Case study: Helping a cell & gene therapy grow from 5 to 50+
The situation
During a candidate check-in, one of our previous candidates informed us they'd joined an upcoming clinical-stage cell and gene therapy company that were developing new labs.
They were a small team of 5 people and needed to bulk hire GMP technicians and production scientists for a project.
As a small team in a highly competitive industry, they struggled with the resources and reach to attract top candidates with the required skillsets.
Based on our previous relationship with the senior vice president, we arranged a site visit to discuss how Hobson Prior could help them increase their headcount.
Hobson Prior solution
At the initial meeting, we discussed the company and the project, working on their employer branding so we could best represent them in the market. With our years of experience in the industry, within these niches spaces, we were able to advise on what candidates prioritised so they could ensure their benefits packages were competitive with market expectations.
After understanding their budget and preferred timescale, we were able to build a tailored and scalable recruitment solution that would help them quickly grow their team and meet their headcount growth goals.
We utilised our international candidate pools of pre-screened candidates with the required skillsets. Our technical operations recruitment team spoke to these candidates to ensure they were appropriately qualified and available to work. We also promoted the company, highlighting their goals and development to ensure the candidates were engaged and excited by the opportunity to join the project. We were quickly able to source a list of 20 candidates that would be suitable for the role.
As resources and time were key areas of concern for the company, we suggested using our digital interview system, HireVue, to give them more control over the initial stages of interview review. Each of the 20 submitted candidates completed a video interview that could be quickly and simply reviewed by the company to ensure we maximised their time. From these 20, 10 were taken into a final face-to-face interview.
The result
Within 6 weeks, we had sourced, screened and placed 8 candidates. 9 out of the 10 final interviews were offered jobs and we have been working with this cell and gene therapy company since.
Their team has grown from 5 members to over 50, with Hobson Prior responsible for the pre-screen checks, gathering references and onboarding for half of these new hires.
In fact, the last 4 placements made by Hobson Prior at this emerging company were for a team that was led by one of the original 9 we helped place.
We are proud to be a trusted part of this innovative company’s rapid growth as they continue to research ground-breaking developments in the life sciences industry.
