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Hiring the right talent is one of the most critical tasks for any growing healthcare business, especially in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical devices sectors. These companies rely on highly skilled, often niche professionals to drive innovation and business growth. However, the recruitment process can be time-consuming, complex, and costly—especially for startups, scaleups, and SMEs that might not have the budget or need for a full-time recruiter.
This is where fractional recruitment services come in—a cost-effective and flexible solution that allows businesses to access professional recruitment support, as and when needed, without the commitment of hiring an in-house recruiter or the hefty fees of traditional recruitment agencies.
What is Fractional Recruitment?
Fractional recruitment is essentially "on-demand" recruitment support. Instead of hiring a full-time recruiter or engaging a costly agency for every new hire, businesses can tap into fractional recruitment services for specific periods, tasks, or projects. It’s a flexible, part-time solution where an experienced recruitment expert acts as an extension of your team, handling all your hiring needs without the full-time commitment.
Fractional recruitment services are especially valuable for businesses that have fluctuating hiring needs—think of a medical device startup that needs to hire several engineers and sales professionals in a short period or a company that is completely new to hiring yet needs to be cost conscious.
Why Fractional Recruitment is Ideal for Startups, Scaleups, and SMEs
For startups, scaleups, and SMEs, cash flow is often tight, and hiring a full-time internal recruiter may not be financially viable. These businesses might also lack the infrastructure or expertise needed to run a smooth recruitment process. Fractional recruitment is the perfect solution to this problem, providing businesses with access to high-level recruitment expertise without the associated full-time costs.
Here’s why fractional recruitment works so well for smaller and growing healthcare businesses:
Cost-Effective: You pay for the services only when you need them, which is far more affordable than a full-time hire or a large recruitment agency contract.
Flexibility: Whether you need help with one hire or an entire recruitment project, fractional recruitment can scale up or down to meet your needs.
Industry Expertise: In niche industries like healthcare, finding the right talent with the right skill set is crucial. Fractional recruiters bring industry-specific expertise, understanding the unique challenges and requirements of healthcare businesses.
Time-Saving: With recruitment handled externally, your internal team can focus on core business functions, leaving the sourcing, screening, and interview process to the professionals.
Employer Branding: Fractional recruiters often act as an extension of your brand, promoting your company culture and values to potential candidates, making you more attractive to top talent.
How Fractional Recruitment Compares to Recruitment Agencies
Many growing healthcare companies initially turn to recruitment agencies for their hiring needs. However, recruitment agencies often come with high fees (sometimes up to 20-30% of the candidate’s salary) and may focus on volume over quality. While agencies can be useful for one-off hires, fractional recruitment offers a more personalised, long-term solution.
Unlike agencies that are transactional, fractional recruitment is relationship-focused. The recruiter becomes embedded in your business, understanding your culture, mission, and values, and tailoring the recruitment process to align with your business goals. Plus, fractional recruiters work continuously to ensure that the talent pipeline is always flowing, rather than working on an ad-hoc basis.
Key differences include:
Cost: Recruitment agencies charge hefty placement fees, while Phlox fractional recruitment is generally paid on a more affordable, hourly or project basis.
Engagement: Phlox recruiters operate as part of your internal team, developing a deep understanding of your business and building long-term strategies.
Flexibility: With Phlox fractional recruitment, you can scale services as needed, unlike agencies, that offer just traditional placement solutions that lad to a hefty fee on completion.
Branding: With Phlox, we promote your brand from the outset. No obscure or generic job adverts disguising. your brand or identity.
Talent Pipeline: We act as an extension to your business which means that the IP we get during your process is yours to keep. We help you build a talent pipeline for your future hires.
Real-Life Examples of Businesses Benefiting from Fractional Recruitment
To illustrate the benefits of fractional recruitment, here are a couple of real-life scenarios:
1. Medical Device SME: A small medical device company felt that they were not getting access to the best talent as they were seen as a new and smaller player in the market. The company felt their story was not getting to the right talent limiting interest in the role.
We devised messaging that would resonate with their target hires and managed their recruitment process for them. The result? They gained a fabulous new team member, a strong talent pipeline for future hires and confidence that their brand was now a known entity amongst top talent within their niche.
2. Pharmaceutical Scaleup: A global pharmaceutical company launched in Australia requiring 17 new hires for their official go live date yet they knew they would be challenged by being an unknown entity in the local market and having no internal recruitment systems or processes to manage this hiring project. Phlox helped develop a tailored hiring strategy, a recruitment marketing strategy, managed job postings, and screened candidates. The result? A fully staffed business team within 6 months, at a fraction of the cost of using a recruitment agency.
Conclusion
In a competitive healthcare market, where specialised talent is in high demand, growing businesses need recruitment strategies that are both effective and affordable. Fractional recruitment is the ideal solution for startups, scaleups, and SMEs in the healthcare industry. It offers the expertise and support of an in-house recruitment team, without the hefty price tag of agencies or the need for a full-time hire.
If you’re looking to scale your team without breaking the bank, consider Phlox Consulting's fractional recruitment services. We help you hire the best talent while promoting your employer brand—ensuring your business is positioned for long-term success.
Interest to learn more? You can view our Services Page here or Get in Contact here
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