Client and Context

A global manufacturer in the medical device sector was looking to identify a Senior Regional Director as Commercial Head for its surgical equipment department. The essential requirements of the ideal candidate from the Client's perspective were - a minimum 15 years in sales, combined working experience in China and Southeast Asia, and experience in both B2C and B2B organizations.

The medical device manufacturer's in-house HR / Talent Resourcing team commenced the recruitment process and engaged with a few potential candidates in the region, however all candidate offers made were rejected. Realizing that their talent acquisition approach is the likelier culprit, the company decided to call upon Comaea Consulting's extensive sourcing and collaborative strategic support to find the best-fit talent.

The Challenge

Finding suitable candidates is hard in the medical device sector, and even more so when the required candidate's profile comprises a diverse skillset and experience. The challenges with finding a candidate of this caliber and profile were enormous.

First of all, the medical device sector was very small at that time hence we had only a few direct competitors to approach. Plus, those competitors that were there had already been contacted by the client. Furthermore, at this level, very few candidates are willing to switch from a B2C to B2B medium.

To top it all, the role was urgent and required the candidate to commence employment within a period of 2 months.

Comaea Consulting's Approach and Solution

Exploring all avenues, finding a needle in a haystack, is something Comaea Consulting has built a reputation on doing for many years. As such our first approach was to make contact with some of the few candidates that had turned down our client’s offer as well as with the candidates who had declined initial interviews. Commencing our approach this way enables our HR consultants gain an important insight into the market perception of our client as well as allows us to understand the clients desire and perception of a suitable candidate for the role. Through this process, clarity began to emerge about the ideal candidate. We also got to understand that our client's search was too narrow. By confining their focus only on Singapore and China regions, they were ignoring a huge swathe of potential profiles. Furthermore, the clients’ in-house HR / Talent Resourcing team had approached candidates who were too junior for the role but had the title of Commercial Director in the predominately the B2B space.

Through this process, clarity began to emerge about the ideal candidate. Then, we used our extensive sourcing capabilities and proven methodologies to discover potential profiles for the role.

Going Beyond The Database

In order to have a successful outcome, HR Consultants already understood that traditional sourcing methods would not serve the purpose and we had to go beyond our database. By homing into our various networks within the industry sector for referrals this challenge was addressed. Through this we were directed to candidates who were a good fit but may not have been identified due to the different job titles in various organizations.

Passive Sourcing

Another method employed by our HR Consultants namely, ‘passive sourcing’ further ensured that potential candidates were not missed. As such we focused particular attention to detail, to online candidate profiles and resumes that had not been updated, we successfully discovered a new pool of untapped talent.

Modern Sourcing Techniques

Our final and crucial stage to ensure that we had a wide pool of suitable candidates to present to our client was to adopt a skill-based sourcing method. This method typically encompasses mapping out the skills required for the role and using these metrics to identify the potential hires.

Outcome and Impact

Utilizing the above methodologies, our life sciences HR consultants successfully carried the challenge of addressing our client's unique talent need by transforming the sourcing process. Leveraging their vast experience and expertise, Comaea Consulting sourced and engaged a candidate matching almost perfectly to the client's requirements. The candidate had previously worked in China and Southeast Asia with a direct competitor of our client and was keen to relocate, in fact the candidate had also identified our client as a potential organization for future employment.

It turned out that this candidate was not actively on the market and as such his online profile was out of date, which is the reason why his profile did not appear in the conventional and commonly used search methods that our client was initially relying on.

The candidate is now serving his duties as regional VP at our client's firm and successfully leading the largest sector of the business.

In the life sciences sector, there are many fields in which talent is limited and competition always high. The task of recruitment becomes even tougher when you look for the most niche with the specific skillset and a specific region. But, at Comaea Consulting, our solid knowledge and enriching experience in the life sciences sector enables us to accept the challenge, set high standards, and leave no stone unturned to achieve our goals. Get in touch with us for your life sciences firm talent needs at: sales@comaeaconsulting.com.

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