One of our key drivers for creating something different was not only to embody and deliver an outstanding level of professionalism, industry expertise and customer service, but also to create vertical markets within our team; training up scientific recruiters to be highly specialist and evermore relevant and valuable to the clients we work with.
Our 7th birthday
Well, it wasn't the year that we thought it was going to be but what we have achieved this year, as a team, is remarkable. We entered into the year with plans for expansion, both in headcount and growth of the business in our already established market areas. Then by the end of the March, the pandemic struck and it isn't dramatic to say that we had very little clarity on how the business, and our industry sector, would be impacted by something of this magnitude.
Through the diligent work ethic of our team, the relationships with our clients and the unparalleled skillset of our candidates, we have had a record year both in a financial aspect and on individual achievements. Further details will be shared when we have finalised figures, but all we can say is this; although the pandemic has undoubtedly been a difficult situation to navigate, we have come out of this year more driven, more skilled and more experienced. We feel strongly that our business model from the outset, through vertical markets and becoming experts within those sectors, has been a contributing factor to why we are here, in this position.
The benefit of recruiting in vertical markets
Most other scientific recruiters cover geographical areas. Recruiters may cover the North West or London or the South East and will recruit for all scientific roles within that specific area: pharma, biotech, chemicals, cosmetics, polymers, entry-level temporary workers, executive-level head-hunt assignments…
They may be scientific recruiters, and good at what they do, but just like the chemists and scientists we work with – it’s very difficult to be a true specialist across so many different industries, with individual regulations, accreditations, expectations and skill-sets.
Here at Science Solutions, each of our scientific recruiters works across one specific industry sector, covering the whole of the UK. For example, our biotech recruiters only recruit for the biotech industry: working with clients and industry professionals in biotechnology across the whole of the UK. We also recruit many chemists and scientists from Europe.
Out of all of the scientific industry sectors, biotech is arguably the broadest in terms of job roles and skill-sets, so there’s still plenty to discover and limitless knowledge to be gained.
Our teams work very closely together: discussing every new CV and every new job, to ensure that we leave no stone unturned.
This approach enables us to individually become experts within our industry and also to consider all relevant professionals for every role. If the role is in Manchester, we’re not only considering people from the North West, but people from every area of the UK, if they have told us they can relocate.
For people who are willing or keen to relocate, we can also provide a much more relevant service, by being aware of a wide variety of roles across their industry, in a variety of locations.
Once you’ve done recruitment this way, there’s no going back. Our goal is the be the go-to recruiter for scientific and technical roles across the UK. We can only achieve this through providing a tailored, relevant and superior level of service to both our clients in industry and the jobseekers and scientists that we work alongside.
CDP: continuing professional development
Here at Science Solutions, we invest in staff training. We timetable in regular internal training sessions to ensure that our team are continuously improving and challenging themselves to grow in their professional career. We also invest in external consultancy and training, because in order to truly challenge yourself in business, you often need to look outside of your own company for ideas, inspiration and innovation.
For the last few years we’ve had the privilege of working alongside Dominic Graham at BL&D Consultancy. In addition to our internal training programme, Dom has been pivotal in delivering individual and team training for our staff, including dedicated management training for our heads of division.
Here’s to the next seven years and to enjoying and embracing the next part of our journey.