Now that we are back in the office, my day starts that little bit earlier, so I can have a coffee before cycling along the canal from East London into lovely Islington. Luckily, today there are no imminent client or candidate emergencies (issues with interview links seems to be the most common these days!), so we have a short team meeting to prioritise our open vacancies. This is not the easiest task in the world, given we have hundreds of live roles ranging from account executives right the way through to scientific directors.
I sit down for a quick breakfast while I check the news bulletins and make sure I’m up to date on industry news. As I’m finishing, a candidate calls in to get some advice on their interview the following morning. It is our job to know our clients inside out and be able to give insight and tips to our candidates during the interview process, as well as providing the all-important pre-interview pep talk (free of charge!). During the call, I’ve had a client request for an urgent freelance healthcare PR director. Once I’ve called to get a full brief it’s straight to the phones to start calling around our freelance network putting the word out and asking for recommendations and referrals.
Lunchtime already, and today I have lots of adverts to write for our new vacancies, so I work on that while having a quick sandwich. Next up, I start to put out some calls and approaches (this tends to be either sending emails or via LinkedIn) for an exciting Senior Account Manager role with a new client. As they will look at an experienced Account Manager looking for a step up and are flexible with remote and flexible working, it should be attractive to candidates meaning I can easily get some calls set up for the next day.
In the afternoon I have a call block starting with a few candidate briefings, where I find out more about their current situation, long-term career goals and whether they have any passions in terms of therapy areas. Current demand and the nature of the current hiring market in MedComms means it is unusual not to have several options for experienced candidates. Afterwards, I move onto some account management with our agency contacts, talking them through any candidates we are working with, how we are finding the market, whether they have any new vacancies and where their most pressing needs are.
At the end of the day as I’m finishing off my admin (database maintenance, emails and writing reports from client meetings) I get the call all recruiters want… an offer! It is the second offer for the candidate, an experienced senior medical writer, which is not unusual as they tend to be highly sought after. That’s probably the best end to a day you can get in recruitment! In normal times I’d probably be meeting the candidate for celebratory drinks after work, but as that’s not viable right now it’s back off to East London I go, to recharge ready for tomorrow.
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