Insights from a Life Sciences Recruiter

Matt Taitelman, Senior Director of Physician Recruitment, CNS and Rare Disease at Klein Hersh International shares his insights and experience for physicians looking to transition to the pharmaceutical industry. Matt has helped me both recruit for roles I needed to hire and has also been the recruiter that was retained to hire for a role that I was placed in.

Klein Hersh International is a Life Sciences recruitment firm that has been in business for 20 years. They are structured into two groups: Healthcare and Pharmaceutical/Biotech. They are further organized into “functional areas” and their recruiters are specialized to recruit only for specific roles. Matt’s focus is Clinical Development and Medical Affairs. Other recruiters in the firm specialize in Safety, Discovery, etc. Additionally, the recruiters focus on specific “therapeutic areas”; Matt’s therapeutic areas include CNS and rare disease while others in the firm focus on Oncology, General Medicine (Endocrinology, Immunology, Infectious Disease, etc).

Matt and I addressed the characteristics or traits that pharma company hiring managers are looking, interpreting job descriptions, interviewing techniques, and dispelled some myths about working with recruiters.

For Clinical Development roles, Matt looks for experiences including clinical trial understanding such as being a Principal Investigator (PI) or sub-PI, understanding the operational aspects of clinical trials, relationships with key opinion leaders (KOLs), managing adverse events. Exposure to these activities adds value to the pharmaceutical role and helps the physician transition smoothly into pharma. In addition, the transition is made easier when there is a therapeutic match (for example, a gastroenterologist taking a role in a company where the products are GI related).

From a personality perspective, your drivers for entering industry should be patient-focused.

Says Matt: “If it is about me, me, me, that is never good”  

For Medical Affairs roles, the clinical trial exposure is not as relatable; however, there is still value in knowing what goes into a trial – the endpoints, the data analysis. Here we are looking for interpersonal skills and connections within the specialty area. Do you know people, KOLs, patient advocacy groups? Having access that you bring to a pharmaceutical role is especially valuable.

Reflecting on Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance (PVG) roles Matt agreed these can definitely be an easier avenue into industry. Klein Hersh has a specific group focused on recruitment for drug safety. There is less need for therapeutic alignment in drug safety. One caveat Matt conveyed was that it can be difficult to transition into clinical development or medical affairs from a safety role.

“First job is the hardest job – most difficult is to breakthrough into industry” 

I really liked Matt’s description when we discussed how to interpret job descriptions:

I asked his thoughts on what a physician should consider when they review a job description (JD) and are trying to understand if it would be appropriate for an entry into pharma. What’s reasonable to consider based on years of experience? what are the tag-words in a JD?

“job descriptions are aspirational”

Matt said to think of it as 10 boxes that the hiring manager wants to check; the perfect or ideal candidate would have all 10 boxes checked. But, there is a “complete supply and demand imbalance” and most times companies can’t find a 10 out of 10. Think of the JD as describing “guidelines of experiences they are looking for”. One specific example we discussed was the number of years of experience a JD might state; here is Matt’s advice: “I wouldn’t ever be deterred by 5 years experience”

In my discussions with physicians, I often encounter “myths about working with recruiters”:

Matt was careful to explain that every search firm operates differently; Klein Hersh is a retained firm – “paid for and reaching out to candidates to establish relationships on behalf of our partners/clients”

I asked about the business model that Klein Hersh utilizes and he explained that a physician would not be asked to pay their firm any money for their services, the pharmaceutical company client pays for the recruiting services. He also has not seen any negative impact on a physician’s salary been adversely affected because they were working with the firm. In fact, he relays that he has crucial insights into the market and can help people understand salary expectations and educate both sides about market value.

As my readers have heard before, network is paramount and recruiters should be a part of your network. Matt described the importance of him developing relationships. Recruiters are a part of the pharmaceutical ethos, they know the industry, the players and the landscape. Maybe he is not the recruiter for the physician, but he is happy to talk to people still;

“an under utilized resource, because sometimes physicians think a recruiter is out to sell you on something; but if you can develop a good relationship the recruiter can be a very good resource”  

The resource the recruiter can be for a candidate also translates into interviewing. The recruiter has the insights about the hiring manager and company – what strikes a chord; they can guide and help the candidate to ask the right questions and obtain information the candidate needs to assess the role.

In the interview process, the candidate must be prepared. Do your homework, understand the company and its products. Asking questions is an important part of the interview; it helps the hiring manager and others interviewing you to understand your thought process, how you analyze a situation and problem solve. Also, Matt wanted to remind readers that they should have multiple questions for different interviewers and not use the same 2 or 3 questions because the interview team will discuss the candidate as a group (what we call the “de-brief”).

In addition, Matt brought up humility. I’ve written about humility previously and interestingly, Matt used exactly that word in our conversation. “You’ve got to understand you don’t know everything, we are assessing whether the candidate realizes they have a lot to learn?” It’s a “balance of confidence without being cocky – you know you can do the job with help, you want to help the team accomplish their goals and learn along the way”.

Regarding finding the first role in pharma, Matt recommends looking at as many opportunities as possible, gain experience, build your network. Someone that interviews you may like you but not for their job they are hiring for, but they know people and may refer you. You have to keep “putting yourself out there and trying”

“be resilient, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince”

 Matt graciously offered to have physicians interested in entering the pharmaceutical industry reach out to him and share their resume.