Quality Q’s

Key Steps to Find the Right Candidate to Fill Your Contract Needs

You have a new project. You have worked with clients and stakeholders and have identified their ‘pain’ and your plan. Your project is attainable, realistic and time bound. You can achieve your goal only if you can staff your positions with the right talent. In order to do so, there are three steps you need to take to obtain the best possible candidates for your open positions. Follow these three Quality cues or “Q’s” as we call them for success:

1. Determine Qualifications


2. Search For Qualified Candidates


3. Quantify Candidates

Determine Qualifications

Once you have established your project goal, you need to fill each position with qualified candidates. While you are constructing your project plan and narrowing your project goal you should also be identifying the people who will be performing each task and their duties.

Some positions require leadership; others require technical expertise while still others are more labor intensive. What this means is that you should construct your “wish list” for the best possible candidate for each position.

Your wish list should include as many quantifiable attributes that you need for the position. For example, a management position wish list can include the level of education required for the position, the number of years experience, specific industry experience and specific technology skills that are in place in your workplace used to manage your project.

You can also identify some of the subjective attributes that are desirable. These include the ability to work in a team environment if that is the type of environment you are staffing or alternately the ability to work independently if this position requires independent aptitude.

Search for Qualified Candidates

Sometimes you will be able to look inward in your own organization and find the ideal candidate after that you will need to look outside of your organization.

Your search for the best candidate can take many forms including internal posting, posting your positions to online job banks as well as hiring a third party to perform the search for you.

When you are searching for the best possible candidate you must remember to maintain a realistic balance in your search.

When you constructed your wish list and you may have constructed a candidate profile that is unattainable or unrealistic. For example, you may want an executive with management experience who is also familiar with a cutting edge technology with which only a small subset of the population is familiar.

This doesn’t mean you should settle for an unqualified candidate; however your expectations should be realistic. The balance is to find the best possible candidate from the existing pool of resources who will be available to perform the job in the timeframe required for your project to be successful.

Quantify Candidates

The decision on how you will qualify and quantify candidates should not be left until after you have a qualified pool of applicants. These decisions must be made at the time you make your “wish list.” This way you will be more objective in your analysis and be better positioned to utilize your selection tools to make the best decision possible.

The first step is to use your wish list to weed out the candidates who do not fit your requirements. This step should reduce your potential pool to a more manageable level; however you will likely have more resumes and candidates than you have positions to fill. It is at this point you will want to quantify each candidate qualifications.

Some of the quantification tools you may consider include certifications from external sources, assessment tests and other internal controls you may have at your disposal.

Conclusion

Some of these tasks can be accomplished in-house, online, or with the help of third-party consulting companies who can assist you with your objectives, your search and quantification.

No matter how you choose to approach your candidate search, you should feel confident in your final decision. The wrong choice can impede your project goals, but the right choice can ensure the success of your project and keep your commitment to your clients and stakeholders and ensure the success of your project.

10 things to do if you find yourself out of work unexpectedly

1. Do not panic. You will find a job.
2. Start your job search immediately. Finding a new position may take awhile which will give you time to regroup and regain confidence. If you find a job immediately, most companies are comfortable with a two week period between the time they make a formal offer and when you can start. Make sure to take care of yourself during this stressful time. Laugh as much as you can. Go to the gym. Go for a walk. Take 30 minutes each day to do something that makes you feel good about yourself.
3. Go on all interviews. Even if you don’t think a position is a good fit, you may be pleasantly surprised that the actual job is better than the written description.
4. Join business groups in your field. Some meet monthly in person, others are online. Network!
5. Post your resume on job recruiting sites. You can also set up search agents. Many of recruiting sites will automatically send you opportunities that fit your skill set.
6. Ask for references and referrals from previous employers. Network!
7. Ask for help from recruiters. Most recruiters and agencies are paid by the hiring company; therefore their service is free to you. Not only can recruiters find you jobs, they are a wonderful resource when it comes to updating your resume.
8. Get good at social networking. Set up profiles on sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Note: Keep it professional. These profiles will be viewed by perspective employers. Post a photo of yourself. Social networking makes you three dimensional and not just skills on a resume. Network, Network, Network!
9. Always do your homework before you go on an interview. Learn everything you can about the company you are potentially going to work for.
10. Wear the right thing. Unless specifically told otherwise, go to your interview with formal business attire and make sure that YOU are comfortable dressed that way.

The Federal Sunshine Act for Pharmaceutical Companies

The new Federal Sunshine Act requires manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and biologics to disclose gifts, honoraria, travel and other types of payments provided to physicians. Currently, there are six states that require this type of spend activity to be reported to the states. These state based activities will continue in addition to the Sunshine Act.

In its current form, the Sunshine Act would cover both medical device and pharmaceutical companies and includes penalties for non-compliance that would be higher than current state penalties.

The Sunshine Act differentiates itself from current state laws by including penalties that can quickly add up to substantial payments because the penalties are based on the failure to report each payment to the Federal Government.

The Sunshine Act will go into effect within the next few months and it will require medical device and pharmaceutical companies to begin reporting spend activity, as stated above, for activity incurred beginning in 2010. This will require companies to have the ability to collect spend activity beginning January 1, 2010 and begin reporting on this data in 2011.

It is critical that companies begin gathering requirements and developing systems to comply with the new Sunshine Act.

MGD Services has been working with legislative reporting for the past two years and has a skilled staff to work on delivering systems that will comply with the regulations outlined in the Sunshine Act.

Mark Gunn has 25 years experience in the Quality Assurance and FDA validation fields. If you have any questions about these topics, please email Mark at Mark@mgdservices.com

Why Not Consider Participating in a Clinical Trial?

Participating in Clinical Trials allows you help provide invaluable data for investigators to determine the success or extent of the success of their drugs, cosmetics or medical devices.

What are Clinical Trials?

In health care, clinical trials are conducted to determine if a drug or device is effective. These trials use scientific method to collect information on the quality and effectiveness of the product. Investigators identify the characteristics of the patients needed for the study and a focus group is identified.

During the study, one group may be provided with the baseline product to be tested while others in the group may be provided another product, another dosage or a placebo.

Researchers then measure the effect for each participant.

Who administers the Clinical Trial?

Before starting in a clinical trial all participants are informed about the trial. This is called Informed Consent. A doctor or nurse informs participates about:

• Purpose
• Duration
• Required procedures
• Risks
• Potential benefits
• Key contacts

In the United States, federally funded trials are almost always administered by the researcher. The researcher can be a hospital, clinic, or corporation. Often a trial, at least in the later phases, may be administered by a CRO (Contract Research Organization). A CRO is a company that is contracted to perform all the administrative work on a clinical trial.

Who Can Participate in a Clinical Trial?

Anyone can apply to participate in a clinical trial. Most trials, based on the product being tested, may require specific characteristics of participants in order to be eligible for a particular study.
What Clinical Trials are going on now?

GD Consulting Services is a Clinical Services Organization (CSO) serving academia and corporate clinical trial needs. If you want more information about Clinical Trials in the Greater Philadelphia area, please contact MGD Consulting or visit www.mgdconsulting.net for more information.

Why should you consider participating in a Clinical Trial?

Not only are you able to supplement your income by participating in clinical trials, but you are may also be participating in life saving testing that can open the door to new and innovate drugs and products. No matter what your motivation, Clinical Trials are an important part of today’s ever changing technology.

Donna Roberts works and writes for MGD Services, Inc. and MGD Consulting.

In the Green

Standby energy, also known as “energy vampire” or “leaking electricity,” is the electricity used by household appliances and other equipment that is being used when these items are off and/or not being used to perform there primary function. This energy makes up anywhere between 5-10% of a normal household electricity bill and while that’s not a high percentage, this number is thought to be growing as we rely more and more on electrically powered items.

Here are some tips for making a change in your standby energy use:

If you aren't frequently using a device, unplug it. (This works fine for the 6th TV in the guest bedroom or the VCR.) Warning, don't frequently unplug and plug in appliances because you could get electrocuted from frayed wires and plugs.

Use a switchable power strip for clusters of computer or video products. That way you can switch everything to zero with one action.

When shopping, search for low standby products. (Asking a salesperson will probably be a waste of time.) ENERGY STAR products have lower standby.

Buy a low-cost watt-meter, measure the devices in your home and take targeted action. You will certainly be surprised at what you discover and this exercise might even pay back the cost of the meter in savings. A list of watt-meters is here.

As our use of technology grows it is important to be aware of the effects of our reliance on it and how that is growing as well. It is up to individuals to take care and to take responsibility for our use of energy and one small way in doing this is to make that small effort to just unplug and stop “leaking energy.”

Courtney Utman is the Administrative Assistant at MGD Services and can be reached at cutman@mgdservices.com