Director and co-founder of the CK Group Liam O’Connell and also Chair of REC’s Life Sciences Executive Committee chaired  the REC’s Life Science meeting.

The REC’s Life Sciences Sector Group met on Thursday the 12^th of March at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s sumptuous Burlington House. A total of 35 attendees, claiming literally every seat in the house, discussed the question of ‘third party scientific recruiters: friend or foe?’

The event had representatives from Kellys OCG, Fieldglass, Volt and Chemistry World among others arguing their causes.

Here is a short summary of the meeting;

Thorsten Koletschka, Global Talent Strategist for Kelly OCG strongly argued that third party recruiters are recruiters’ friends not foes, stressing recruiters and RPOs can work together as partners. He gave three recommendations for success when working with an RPO or MSP:

1. Define your unique position within the talent supply chain
2. Make strategic investments in relationships with your third parties
3. Know what a high-performing programme looks like and avoid those that will not work for you.

Claire Bubb, Programme Manager at Volt Consulting Group, also argued that recruiters and third parties can work together, discussing in detail Volt’s experiences as a Managed Service Provider for Pfizer. This relationship has been highly successful, with 100% of hiring managers at Pfizer happy with their services and 97% considering it fast and efficient.

Mikael Lindmark, Vice President at Fieldglass, discussed their services and the growing demand for internal oversight and control of recruitment processes. He also examined the changing demographic and technological trends impacting on recruitment, pointing out that non-payroll labour is now the largest spending category for many companies, totalling $3.3 trillion annually.

Following the presentations there was a panel discussion and questions from attending members. The key take away message from the session was that third party scientific recruiters are now an established part of supply chains for large companies and recruiters must learn to work with them.

Adam Brownsell, Editor of Chemistry World spoke on behalf of the Royal Society of Chemistry, focusing on the recruitment channels offered by the magazine.

Lastly, Kevin Green, CEO of the REC gave a brief update on the REC’s Scale Up Live Campaign, which helps members to grow their business, and the REC’s manifesto for the 2015 Election

This meeting was very productive and each member took away new and interesting thoughts. The event would not have been possible without the efforts of the Life Sciences Executive Committee and in particular the chair, Liam O’Connell.

Find out more about Liam here