Oncology Recruitment Success Stories
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Chief Commercial Officer Search
Our West Coast public biotech client was preparing an oncology therapeutic in phase 3 for launch. Our client had a co-promotion arrangement with a larger company. They needed an experienced Chief Commercial Officer to help them prepare the organization and the market for launch and someone who would work well with the partner.
We started the CCO search with a kickoff meeting with the head of HR and the CEO at the company headquarters. A detailed Opportunity Profile was developed and approved so it could be shared with interested candidates. For the first few weeks, David networked with candidates throughout the US who had experience successfully building commercial organizations and launching oncology / hematology products.
With ASCO just three weeks from the start of the search, David took advantage of the conference and conducted nine 60-90 minute interviews with qualified commercial executives in Chicago.
Networking continued and other F2F interviews were conducted across the country. Finalists completed a 90-minute online personality assessment and detailed candidate profiles and interview summaries for the recommended finalists were submitted to the client.
Multiple rounds of interviews were conducted in short order, references were checked on the lead candidate and the offer was extended, finalized, and accepted. Client communication was frequent throughout the project.
Total time from project kickoff to offer acceptance was less than 60 days. We look forward to contributing to our client’s continued success as they grow their commercial organization to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Oncology Sales Force Expansion
After a competitive selection process, our firm was selected as the exclusive recruitment partner of a well-respected oncology-focused biotechnology company that was building from scratch a sales force in anticipation of launching their first product – an oncology therapeutic.
Our kickoff meeting was a great way to start the project. It enabled us to get a good feel for the culture our client was building, the candidate profile they were seeking, and to discuss best practices for a sales force build-out.
Communication is always key on large projects and this was no exception. Weekly update calls throughout the project kept everyone on the same page with regards to status updates and candidate feedback.
Together we hired the management team and very soon after began the representative phase of the project. We put a team of six oncology-focused recruiters on the project and were off to the races. Within 24 hours we had contacted over 3500 oncology-focused sales representatives via email and we quickly began networking via phone. The first live interviews would take place within 3 weeks of the project start so we had to move fast and we had to be thorough.
We pride ourselves on process and efficiency without sacrificing the personal attention we desire to provide candidates and clients.
Hundreds of networking phone calls were made, just as many phone interviews were conducted, and over 350 experienced oncology sales candidate resumes and interview summaries were submitted for consideration within weeks.
In the end, the client did a great job of landing top oncology sales managers and representatives from across the industry and we were thankful to be their partner in doing so.
Key Account Manager Team Build
COSI was asked to help one of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies build from scratch a team of 20 Oncology Key Account Managers to prepare for the initial launch of a new oncologic immunotherapy product that would later earn tens of billions of dollars of revenue per year in the US.
This newly created Key Account Manager role required a mix of strong business acumen, established large account relationships, and deep oncology experience. Despite another recruiting firm having a 3-4 week head start, we quickly and successfully placed over 80% of the external hires.
This project took place in parallel with a smaller sales force expansion project for another client. As the Key Account Manager team build-out project was wrapping up we were asked to help with several oncology sales representative, sales management, and reimbursement management searches and quickly placed five more professionals on the expanding commercial team as they prepared for a successful launch.