Anybody who’s hiring in the surgical robotics sector seems to have a similar set of frustrations. CEOs, hiring managers, talent acquisition teams and human resources professionals are all frustrated with the time it takes to hire, inconsistent results, irrelevant CVs and candidates who don’t understand the company. All of that is incredibly frustrating when the priority is engineering a life-saving robot or designing a clinical trial or commercialising cell systems.
Recruitment can distract focus from your mission critical tasks if it’s not done well. In this industry, time is one of our most critical assets, so you can't give it away lightly. As more companies are developing and manufacturing surgical robotics, competition for talent is increasing. In today's world, the top level of talent is in high demand. Their experience needs to be world class, from their first interaction with your company through to their first day.
In Episode 15 of The Surgibots Podcast I shared my advice for attracting and hiring top level talent within the surgical robotics industry. This blog is a step-by-step guide to creating an exceptional hiring process, built off the advice that I shared on the podcast. Read on to supercharge your own hiring process.
Develop Your EVP
Before anything else, you need to figure out what makes you unique and nail down your employee value proposition (EVP). That clearly lays out what makes working for your company exciting and unique. It’s a blend of awards, benefits and opportunities that will entice new people into your company.
Developing a robust EVP begins with a lot of internal work, so you need to dig deep. Get stories from the people you work with, ask them why they joined you on your mission and what made them come to you over your competition. It's not good enough to just say ‘we have a great culture’, you need to show people evidence to back it up. If you're finding surface level answers to your questions, travel up the ‘why tree’ until you arrive at the core of what makes you a great place to work, then put those answers all over your hiring process.
Get Stakeholders Involved
When you’re defining a role, pull all the stakeholders in the process. Bring in anyone who will interview the potential hires and include the wider team who are going to be working with them on a daily basis to create company-wide alignment. If you're going to use an external provider like RW Search, bring them in as early as possible too. Quality truly is better than quantity with external partners, because a true recruitment partner who knows your business will be able to provide you with valuable insights about what skills are available on the talent market and can help you successfully define a specific role and person that will be attainable. If everyone is aligned at the start of the process, there will be less hiccups along the way.
Define the Role
In your stakeholder meeting, dig deep into the why behind your requirements and set out the purpose of this new hire. Think of your hiring process as a funnel. You need to input as many prospects or individuals as possible, even if they don't absolutely hit the nail on the head, but they do have the right skill set, attitude or a unique value proposition to take the company or project where it needs to go.
Work out your non-negotiables early on, and constantly question ‘Why do we need this? Why is that important? What would that enable us to do? If we can't identify people with that attribute then what else can we look at?’ At the same time, it’s critical to assess the cost. If you get several months down the line and the role hasn’t been filled, what bottlenecks will that cause? How costly will it be to you? That will motivate you to make your process as effective as possible.
Build Your Talent Pool
Building a talent pool isn't just a numbers game. It's about understanding and analysing the data, because that will show you what roles in our company are the hardest to fill. You’ll also gain insights into where candidates are currently working, what motivates them, where they went to university, etc. By taking a data driven approach, you can craft targeted recruitment strategies that ensure you're reaching the right people in the right places.
And then there's the incredible power of internal recommendations. Referrals are based on a principle, if we have a really talented individual already in our team, then there's a good chance they know others with the same drive or expertise. Lots of early teams are built purely from internal referrals. But how do you get repeatable results from this, but one way is to formalise and incentivize doing so. This usually happens when a company gets to a certain size. But remember, the goal is not just to find bums on seats here, it's about find the right fit the individuals who will drive innovation, have hope, quality, and contribute to the company's mission.
Fine-Tune Your Job Ads
Don't fall into the trap of posting your job description as an advert. You need to speak directly to the aspirations, motivations and passions of your target audience. What challenges will they tackle? What breakthroughs could they be a part of? By crafting resonant messaging, you can appeal to the cream of the crop, including candidates who aren't actively hunting for a new opportunity.
Your job ads should tell stories. Creative Writing is not an easy skill, but by telling your employees’ stories, you will craft better adverts. You’ll stand out against the competition if you can explain how you’re innovative through case study stories rather than slapping the phrase ‘innovative company’ in a job description. Tell candidates the direct impact of the role you’re offering on healthcare outcomes. Talk about a particular engineering challenge the team recently overcame. These narratives humanise your company and make it relatable and aspirational. Writing clear, genuine stories will transform your job ads.
Prioritise the Candidate Experience
The interview process isn't a one way street of evaluating candidates skills and fit. It's also your opportunity to showcase yourself beyond the adverts and messages. First impressions in the hiring process is everything. So let's get something straight: a rigorous, detailed interview process is essential. After all, these roles require precise expertise and alignment with your values and the ability to collaborate in a high pressure environment.
However, there's a fine line between being thorough and being unnecessary. A long, unclear or overly complex interview process massively deters candidates. Top talent, especially in surgical robotics, are likely being approached about multiple opportunities at any one time. An interview process that drags on or lacks transparency leads to candidate dropout.
Create Clarity in Your Interviews
So what's the solution? Firstly, it's all about clarity. From the outset, candidates should have a clear roadmap of the interview stages, your expected timelines and the objectives of each phase. This not only sets the expectations but also showcases your efficiency. If you don't communicate with your interviewees, that creates doubt, which will undermine your entire process.
Secondly, streamline your process. While multi-stage interviews are valuable, you must ensure that each stage has a distinct purpose. For instance, if technical skills are assessed in a task-based round, the subsequent stages can focus on soft skills, team dynamics and culture fit to bring together interviewees. You don't need to do seven interviews to assess a candidate.
Feedback is crucial. Keeping candidates in the loop - even if it's just to update them with a slight delay - creates respect and maintains engagement. It's important to understand that for a lot of people, job interviews are one of the most anxiety-inducing experiences that they can go through. We recommend providing feedback within 24 to 48 hours of each interview stage, because you wouldn't believe how much of an impact this can have on securing talent.
Lastly infuse a bit of the company's personality into the process. Whether it's a casual chat with a teammate or a tour of the workspace, these little touches can make the process more personable and memorable. In essence, while the interview process has to be thorough to ensure you make the right hire, it’s equally critical to ensure a candidate-friendly experience. After all, the interview journey is often the first glimpse into the company's ethos for potential employees, so make it count. Time kills all deals, so drawing interviews out will stop you from securing the talent you need, and suck up valuable resources from your hiring team.
Make Valuable Offers
Finally, you have to make an offer. Now is not the time to mess things up. If you've done the work at the start, you should be able to put together better, more serious offers. Keeping candidates warm by bridging the communication between the final interviews and offers is vital. It shows respect, reduces anxieties and maintains the momentum you've built up to this point.
In specialised sectors like surgical robotics, where talent is niche and highly sought after, there's a delicate balance to strike when it comes to compensation packages. If your offer is too low, it can come off as undervaluing candidates' expertise, and I've seen this offend people to the point that they won't let you even present a second offer. If you're trying to buy cheap, you're probably going to buy twice, or you won't buy at all. Obviously, you have to work within your resources in cash-strapped startups, but you have to assess how much it would cost you to go through the whole process again.
Here's where external partners can bring even more value, because we possess a wealth of market data from other searches, so we can provide benchmarks for competitive compensation offers. We can also advise you on benefits packages and other non-monetary perks that candidates value. Armed with our industry knowledge, you can craft offers that are competitive and sustainable.
If there are budgetary constraints, being transparent and having a candid conversation with the candidate is crucial. You can discuss the growth trajectories, performance incentives and what else may be on the table. This is another opportunity to showcase your values, your respect for talent and your commitment to fair practices within your organisation. With the right blend of internal strategy and external insights, your offer can mark the beginning of a very fruitful professional journey.
After that, all that’s left is the onboarding journey.
To learn more about fine-tuning your hiring process, tune in to Episode 15 of The Surgibots Podcast here.
