New Market Expansion: Hiring For Precision, Scalability and Growth
CDMOs expanding into new markets face complex challenges ranging from location strategies and workforce planning to regulatory compliance, strategic partnerships, and scalability. At the heart of successful expansion lies the ability to hire the right talent quickly and cost-effectively.
However, this is often easier said than done as it is not just about filling vacancies. It’s about securing specialized talent and navigating the local market dynamics. In many cases, CDMOs must compete for talent in markets where the existing talent pool is limited or dominated by well-established players, such as Big Pharma and Pharma, who can offer top-tier compensation packages and attractive career trajectories. Adding to the complexity is the urgency to minimize ramp-up time, meet client demands, and maximize revenue.
Talent acquisition is often delivered poorly in many start-up to scale-up CDMOs, typically due the “nickel and diming” mentality at the beginning of their journey, that end up in costly hiring mistakes before eventually landing on a successful strategy years later, often when the opportunity has passed them by.
At Vector, we have seen this playing out repeatedly and that is why in our conversations with clients, we often talk about the levers a business wants to pull to scale operations and how to even build those levers in the first place. Core to many discussions is balancing speed and cost across the key considerations, as outlined below, for hiring talent in CDMO.
The Ability To Secure Specialised Talent Needs Is a Make-or-Break Factor
Highly skilled professionals in areas such as biologics manufacturing, regulatory affairs, quality assurance, and R&D are niche skills that are highly sort after and in high demand. And even more so if they are in functional areas such as a validation or roles that more unique such as mechatronics. These roles often require a deep understanding of emerging technologies and industry advancements, further narrowing the available talent pool. The longer these positions remain unfilled, the greater the risk to project timelines and site readiness.
Scaling Globally Requires A Local Mindset: Don’t Go Into A New Market Blind
Entering a new market requires more than just a strategic vision. It demands a deep understanding of local market nuances. From cultural expectations, regional talent availability, skills gaps, regulatory requirements, and varying salary benchmarks. Partnering with a talent expert who understands these dynamics is like having a sherpa for your expedition that reduces the heavy lifting and ensures you are prepared for the journey.
Momentum Requires Talent That Scale With Your Business
Rapid expansion for new sites and projects often requires hiring large numbers of employees quickly across levels, which can strain internal HR teams. Having an agile recruitment team can reduce the time-to-fill and cost-to-hire. The ability to adapt to fluctuating hiring needs while maintaining a high standard of candidate quality is critical for CDMOs undergoing growth phases. Whether ramping up hiring for a new manufacturing facility or launching a large-scale R&D initiative, a scalable recruitment strategy minimises bottlenecks and prevents costly project delays.
Don’t wait until there is a need to ramp-up headcount to meet operational demands. Identifying a flexible talent partner can help balance cost and speed with a flexible global team combined with industry knowledge to efficiently source, assess, and onboard candidates.
Pre-Vetted Talent Pools For Regulatory Compliance
Ensuring that new hires meet stringent industry regulations (e.g., GMP, FDA, EMA) is critical for CDMOs to reduce the risk of costly compliance errors. Non-compliance with regulatory standards can result in legal repercussions, operational disruptions, and reputational damage.
RPO providers with industry-specific expertise can implement rigorous vetting processes, ensuring that candidates possess the necessary qualifications and certifications before hiring. Additionally, staying ahead of evolving compliance requirements and training employees on best practices enhances overall operational integrity.
The Crucial Leadership Gap: Hiring Right For Competitive Edge
Securing experienced leadership is crucial for navigating the complexities of new markets and driving operational success. The right leaders drive growth, ensure operational alignment and foster a culture for high-performing teams. However, the process of identifying and onboarding a senior executive can be time-consuming due to the competitive talent pool and most internal teams do not have the capacity or capability. Senior leadership in pharma tends to have longer tenures, making top candidates less frequently available. Leadership transitions are also a delicate process which requires the seamless integration of new executives with company goals and existing teams.
Check out our resource on onboarding CDMO leaders here.
Cultural Alignment for Talent Retention
Given the competitive talent environment for CDMOs, attrition can impact the company’s profitability. And cultural alignment to the company is big factor for retention but also one of the most challenging factors to access in the recruitment process. There are cultural nuances to be mindful when recruiting for Big Pharma vs CDMOs. By managing the expectations of both candidates and hiring managers, we can mitigate expectation and experience gaps in the process and post-hire. If new hires are culturally aligned for the business, onboarding is accelerated thereby reducing time to productivity and effectiveness, which also translates into better employee satisfaction and retention.
Building Your Talent Foundation for Growth
Expanding into new markets presents CDMOs with multiple challenges and the ability to hire the right people quickly and cost-effectively is critical. Engaging a talent partner who can navigate complex hiring challenges and understands the recruitment and cultural nuances between Big Pharma and CDMOs, will save you time and cost.
If you have questions around scaling your workforce with precision, contact us here.
