Mount Everest has a “death zone,” but did you know your business has one, too?
Every mountaineer fears the death zone.
And for good reason.
The death zone, at 26,000 feet, is so named because it has insufficient oxygen to sustain human life for an extended period of time.
On Mount Everest, the death zone is near the summit
In any climbing season, there are only 10-12 good weather days to reach the summit.
This small window of opportunity compels crowds of climbers to reach the summit quickly—forcing them to wait in the death zone.
If too many climbers wait in the queue, the time to reach the summit can exceed a climber’s oxygen supply, leading to death.
To reach the summit successfully, mountaineers need to minimize their time in the death zone.
How do death zones apply to MedTech startups?
Like mountaineers, your startup needs to minimize its time in the death zone.
What is your death zone?
It’s the limited time period you have to keep your business alive—especially when it comes to the time-taxing process of executive hiring.
So, what do you do?
Hiring an executive recruiter is an option, of course.
But you might have resisted engaging a recruiter
You may have wondered, “Is hiring a recruiter the best way to go?” or “How do I decide which recruiter to hire?”
This article will help you minimize the uncertainty of hiring an executive recruiter when your attempts to hire the right person have failed.
3 Objections Defused
1. How do you know a recruiter will be able to find (and attract) the right person?
Today, FINDING the right person is less challenging than in earlier times.
With social media alone, millions of individuals have selected themselves—whether they realize it or not—to be a target for executive recruiters.
The bigger 21st-century challenge is data mining.
Data mining is where technology tools and the skills to use them come together to find the candidate you need.
The secret is to cull a substantial candidate list down to a short list for you to consider.
This means being able to search, index, sort and curate data to isolate only the candidates who meet the most rigorous criteria.
The challenge isn’t finding someone—the challenge is getting the candidate to take notice of YOUR opportunity.
How can your recruiter get candidates’ attention and break through the noise?
By creating a compelling narrative.
This is where having a clear understanding of the specifics of your unique opportunity becomes imperative.
When you work with an executive recruiter to craft a distinctive and compelling narrative about your company, its potential, and the reasons why joining is an exceptional career opportunity, you will get “mind share” with superstar candidates.
2. How can a small firm be as effective as a large firm?
Another common concern is that large firms seem to provide more resources during an executive search.
The perception is that larger firms appear to have scores of recruiters, researchers, etc., working on your case.
This creates the illusion that a large number of prospective candidates will be identified, so the chances are greater that the ideal candidate will be found and hired for the job.
The logic behind this idea is flawed.
A large firm with multiple offices may have had an edge 25 years ago, when the environment was different than it is today.
Back then, the process was labor-intensive. To do a thorough job of surveying a pool of candidates with specialized knowledge and skills, recruiters had to do a lot of research and searching.
Today, with social media, electronic directories and databases, data mining tools, and web scrapers, the “known universe” of candidates can be identified in a matter of days.
This is in contrast to the weeks it took to identify candidates 25 years ago.
If you take a market space such as health technology, you have a finite number of medical device makers, digital health providers, component makers, contract manufacturers, health information firms and healthcare providers that make up the ecosystem.
There is a finite number of top executives, managers and consultants working for these organizations who can be identified and indexed.
Today, the entire ecosystem of any market can be indexed and stored on a thumb drive.
Access to the data is not the challenge that it once was, and no longer demands a back-office team doing significant research to build a candidate list.
Technology and automation have leveled the playing field, making the number of back-office personnel and the number of offices irrelevant to effectiveness.
3. How can you justify paying a recruiter’s fee?
Time is money.
If a company can shorten the time to achieve a key goal, successfully pursue a high-potential opportunity or overcome a critical barrier, then what is the value of that investment?
I bring 30 years’ experience to bear, which I employ before you even pick up the phone to call me.
Before your project even starts, my past experience in the development of infrastructure and the selection of technology provides judgment that leads to a successful hire.
When the project actually begins, my skills, judgment and selected technologies bring about the achievement of your objectives.
That’s what you’re paying for.
Summary
The process to validate the best fit does not need to be a long one.
Within a matter of a few days or weeks, you can be in a position to compare enough candidates to make an informed choice.
You may not be climbing Mount Everest, but your startup can survive the death zone by accelerating the hiring of your executive talent.
JP Boyle & Associates is a health technology executive search firm serving clients in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
