Enumerix’s Post

After my last post made a splash talking about how the lab director position is misused, I thought I'd balance things out and talk about the position a bit from the business side. If you're a founder or business owner, what should you look for in a candidate for a lab director position? In my opinion the biggest thing for someone in a lab director position is trust. This is especially important in a compliance or production laboratory. When I've hired lab directors in the past, I needed to trust that when I was offsite for whatever reason, I knew that all of the tests would be performed ethically and correctly no matter what. Your laboratory's COA is your product, and you (and all of your clients) need to trust that it and your results are accurate, especially if it means sacrificing turn around time. It's always better to be accurate and defensible than to hit turnaround times. This ties in with my second criteria. Hire someone who has the guts to tell you no. Not only will "yes men" be the death of you and your company, but you need someone who will argue for the lab and the lab employees interests against the business's interests especially if you as a founder don't have a scientific background. Third, find a candidate that can manage people. Ultimately they will not be doing much (if any) day to day bench work. They'll be responsible for hiring all of the techs and scientists while overseeing all operations so this is a mandatory skill. Finally, (notice I put this towards the bottom of the list) this person should at least be scientifically familiar with your current industry focus. They don't necessarily need to be an expert, but they do need to have enough of a scientific background that they can quickly get up to speed with your business's specific product or process. They will also be your bullshit detector for any new hires, industry sales reps or complaining clients, to filter out what you should and shouldn't escalate. Essentially, hire the best person you can afford, then get out of their way and let them do their job. What should you pay someone for this position? That really depends on a lot of things like what industry, how many locations will they oversee, their background and qualifications, benefits packages, etc. But you should reasonably expect that range to be $90k-$150k+ for anyone worth your time and trust. To close out here's a short list of some other "nice to haves", but are not necessary: QA/QC experience GMP/ISO 9001/ISO 17025:2017 experience Budgetary ownership and cash flow planning Basic understanding of equipment maintenance and method troubleshooting basic understanding of HR policies Method and SOP creation LIMS implementation Basic understanding of scientific sales Environmental control experience Industry colleagues, what do you think? What else do you think should be on this list? Next time I'll post about how to spot a bad candidate for lab director and what you can do to screen them out.

Tackling unconscious bias in your hiring process can feel like an uphill battle, because how do you even know you’re doing it? Luckily, there are practices and processes you can put in place to catch this behaviour before you accidentally implement it…and here’s a great one. #hiring #bias #structuredinterviews #biotech #biotechnology

BEFORE you start hiring for your next position, stop and do this! (And if you've started already, do it now...) As scientists, you know that defining the problem you're trying to solve is crucial - so why aren't you doing it when you're recruiting??? Come watch my guide that will save you hours of wasted time at https://lnkd.in/eu6DBMqN now. #hiring #recruitment #talentacquisition #biotech #biotechnology

Where’s the best place to start when you’re hiring? With the people you already know, of course! That might be obvious, but there are things you can do to make it even more effective…here’s what they are: https://lnkd.in/eGJ4pnsG #hiring #recruitment #talentacquisition #biotech #biotechnology

You're doing important work. I know you are, and so do you. But the people you're hiring might not, unless you tell them. Too often, companies don't sell their mission to the candidates they want to hire, and it costs them their chance of securing the very best talent. To help you avoid making this and other mistakes, I'm sharing my Three Key Principles for Hiring Brilliant People - come watch the full video at https://lnkd.in/ehuRQRza now! #hiring #talent #talentacquisition #biotech #biotechnology #drugdiscovery #drugdevelopment

Building Chemistry: Hiring the Right CMO for Success Discover how to evaluate the chemistry between a CEO and CMO during hiring. We discuss the importance of their relationship with the business and product, ensuring a successful partnership. Join us for insights that can transform your hiring process. #HiringSuccess #CMO #CEOChemistry #BusinessStrategy #ProductManagement #LeadershipInsights #TeamBuilding #SuccessfulHiring #MarketingLeadership #InterviewTips

Hiring someone based only on their skillset is not a great idea – and here’s why. Skills can be taught, but Values? They’re pretty deep-rooted. If you can’t afford to lose 46% of your new hires in their first 18 months (and let’s face it, who can!) then you need to change things up. #hiring #values #talentacquisition #biotech #biotechnology

𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗕𝗗 𝗥𝗢𝗟𝗘𝗦 - $30 Million investment! 🤑 I am #hiring for BD hunters in both 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗨𝗦𝗔 for an exciting start-up CDMO. The company have been backed with a $30 Million investment to help with the 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀. 𝑩𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑫𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 - 𝑬𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆 / 𝑬𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝑼𝑺: - 5+ years CDMO experience - Experience with integrated discovery, analytical dev, process dev, custom synthesis and other related services - Chemistry degree - Proven track record of bringing in business from scratch #CDMO #Chemistry #BusinessDevelopment

When you're advertising a job or speaking to a potential candidate, focus on these six things to make sure you're presenting a compelling, comprehensive argument. Remember, even though you're the one hiring, you still have to sell if you find someone great! #hiring #talentacquisition #recruitment #biotech #biotechnology