Medical device manufacturers need to adopt a proactive approach when it comes regulatory affairs. It remains an important part of these companies’ operations, especially considering the safety and efficacy of their products. Staying in compliance must be one of the most important goals for any organization in this space.
One of the major ways medical device companies handle regulatory affairs involves hiring professionals with relevant experience. However, this becomes challenging when considering the difficulty finding skilled candidates with the right background. Using an internal staffing process tends to be a costly process fraught with risk. Additionally, those expenses greatly increase if you end up making the wrong hiring decision.
In this scenario, partnering with a staffing agency like Shepherd Regulatory that specializes in medical device regulatory affairs space makes perfect sense. Companies like ours boast a deep understanding of the skills and experience professionals need to thrive in this role. They boast efficient processes to optimize their staffing efforts, ensuring you quickly onboard the necessary talent while saving money. Let’s take a look at recruiting challenges in the regulatory affairs and how the right staffing agency can help your company.
The Current Landscape of Medical Device Regulatory Affairs
A recent survey of medical device manufacturer leadership highlights the importance of regulatory affairs in the industry. Earning market approval and maintaining regulatory compliance ranked as the two most important goals for nearly half of the respondents. Additionally, a variety of recently announced requirements in the EU only adds to this complexity.
The growing volume of global regulations increases the costs manufacturers incur to stay in compliance. At the same time, regulatory processes are also taking longer from submission to approval. It remains a challenging landscape for device makers operating in this sector. This situation especially highlights the importance of employing experienced professionals in medical device regulatory affairs.
Identifying Common Recruitment Challenges in Medical Device Regulatory Affairs
Now, let’s explore some of the recruiting challenges medical device makers face when sourcing regulatory affairs professionals. Use this information when vetting potential staffing agency partners. Ask them about how they approach the difficulties of the talent acquisition process in the industry. This information offers useful insights, ensuring your company makes the right decision among staffing agency partners.
A talent shortage involving professionals with medical device regulatory compliance exacerbates the industry’s staffing problems. This specialized knowledges requires significant training, education, and practical experience. These niche requirements ultimately limit the candidate pool for companies hoping to make a hire. Finding these unique professionals requires a focused staffing process that might overburden small HR teams.
Not surprisingly, a shortage of regulatory affairs professionals leads to high competition for industry talent. As a result, companies need to make generous offers for a successful hire. Additionally, finding candidates with the right cultural fit plays a key role in their retention over time.
Additionally, don’t forget the extra complexity involved when recruiting international professionals with experience in medical device regulatory affairs. Still, when considering the different regulations across the globe, these professionals help device makers stay in compliance. All told, these issues highlight the importance of having a partner for your regulatory affairs staffing needs.
8 Tips for Medical Device Hiring
Here are a few tips aimed at improving your medical device regulatory affairs hiring efforts. Use this information to make your staffing process more efficient and effective. These insights also help when comparing the capabilities of different potential staffing agency partners. Note that many of these tips remain relevant even when working with a staffing agency.
1. Craft Effective Job Descriptions
A compelling job description helps attract candidates to your company’s open position. Obviously, you need to include information on the skills and experience required for the job. Providing details about the various duties of the role is also important.
At the same time, include information on your company culture. Remember what we said about cultural fit contributing to an improved retention rate. You want to hire candidates able to seamlessly interact with the rest of your team.
2. Leverage Recruitment Channels
Take advantage of any recruiting channels used by professionals with medical device regulatory affairs experience. Additionally, take advantage of social media and online forums to find candidates in the sector. LinkedIn Groups provides one opportunity for sourcing talent. Also, reach out to your professional network for any passive candidates with experience in this area.
Remember that the best regulatory affairs staffing agencies have strong connections within the industry. They maintain candidate pools filled with the professionals your company needs. In fact, use the size of their recruiting network as a differentiator when comparing agencies.
3. Build a Strong Employer Brand
A compelling employer brand also serves to attract candidates willing to join your organization. Highlight this brand in tandem with your company culture in the job ads used by your HR team. When combined with a well-crafted job description, it serves as an ideal candidate profile.
Having a strong employer brand also helps when connecting with candidates on social media. Highlight the success of your medical devices and the quality of your company’s industry reputation.
4. Offer Competitive Compensation and Benefits
As noted earlier, a competitive salary and a generous benefits package definitely contribute to any successful recruiting effort. This is especially the case when considering the talent shortage in the medical device regulatory affairs space. Not surprisingly, salaries tend to increase when recruiting within a limited supply of talent.
Once again, an experienced staffing agency partner deeply understands the current state of the regulatory affairs job market. As such, they offer helpful insights on competitive salaries and benefits, ensuring your staffing efforts result in success.
5. Provide Ongoing Training and Development
Modern professionals want to work for companies with meaningful professional development opportunities for their employees. The world of medical device makers and regulatory affairs offers no exception to this rule. As a result, your company needs to provide a robust training program and tuition reimbursement.
Requiring employees to stay with your company for a period after receiving tuition assistance directly improves your retention rate. Highlight your professional development approach along with your company brand and culture to attract top-shelf candidates.
6. Create a Positive Candidate Experience
Providing an exceptional candidate experience becomes even more important in a competitive job market. You want your company to stand out from the pack in the medical device manufacturing world. Keeping communication channels open while leveraging an optimized staffing process definitely helps.
Not surprisingly, staffing agencies in the regulatory affairs space offer helpful advice on fostering a strong candidate experience. Of course, they enjoy a status as experts in this area. Their own candidate experience also provides a meaningful competitive differentiator when comparing potential agency partners.
7. Retain Top Regulatory Talent
In addition to attracting new regulatory affairs candidates, your company also needs to retain its current talent in this area. We already talked about various ideas for improving your company’s retention rate. Hiring candidates with a compatible cultural fit definitely boosts your chances of retaining them.
Additionally, having a robust professional development program with tuition reimbursement also helps. Once again, having anyone receiving assistance stay with your company for a period of time improves your retention. Keep all these ideas in mind for your next staffing process.
8. Partner with An Expert Recruiter!
As this article highlights, partnering with a regulatory affairs staffing agency remains a wise choice for medical device makers. The best agencies with experience in this sector leverage their industry connections to easily source talent. This is especially the case with those hard to recruit regulatory affairs professionals. Expect to greatly reduce your company’s time-to-hire while also saving on your staffing expenses.
When comparing potential staffing agency partners, deeply research their history, client list (if possible), and relevant experience. If interviewing representatives from each, ask pointed questions about their use of technology and operational approach. You want a partner with highly-efficient processes for recruiting and vetting talent. Ultimately, choose one with the right fit for your medical device business.
Shepherd’s Track Record of Excellence in the Medical Device Regulatory Field
Shepherd Regulatory Search remains one of the staffing leaders in the life sciences and regulatory affairs sector. We help clients source the experienced professionals they need, no matter what the specific job role. Our robust connections within the industry ensure we have a large candidate pool filled with qualified talent. When you have a hiring need, expect us to quickly fill it in a cost-effective manner.
We also take pride in our track record of excellence finding talent with experience in medical device regulatory affairs. Our deep understanding of this field pays dividends when sourcing professionals with the right skills and experience. Trust that our approach ensures your company never lacks the necessary talent for success!
Contact Our Regulatory Affairs Recruiters Today to Find Top Talent!
When your medical device business needs regulatory affairs professionals, connect with the team at Shepherd Regulatory Search. As the preeminent staffing agency in this sector, our recruiters boast the right connections for sourcing the talent you need. Get in touch with our recruiters today to schedule some time with us to discuss your current and future hiring plans.