The associate director of talent acquisition at Gilead Sciences, Grant Weinberg, uses two criteria to choose a recruitment partner: whether the firm has in the last six months handled the same types of roles that Gilead seeks to fill and whether it provides a positive experience for both successful and unsuccessful candidates.

Speaking to the Recruitment Society last week, Weinberg said Gilead, an international pharmaceutical company with a turnover of $56m (£39m) last year, uses a mix of search and contingency firms, around 35-40.

“Effective recruitment partners have to act as if they are a member of the inhouse recruitment team by adhering to the same standards of professionalism,” said Weinberg.

“They also have to manage expectations by not over promising on what they can deliver and by being honest — by telling us when our salaries aren’t competitive.”

Weinberg said that suppliers with access to more candidates were now vying for the company’s business. “This buyers’ market made it more difficult to discover which suppliers have the best candidates,” he said.

On the other hand, falling property values, currency rate fluctuations and less attractive share options for new staff caused by weak stock markets were all making talented people more reluctant to move, he said.

Weinberg said Gilead was asking him to do more of the recruitment. However, while he accepted “this might be more cost-effective”, he questioned whether any one individual could successfully cover all three divisions (commercial, research and development, and general/
administration) and speak four or five languages.