5 Tips for Interviewing Quality and Regulatory Compliance Candidates

Pharmaceutical and Medical Device companies face incredible challenges on a daily basis. Quality and Regulatory Compliance leaders must deal with extensive regulation and oversight, increasing competition, tightening budgets, and uncompromising timelines as they work tirelessly to ensure patients and consumers are provided with safe and effective products. While there are various factors that impact success in this regard, having great people on your team is one of the most crucial components.

Whether it be internal employees or external resources, your focus on making smart hiring decisions can’t be stressed enough. As such, conducting an effective and efficient interview with candidates is paramount. You likely have 45 minutes to an hour in an interview to get the information you need to make an informed decision. That’s not a lot of time, so you need to make the most of it.

Of course, you are going to ask questions to gauge technical background and expertise to ensure the individual can perform the job, you are going to ask for specific details around their accomplishments, and you are going to explore their strengths and weaknesses to understand where they can add value (and where they can’t). Or perhaps you prefer behavioral interviewing . But, either way, too many interviewers make the mistake of stopping there, and consequently, they set themselves up for failure. Here are 5 tips for interviewing quality and regulatory compliance candidates that you should definitely explore in your quest to maximize the value from the interview process:

1. Talk to the Receptionist:

You’ve seemingly hit the jackpot! Besides having the technical expertise, your candidate is enthusiastic, polite, and overall has an outstanding personality…the perfect fit in your team’s culture. But is the person sitting in your office who is absolutely nailing the interview for the past 45 minutes the same person who will show up on Day 1 and interact with others throughout the organization? In other words, is the candidate putting on a show for you or is this really who they are? This is not an easy question, and sometimes you just need to trust your gut, but there are some things you can try. Talk to others who the candidate may have had contact with… security, a receptionist, an administrative assistant... see what observations they have. You might be surprised. 

2. Are They Nervous:

Does the candidate appear nervous during the interview? If so, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, particularly for someone who may be newer to the interview process. However, the candidate can’t be so nervous where it impacts his/her ability to communicate effectively, but some slight nerves can actually be a good sign…the candidate is conscientious, humble, and really wants this job. All I can say is that I’ve interviewed plenty of people over the course of my career who appeared somewhat nervous during the interview who ultimately went on to become successful, confident leaders who made tremendous value-added contributions to their teams.

3. Revisit your “Must-Haves”:

You have a whole laundry list of “must-haves” in your search for that perfect candidate. However, there’s no such thing as the perfect candidate, and therefore to avoid wasting time in a fruitless quest, focus your interviews on finding the “right” candidate…the right candidate for your company, for your team, and for your culture. With that in mind, an individual does not need to align exactly with every item on your “must-haves” list…just the really important ones…so focus the interview there. A positive attitude, a strong work ethic, and an eagerness to learn can more than make up for certain backgrounds and experiences that don’t exactly match up with every item on your list. The key is to separate out the “nice-to-haves” from your list of “must-haves”.

4. Don’t Stereotype:

All of us are somewhat impacted by our past experiences. Last year, one of your team members resigned because her commute was too long. Six months ago, you brought onboard someone from Big Pharma, and he crashed and burned. It’s fine to acknowledge these past events and learn from them, but don’t make the mistake of stereotyping to where you become too inflexible. Just because the last person with a long commute resigned certainly doesn’t mean the next one will. Just because the last person from Big Pharma struggled with the transition doesn’t mean the next one won’t hit it out of the park. Keep an open mind so you don’t end up passing on someone who could ultimately make valuable contributions to your team and your company. 

5. Explore the Right References:

Even with a well-planned and efficient interview process, it’s wise to get some input from others. While blind references are certainly ideal, often they are not feasible based on the specific circumstances. Therefore, when you request references from the candidate, be specific. Speaking only with the candidate’s previous supervisors can come back to haunt you, as there are many people out there who are quite skilled at “managing up” but fall short with their other interactions and relationships. I recommend asking for one reference from a supervisor, one reference from a peer, and one reference from a direct report, particularly if this individual will be managing others. Then you’ll have the complete picture and the information you need to make a smart decision.

A bad hire can make things very tough on you, considering all the wasted time, effort, and money, on top of the detrimental impact it can have on your other team members. At the same time, no one is perfect. If you do enough hiring during your career, you’re going to make a poor decision at some point. The goal is for the hiring manager to take full advantage of the interview process and make it as beneficial as possible so that these bad hires are few and far between.