Why Is Your Biotech Executive Search Stalling?

You’ve been searching for a critical leader for months.

You’ve interviewed candidates. Some didn’t fit, and others dropped out. Maybe you have a strong finalist and things are on track. Or maybe, after three months, you’re still having the same conversations you had at the start.

When a search stalls, more candidates aren’t always the answer. A strong search partner should help diagnose what’s holding it back and determine what needs to happen next.

Where Is Your Executive Search Getting Stuck?

Start by identifying patterns in where the search loses momentum:

• Are qualified candidates dropping out after meeting the hiring manager?
• Are board members or other senior leaders repeatedly rejecting candidates who made it through earlier interviews?
• Are candidates staying engaged after they research the company more closely?
• Are candidates reconsidering the opportunity after speaking with people in their network?
• Is the search interview process too long?

Each situation points to a different challenge. This is where a search partner can offer a unique perspective. We have relationships with both sides of the search. We understand what the company needs, and candidates often tell us candidly what’s making them hesitate. That puts us in a position to connect the dots.

One candidate withdrawing is one candidate. When the same pattern keeps showing up, it’s time to understand what’s driving it.

Are Your Hiring Criteria Limiting the Candidate Pool?

Sometimes the bottleneck shows up before candidates ever enter the process. The profile itself may be limiting the pool.

This is common in specialized life sciences searches. Each requirement might make sense on its own, but when you add up therapeutic-area expertise, functional experience, company stage, seniority, and more, very few people check every box.

Everyone wants the Ferrari engineer. But how many Ferrari engineers are actually in the market, how many are willing to move, and what will make them choose your opportunity?

In one search for a VP of Clinical Development who would lead clinical development for a flagship asset with autoimmune indications, the client had good reason to prioritize rheumatology expertise. They also wanted someone already at the Executive Director level or above and based in a specific location.

Once we mapped those requirements against the market, only nine rheumatologists met the original criteria.

We didn’t suggest dropping the expertise that mattered. Instead, the data helped the client become more flexible on level of experience, significantly expanding the potential pool.

The standard didn’t change. The path to finding the right person did.

Which Hiring Criteria Are Really Non-Negotiable?

When a candidate pool is too narrow, my first question isn’t, “What requirement can we remove?” I ask why that requirement exists in the first place.

We saw this in a VP of Medical Affairs search for an oncology company. The initial mandate required prior bladder cancer experience. But once we dug into why, the underlying need became clear. What the company really needed was someone with an established network of GU oncology KOLs.

Understanding the need behind the requirement changed how we approached the search.

Rather than limiting the pool to candidates with direct bladder cancer experience, we could consider leaders with experience in other GU oncology tumor types who already had the relationships the company needed.

Sometimes there’s no substitute. Some requirements really are non-negotiable. That’s fine. The key is knowing what the business truly needs versus the profile first imagined.

What Should You Expect From Your Search Partner?

A search partner shouldn’t operate as a CV farm.

At some point, sending another stack of résumés creates activity, not progress. If candidate volume isn’t the problem, a search partner has a responsibility to say so.

Sometimes, this means having a tough conversation with the client. Maybe the mandate or the interview process needs to change. Or maybe the requirements are right, but the pool is small, and you need patience.

You don’t always need to change direction.

But continuing to send candidates without understanding why a search isn’t progressing isn’t a strategy. Your search partner shouldn’t just show you more candidates. They should help you understand what’s holding the search back and what it will take to move it forward.

Damian Albera | Principal