions of the other person in the room.

An interviewee helping hand.

By deploying certain body language techniques in an interview - some overt, some subtle - a candidate can elevate their interview through displays of confidence, engagement, surety and calm.

Consider your posture - quite literally how you sit in an interview. Research tells us that sitting with arms folded (candidate looks defensive), or sitting facing a door or window (candidate is indicating they want to escape) are critically negative body language traits.

Awareness is power, and by removing those postures from your interview you immediately improve your chances of positive interactions.

An interviewer helping hand.

But body language is also a vital tool to be used by interviewers - they too have to make sure they’re setting the right context as leaders of an interview.

Consider your tone of voice. A commanding and domineering tone of voice may seem authoritative to a business leader who wants to convey leadership, but to many candidates it's overly dominating, controlling, and not welcoming.

Neither interview party wants to be seen as aloof, disinterested, nervous, stressed or rude. So awareness of positive, open and context-led body language techniques is the key to making sure job interviewers are rewarding for both sides of the hiring coin!

The dos and don’ts of interview body language.

DO - practice! Without practice, you’re a leaking ship of emotions and worry, and all the hard work of planning every answer (or question) can be undone by the fact you’re a taut spring ready to explode sitting on a chair. So do mock interviews. Record yourself. Practice, and think - would I hire me?

DON’T - go overboard. There is such a thing as too much gesticulation, and holding eye contact beyond 4 seconds gets a little creepy.

DO - develop emotional awareness. Non-verbal cues are emotionally driven and hard to control without a bit of self-awareness. This means connecting with your emotional triggers and pulls, and being able to read others’ emotional states.

DON’T - zone out on Zoom. Screen-based interviews still offer plenty of opportunity to display job surety via body language, so watch out for looking off-screen too much, or simply not looking at the screen at all.

The bottom line.

Body language mastery requires a lot of self-awareness and some good old-fashioned practice. It’s central to telling the right story about who you are, why you’re good at what you do, and the confidence behind your craft.

Rather than stress over the fact you’re more of an open book than you realise, it’s better to think about our interview body language guidance as a loose set of rules - ones that can be freely interpreted and communicated at will and adapted to meet the needs of each interview.

Like almost everything within the HR world, the humble job interview has gone through somewhat of a revolution since the advent of COVID-19.

We now live in the era of remote interviews as standard. It’s been a long time coming, and not just for the inherent efficiency of pre-vetting talent from the comfort of their (and your) own home.

• Remote interviews open up the doors to a massive, diverse candidate base who were previously uncontactable, or marginalised based on location.
• It gives employers so much more scope to connect with talent quickly and efficiently, reducing the time to hire.
• And remote interviews provide digital hiring scalability. Never has the potential to reach so many people been so achievable, so easily.

However, while the tech changes, attitudes and behaviours are sometimes slow to adapt. This is where companies like Evolve have found they can add immense value - getting candidates (and some employers!) up to speed on best practice in this recruitment new normal.

The remote interview raises some cunning challenges for candidates - not least are questions around what the best sort of tactics are when body language is restrained, nuance and subtlety can be lost, and the free-flowing communicative balance of an in-person interview is reduced to a two-dimensional chat.

Word to the wise, there are some pretty easy-to-remember, hard and fast rules of remote interviewing that, if deployed correctly, will stand you in good stead for a call back:

Still dress to impress.

• First impressions, even if they are on Zoom, do still count.
• Yes, the running joke of people doing interviews in shorts and a suit shirt is undoubtedly more true than we’d like to think, but dressing appropriately is still a sign of respect and professionalism.
• Whilst, as we highlight below, other aspects of remote interviewing are probably more pressing (such as lighting, or checking your internet connection), dressing in interview-appropriate attire is still the clearest, cleanest and best first impression you can give.

Check your lighting!

• This one is an easy remote interview hack - don’t attend an interview sitting in front of a light source!
• For example, a window. Having a large, bright light source behind you dominates the camera white balance and you end up on screen as a talking, dark shadow. Naturally, this cannot do. So light, evenly, from the front, preferably with a light source that faces you straight on, rather than top-down or bottom-up.

Make sure you’re in a neutral space.

• By this we mean think about how the space you’re attending an interview speaks for you. So consider the following:
  • Your interview background - is there anything within eyeshot that could be considered risque, personal, unprofessional or distracting? If so, remove it. You want your entire frame to be as neutral as possible, or if you’re fond of a virtual background, again we urge you to go neutral. We’ve found the best sorts of backgrounds give a little personality - like a real bookshelf - but are still neutral enough to not warrant further scrutiny.
  • Pets - as much as we love our furry friends, if you have pets it's best to keep them out of earshot where they can’t distract you (or your interviewer!)
  • Housemates, family or children - as much as possible, pre-warn anyone in your house about the time of your interview to minimise sound follow-through or accidental walk-ins. While there have been plenty of incidences of comical, inoffensive intrusions mid-TV interview, in a job interview it’s a no-no.
  • Phones, notifications, alerts and other screens - think of it this way: you wouldn’t have your phone on loud in a face-to-face interview, so the same rules apply here. I appreciate that, in some rare cases, you may need to refer to another screen for reference points (which echoes looking at a document in an interview), but in the main other digital devices should be switched off and your attention should be 100% on the job in hand.

Time-keeping.

• This one is short and sweet - you have no excuse to be late to a remote interview. So rock up early, sit in the digital waiting room, and bask in the glow of your time-keeping efficiency. Plus, it puts in a great first impression.

Check your tech!

• Finally, check your tech - your internet connection, the video call link, your webcam quality, the lighting set up, double and triple check it all.
• The last thing you want a few minutes before a video interview is a basic administrative error to pop up that could’ve been rectified days before. If in doubt, over-communicate - you’d rather ask too many questions about broken Zoom links or dodgy internet connections than not raise it at all and be left treading digital water.
• Remember, as the interviewee you’re not responsible for hosting the interview, but that doesn’t mean you renege on your responsibility for making sure the interview runs smoothly. Work with your interviewer, not against them!

Contact Evolve for more advice on remote interviews!

This is the second of two blogs focussing on some of the basics of interviewing - this one is aimed at employers on the search for their next star hire.

Creating a positive, inclusive and effective interview is a lesson in balance.

Any employer who’s ever hosted an interview understands this and tries to work with the unique dynamics of an interview to the benefit of both the candidate and the employer.

But the modern hiring market is far from balanced. Within the wider Pharma and Healthcare market, candidates are in short supply employers are clamouring for the same talent from small talent pools, and despite the best efforts of specialists across the HR landscape, the industry remains firmly in candidate-led territory.

A lot of companies are compromising on long-held rules to get talent in the door. Traditional salary bandings are being crushed under the weight of recruitment necessity; counter-offers and counter-counter-offers are completely normalised; candidates for maybe the only time in history truly know their worth, and want to maximise return on placement in a new job.

The power is, seemingly, all in the hands of the candidate. However, the interview is a place for equal power dynamics, and good interviewers use this to their advantage - not by leveraging their brand, power, pay or reward, but by engaging the candidate on what they really want from a job.

When company purpose and company mission are more important than ever to an employee, it's theoretically easier than ever to host a successful interview.

Here’s how!

Do.

Prioritise achievements.

• In specialist industries like MedTech or life science QC it’s not enough to find a candidate with the right skills - you need to know whether a candidate can apply those skills to the immediate benefit of your firm, customer base and business network.
• So, make sure you build an interview strategy around getting the most information possible from a candidate on what they've achieved in the scope of their employment, and how they can apply those material achievements to your enterprise. Try not to focus too much on skills (good candidates will have a lot of them!) but try and find out how they use those skills in work, and which skills are most appropriate for your company.

Offer, and contextualise, flexible work where appropriate.

• Remote work is one of, if not the, most important work “perk” that, post-COVID, has become a make-or-break deal for many candidates.
• While we understand not every job in the medical, technical or wider life sciences field can be remote, this is where contextualising the role comes into play. You need to be able to communicate how, and why, certain roles are based where they are, and how your expectations of employee workflows have changed as a result.
• This provides clarity of role for your potential staffing base and sets the right expectation for the candidate.

Personalise, and contextualise a relevant benefits package.

• As a continuation of the point on contextualised remote work, full remuneration packages need to be relevant and personalised to every candidate where possible.
• Long gone are the days of centralised work perks focused on office-based benefits. Consider the context of work and where work is.
• Would your teams benefit more from perks such as localised childcare benefits to help staff handle the rising cost of childcare or a free gym membership in a location they commute to only twice a week?

Meet the Great Resignation head-on.

• Don’t hide behind the great resignation as the cause of your hiring struggles, or your inability to retain staff. The best employers in the medical faculty have pivoted to meet the effects of the great resignation head-on. Those same employers realise that an interview represents the perfect time to communicate and contextualise everything - the entire brand, recruitment and workforce journey - with candour.
• Your candidates will appreciate an employer who is honest about their purpose in a disrupted working world, and who is clear about their solutions to it.

Don’t.

Forget the basics or the power of empathy.

• Be polite. Be timely. Be welcoming. The basics of hosting a good interview still matter and in our post-pandemic new normal, showing empathy for a candidate's position and journey is vital if you want to secure the trust and respect of the talent in front of you.

Take too long to communicate.

• The most common complaint of employers who fail to hire or lose advocacy from their candidate network is that their recruitment process takes far too long. Don’t wait a month to decide on a candidate. Don’t even wait a week. Pull the trigger within at least 2 to 3 days.

Hold multi-stage interviews beyond two or three stages.

• On the topic of interview time scales, if you are set on putting a candidate through a multi-stage interview, make it very obvious from the first step of your candidate journey (the job advert!) how many stages there are, and reduce the time between each stage.
• Good candidates will not wait for good employment - they are in too much demand and will get a better offer from someone else.

Ignore feedback.

• Lastly, seeking feedback from your candidate is vital in improving your overall interview technique and strategy. This is especially important if you’re consistently bringing candidates to interview and not hiring.

The bottom line.

The candidate journey from referral or job advert should be fast, done with candour, and with empathy.

The companies that forget the basics of good interviewing - timekeeping, good preparation, working quickly to snare the best of the best - will always suffer from poor hiring numbers and, over the long term, poor retention of staff.

This is the first of two blogs on some of the basics of interviewing, so we thought we’d start this mini-series highlighting some of the most important candidate interview do’s and don’ts.

In our experience, no matter the industry or level of seniority, navigating an interview is not a simple tried and tested formula.

Every aspect of recruitment, from pre-interviewing and vetting through to onboarding and retention, has changed. Industry shifts caused by market conditions and the increase in remote interviewing all mean interviews must adapt to meet the needs of the modern workplace.

Interviews, interview strategy and interview planning are as subject to changing trends and industry movements as anything else in recruitment and HR. Consider this a bit of new recruitment market myth-busting, courtesy of Evolve!

So, without further ado, here is the Evolve Interview Do's and Don’ts guide for Candidates…

Do.

Ask Questions.

● We cannot implore this enough of candidates. Be curious. Ask questions. Ask about the role, the last person in the role, why the role is vacant, and what you should expect from the role. Ask your interviewer what they should expect from you. There are never enough questions you can ask.

● An interview represents one of the only open forum opportunities to mine your interviewer for information on the role, the company, their plans, and your place within it all. So don’t leave any stone unturned.

Dress to impress, even online.

● Although we don’t completely believe in dressing for the job you want, not the job you have, there is nothing wrong with making sure you turn up in appropriate attire.

● Never forget the basics of interviewing - showing up in your Sunday best might be a touch overkill, but smart clothing shows respect for the occasion and that you’re approaching the interview process from a place of professionalism.

● We may all be doing everything on Zoom and spending less time in office, but compromising on this, at the interview stage, is fatal for a job application.

● The basics still count, respect is still important, and displaying professionalism is vital.

Remember the basics of positive body language.

● From looking at windows or facing doors during an interview, to crossed arms and eyes dropped to the floor, body language matters - remember, it’s what you're saying when you’re not saying anything.

● This is where a bit of practice makes all the difference. Positive body language comes from control, awareness and continuous adjustment to posture, facial expression and tone of voice. So practise answering questions. Film yourself practising questions and review how you engage.

● Confidence is bred from knowing how you approach every question and every answer, and this will feed down into everything from your posture to the way you gesticulate during answers.

Remember to relate anecdotes and experience to achievements.

● Relate as much working evidence and experience back to tangible moments on your CV, and always elevate achievements over skills when talking about yourself.

● This will mean your interviewer can see where, when and how you achieved something in past roles, better visualising how you will fit into their company.

Don't.

Be late!

● If you’re holding an interview online, there is no excuse. But similarly, turning up late to an in-person interview shows a critical lack of forethought and planning.

● If you are going to be late due to traffic, or you’re experiencing digital issues and cannot access a remote interview, do not hesitate to let your employer know as soon as possible. Be open, honest and receptive to feedback on future interview planning: hiccups happen and it’s not fatal to a job interview unless you refuse to communicate.

Forget the follow-up email.

● A follow-up email is one of the easiest things to forget. If an interview goes badly, it may be something you don’t want to do. But I find even sending a simple thank you shows courtesy and respect.

● A follow-up is also an opportunity to double up on points raised in the interview. Perhaps you mentioned a project you worked on you think your interviewer may want to read more about - that’s your chance to show them!

Be aloof!

● Lastly, attitude to interviews is everything, because it reflects your attitude in how you work.

● Every point raised above speaks volumes about how you’d approach teamwork, meeting deadlines, how you work with management and more. So if you approach an interview from a place of aloofness you’re not displaying confidence - you’re displaying arrogance.

The bottom line.

The ball is very much in your court when it comes to recruitment - the low supply/high demand of specialist talent in the pharmaceutical and healthcare market has created a perfect storm of candidate supremacy.

But an interview is neutral ground. It should be treated with professionalism, grace and thanks.

For more helpful advice and tips, contact Evolve!