Every year time seems to move faster and faster and in the world of Life Sciences, it accelerates even more rapidly. It seems that almost every day we hear of a new company, a merger or acquisition, a drug failure, and so on. And then we watch how everyone scrambles (the media, investors, politicians, employers and employees) to react and swiftly adjust. Yet it takes 12-15 years for a medication to make it to market, if it ever makes it there at all. And what about the mind boggling 1,921 hours necessary to file a NDA? So how do companies try to offset some of the time hurdles? By having priority review vouchers available to help expedite the approval process. And still with the enormous expenditures of money and time, only 8% of all medications are ever approved.
Time, it appears, can be a friend in that it leads to development but it is a foe in that it takes so long. One wonders what little impact we can have in order to make time a lesser foe. Every day we hear from our client companies as well as our candidate market about the desperate need to fill a role because “we have a filing due”, “I’m doing the work of 3 regulatory people” and “I need the person yesterday”. Unfortunately, only 9% of our roles fill in less than 30 days. Why? Because of time.
Think of a time when you were excited to get something that you really wanted. Pause to picture this memory: Was it your car? A dress or pair of shoes? Your first apartment? A date with someone you liked? Was it a positive memory? Was there some buyers remorse? Did the memory somehow get tainted by a negative experience? Perhaps you spent more than expected or didn’t get the dream job? Sometimes the letdown can overshadow the excitement and that is exactly what too much time in the interviewing process can do.
Removing recruiters from the equation, a candidate submits his/her resume for a position, is contacted within a few days to several weeks by HR and has a phone interview. The candidate is told others will be interviewing before he/she will know if a face-to-face interview will happen. The candidate is excited and may even know how long to wait before knowing about the next step, but every day, the shine rubs off the excitement about job. But then, they are called back for a second interview and the excitement builds back up. After the interview, the candidate does all the right things and continues to talk about the opportunity to friends and family, picturing themselves in this role. And then the waiting begins again. People start to ask “what about that interview?” and the candidate is still hanging. Now the excitement is replaced with a range of emotions from anger to sadness to defeat to ambivalence. And when this candidate talks about the role and the company, negative emotions can creep into the conversation and picture. Not only is this devastating to a company’s brand, it has made a lasting impression on someone. They may even start interviewing for other positions – often with competing companies. Even if this person gets the role and takes it (after another interview and riding and emotional roller coaster), that positive experience somehow became tainted by time.
Why? Because too much time allows for us to get advice and input from colleagues, friends and family. People begin overthinking and over-analyzing because there is so much time. They get distracted by other job opportunities. Too many companies lose out on great candidates because the process of scheduling interviews and providing feedback moves so slowly. Was the candidate hired by another company who moved faster? Could that lost person have been the major contributor to a filing that would have led to approval? Did the wrong hire cost the company more than one would know? There is no right or wrong answer, but there is the ability to set expectations, hold everyone accountable to these, and stay on a timely path. In the end, the respect showed by managing time will leave everyone with a better impression.