STEM positions requiring a Ph.D take close to double the amount of time to fill compared to non STEM positions, We recently had a sought after Ph.D candidate accept a position with one of our late-stage startup clients in San Francisco that had multiple offers in front of him. This article will summarize how he ended up deciding to take the role with or client.

We have found that open and honest communication between all parties in the process led to our candidate accepting the position with our client rather than accepting the competing offer, or staying at his current company (a global biotech firm).

Biotech recruiting is challenging regardless of the circumstances but landing a candidate from a globally admired biotech brand who already had another offer in front of him makes things all the more difficult.

We had worked with this candidate before and he had previously turned down an offer one of our clients had presented him in 2016. We knew this candidate well and we had a good understanding of his personality and what he was looking for in the next step of his career.  When we reached out to him again in March we let him know that we had a role that we thought he would be interested in. This candidate let us know that he was in the late stages of the interview process with another company and that an offer was forthcoming but he would be open for a conversation as he trusted the information we gave him about our client.

We worked with our client to make sure that the red carpet was rolled out for this candidate at every step of the interview process. This was tricky as key decision makers for this role were both domestic and abroad. We were in communication with the candidate at least three times a week and we had the hiring manager reach out to the candidate a couple of times to keep him interested as we renegotiated the original offer to help close the deal. We knew that for our candidate to accept the offer, we needed to keep him engaged during the time between the last interview and the final job offer.

At the end of the day, both offers were similar in terms of overall compensation with our client having a slight edge. Once our candidate accepted the offer, he let us know how much he appreciated our coaching during the interviewing process and our negotiating during the offer stage. He also mentioned the bond he had formed with the hiring manager and his soon to be colleagues after the interview process had concluded but before the final offer was presented played a key factor in his decision. Our client was equally grateful as we were able help them land a candidate that they believe will be integral to their future success.

This was a crucial hire for them and had the candidate not accepted the offer, the position could potentially sit open for another 50 days.

Total time to fill for this position from when the req was released to us was 36 days which is 14 days below the average 50 days it takes to fill a non-Ph.D STEM position in San Francisco. Filling a Ph.D position in San Francisco would take approximately 100 days to fill according to the data at the Brookings Institute.

Paragon Search Group is an American biotech recruiting firm specializing in permanent positions in Process Development, CMC/Reg Affairs, Manufacturing, Project Management, and Quality for companies ranging in size from startup to Fortune 50.