Project Experience

Can a Traditional Player Keep and Attract Star Talent?

Client Situation
Many of the larger and more traditional pharmaceutical companies have lost personnel to the more entrepreneurial (and often financially rewarding) biotechs. Fuld & Company was asked to assist our client, a global pharmaceutical giant, in its effort to know more about how other major pharmaceutical and biotech companies attract 'the best and the brightest' and manage job candidate referrals from employees. Our client's goal was to assess its competitors' approach to strategic staffing, with particular emphasis on how these companies are sourcing talent for key positions.

Fuld Approach
As part of this competitive analysis, Fuld & Company learned details not only about employee referral programs, but also about other methods that these competitors use to hire for key positions - how they advertise, their Internet partners and strategies, and how they identify and subsequently find the key skills and abilities they need.

Benefits and Implications
Part of what our client learned was that it needed to adapt not only to a different hiring model, but also to a different operational style. The appeal of the biotech model lies in its lack of hierarchy and entrepreneurial spirit, something this company would likely find difficult to emulate. Hearing this from a third-party was helpful for management to understand there were far more benefits to such change than just in attracting star talent. It remains to be seen if this company can take these lessons to heart. For more information about star talent in the healthcare industry, contact either Anthony Nagle at tnagle@fuld.com or Cynthia Gerber Tomlinson at cgtomlinson@fuld.com