I attended The Recruitment Business Forum earlier today.  The first presentation was from Tom Hadley, External Relations Director, The Recruitment & Employment Confederation titled ‘Ethics in Recruitment.

This is a very important issue and recruitment companies, employers and candidates all have need to act responsibly in the recruitment process.

However my opinion prior this presentation, which remains the same now, is that whilst The REC provide a good and comprehensive set of standards they lack the power to enforce that these are followed by the industry or even their own members. My advice to candidates is to form relationships with recruiters you can trust and ensure your CV is only forwarded to companies with your prior permission

‘An hour with’…Steve Hill, Director and General Manager, Ipsen UK was extremely interesting.  He mentioned a few of the top issues facing the pharmaceutical industry; Regulatory submissions, Pricing (PPRS), Code of Practice.

Steve outlined the process of getting approval for a drug from MHRA followed by NICE only to be frustrated at the local level by the individual health authorities.  ‘Market Access’ is the buzz word at present and key account managers who can liaise within the NHS with commissioners and those who influence the prescribing behaviour are very much in demand.

Steve also mentioned the use of Contract Sales Organisations (CSOs) such as Ashfield and Innovex to provide flexible sales representation solutions.

According to Steve Pharmaceutical Companies in Greece face a mandatory price decrease for their products of 27%.  Many also report that they have big outstanding debts from their customers and yet they can’t legally halt the supply of their product.  Effectively they are being forced to supply their products at a cheaper price but are not being paid!  Some of these companies are considering pulling their operations from the ‘beleaguered’ country!

The fact that these cheaper products are also being exported to other European countries could lead to cheaper prices elsewhere due to ‘reference pricing’.

Steve also touched on the benefits of recruiting contract staff rather than permanent staff members on a longer term basis.  Like many companies at present Ipsen, face pressure regarding headcount.  Financial reporting on productivity etc usually only takes into account permanent headcount rather than contractors.  Flexibility is also the other big advantage sales teams (as mentioned before) or teams of medical writers can be recruited quickly for a project (then if they are good they may be kept on for the next project either in a contract or permanent position!)  Contracting can be a very good way to get a foothold within a company.