Stratacuity Placement Highlight: A “Spot-On Experience and Culture Fit” At Early Stage Biotech
Next-Gen Immunotherapy Startup
We came across an early-stage life sciences company tackling cancers with a revolutionary platform. With successful funding and nearly 25 employees and counting, this fast-growing company has a proven and diverse leadership team. “People from all very different backgrounds and skill sets, but…aligned in achieving the company’s goals while maintaining a positive culture that’s steadfast yet nimble,” according to the Director of Operations.
Challenge
The HR challenge at company start was sizeable. “I had to hire 10 people yesterday.” And this was while leading office and lab build-outs, as well as addressing many other operational demands.
The operations director took a divide-and-conquer approach, using a contract recruiter and—because a broader reach was needed—Stratacuity. Besides speed, the operations director was looking for two things in hires – “specialized skills for some of the science-based positions and culture fit.”
Solution
The operations director teamed with Stratacuity to find initial, critical hires. Stratacuity was retained for contract and permanent placements—several of each to date—with the rest of the early team coming from word-of-mouth and past working relationships.
The company has worked mostly with Stratacuity’s Associate Director of Discovery & Preclinical, Contract Placement. “He understands culture fit—so important in a small company—and understands speed. We tend to move very quickly. [A candidate can be] in one day, hired the next, and starting next week.”
Stratacuity also adjusts for hires that are not-at-all urgent; that is, “They’re good with speed, and can roll with punches,” the Director of Operations added.
Stratacuity’s Director of Discovery & Preclinical, Permanent Placement has also supported recent key hires. The company has other Stratacuity placements in process, and the relationship continues to grow as the company grows.
“We have been fortunate to build a very like-minded team.”— Director of Operations
Benefits and Results
In working with Stratacuity across several hires to date, the Director of Operations noted and appreciated some common threads with respect to capabilities and results. Specifically, Stratacuity proved that it:
- Understands the critical need in new hires—in this case, “willingness to roll up sleeves and do what it takes in a start-up environment”
“The Stratacuity vetting process weeded out those who say they want this but don’t really. Big company people don’t necessarily translate well to startup. We need the perspective that no job is too small or beneath me.”
- Can rapidly find talent that’s a “dead-on experience and culture” fit
For one contract candidate, they actually hired the candidate for a permanent role within a day of meeting him. “Pretty sure we offered him the job the next morning. Stratacuity hit it so far out of the park that we were like: that’s perfect; we’re hiring immediately.”
• Can source talent that makes a difference in advancing science to cures
“He has worked tirelessly to produce and is a strong part of our culture. The lab was empty when he started. Within a month, the lab was up and running.”
To learn more about how Stratacuity’s MSP program can help your company rapidly access, hire, and manage scientific and nonscientific contract workers, please call (603) 766-0600 or visit stratacuity.com.