Scaling at speed to ensure spin-off success

The organization, one of the largest biotech and pharmaceutical companies in the world, needed to scale at speed. With extremely high hiring volumes and a restructuring program taking place, the in-house talent acquisition team didn’t have the bandwidth, resources or agility to make so many niche hires at such a rapid pace in an industry that’s long been hampered by critical skills shortages. The company was also preparing to spin-off its consumer health division.

WilsonHCG dispatched a team, which included pharmaceutical recruiters, from its life sciences practice. The experienced team, which was up and running within eight weeks, spoke to key stakeholders across the business and developed a strategic sourcing strategy with a global remit (the scope included hires in nine countries). The dedicated team used labor market intelligence from Claro to provide real-time, descriptive, quantitative analytics. It competitively benchmarked and mapped talent and then analyzed talent supply and demand insights to speed up time-to-hire. It built comprehensive talent pipelines, along with a talent community to ensure access to a steady stream of qualified talent for immediate and future hiring needs. Elements of the outreach process were automated to further generate efficiencies. Following the success of the new strategic sourcing strategy, the team was also asked to help with the corporate spin-off. It flexed and grew fivefold within 45 days to support it.

The corporate restructuring program was successful, while the spin-off, which resulted in the biggest IPO in the US since 2021, took place ahead of schedule. This partnership is ongoing. The WilsonHCG RPO team helped to lay the foundations for successful sourcing and is further driving continuous improvement, while also elevating talent acquisition at the company and giving the in-house talent team more time to concentrate on other strategic initiatives.