Spotlight: A conversation with Austin Clark, Managing Director Life Sciences, Entrust People

Mike Wood caught up with Austin recently following the renewal of Entrust’s recruitment contract with PharmiWeb.com. Entrust have been using PharmiWeb’s Job Posting and CV search since 2013.

MW: Austin, let’s start with Entrust, perhaps you could give me a quick overview?

AC: Sure, Entrust People are a professional, dynamic and progressive resourcing consultancy specialising in the Life Science and Technology sectors. We have a dedicated team for each, and the Life Science team consists of specialists originally from the clinical research sector; so they “get the sector” and empathise and engage well with our clients needs and prospective candidates desires when considering a new job option. .

MW: What sort of roles do you specialise in?

AC: The team focuses on the harder to fill roles, particularly in Clinical Ops, Regulatory & Quality, Scientific and Information Technology.

MW: What do you currently think about the Pharma Recruitment industry generally?

AC: It’s a competitive world out there with Life science recruiters and internal CRO functions working similar role types, plus there’s increasing competition from recruitment companies from other sectors, particularly Oil & Gas, who are trying to “muscle in” to pharma. But of course they don’t have the experience or knowledge, which of course is our strength, along with working heavily with a passive market unearthing the true gems which are expected from our clients paying for our service.

MW: Do you think that being based in Scotland is a limiting factor for you?

AC: I don’t see that as a stumbling block at all. Geographic location is not an issue to our European clients it’s much more around our delivery, expertise and capability at the point of roles being released, and in fact, I believe we can be more competitive being fairly unique to our location; and when it comes to finding talent ourselves, we’re not up against every other major recruitment agency which are in the clusters in London and the South .. and I’d highly recommend Scotland as a location for anyone looking to join a company which is scaling in the coming months…

MW: Good point! So, moving on, what are Entrust doing with social media?

AC: LinkedIn is the best for us, each recruiter uses it to market research, search and reach out to mainly passive candidates. Facebook increasingly too. So it’s an area we’ll be looking to expand through our inhouse marketing resource.

MW: What about Job boards – do you think they have a future?

AC: Job boards are great for brand awareness, and for analysing what competitors and clients are up to. Could we live without them? – No.

MW: That’s good to hear, what about PharmiWeb.com?

AC: The PharmiWeb team is very pro-active, reliable and provides a true partnership to Entrusts evolving business , and PharmiWeb has excellent European reach which is good for us, the email “push out” works very well for us, along with some value added training sessions which we are buying into this year.

MW: OK, so what plans do you have moving forward?

AC: We’re looking to consolidate in one or 2 areas and to grow our researching group, possibly adding 2 or 3 more 360degree consultants focusing on one area and discipline. We need to find the right people, but as I said, the shrinking in the oil & gas sector is a recruiting opportunity for us in our location.

We’d like to grow our apprenticeship scheme too, and have a “life science school” so we can grow and develop our team through our own in house training solution, being based in Dundee & Aberdeen this gives us an excellent link and access to the life sciences schools, attracting really credible and intelligent individuals who want to use their learning experience but tailor it to a business environment. It’s very important to me that we retain some of this talent in Scotland and apply it to the life sciences sector where possible….this will give Entrust and excellent platform to really scale up our business over the coming 12 to 18 months……..After all, we are a people business and it’s always about our people being able to use their strengths!

MW: and what about Europe?

AC: Yes, medium term, we’re also looking increasingly at the opportunities for growth in Europe. So that’s definitely something for Entrust in the future…..maybe growing our physical footprint in the region and installing the Entrust DNA & Culture overseas...

MW: That’s great, thanks for your time Austin - and I look forward to catching up again soon.

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About Austin Clark

With over 15 years of professional experience within the resourcing and outsourcing space, Austin has been involved in the design, implementation and execution of small, medium and high volume resourcing campaigns within a variety of industries including energy, pharmaceutical, clinical research, public sector, banking, sales, blue chip and professional services organisations on a national and global scale. Following on from various senior management posts held across the South West Of England, Scotland and Ireland with global resourcing company (Adecco UK & Ireland) plus operating as Director of Global Clinical Resourcing for Global CRO (ClinTec International), he has developed a clear resourcing strategy for his customers across 40 countries worldwide, along with playing an integral part in setting up a resourcing platform and management team in South East Asia for insourcing and outsourcing projects to be completed.