Test Owner
Zara Keane
Zara Keane
Zara holds a BA Hons degree in Business with a focus on HRM and has a background in Recruitment and Customer Service.
She will be supporting our recruitment team, helping us to do what we love best – matching the best talent with the best companies!
She has a keen interest in the pharmaceutical industry, a passion for recruitment and enjoys communicating with both clients and candidates as part of the team.
Choosing the right recruitment agency
It’s PSL review time! Is your current supplier list the right mix to support your hiring needs?
Here are our top tips to getting more bang for your buck!
Alignment
The importance of alignment in terms of needs, values and approach around your resourcing strategy cannot be underestimated. Getting it right means that you’ll get the best candidates for the job, and so saving you time, money, and stress throughout the talent acquisition process.
Ensure the agency model and strategy caters for your needs. Does the agency offer flexible talent solutions for temporary, permanent, and contingent staffing?
If you need a one-off hire for a hard-to-get candidate with a unique skillset possessing a high-level of specialism, expertise, and experience in a niche area, then bigger doesn’t always mean better! A larger agency might have a bigger database and greater following on LinkedIn, but they might not have the right network and expertise to find the right person for the role. A niche agency will more likely have deeper and broader connections within a specific sector.
An above-average agency will have a dedicated and extensively networked team that can source talent efficiently within an industry specific ecosystem. Check out their website to see what types of roles are advertised and suss out their connections on LinkedIn to validate any database claims.
Yet, if you have a large volume of hires of a general nature, it’s worth checking if the agency can handle the quantity as well as the quality.
Reputation and Values
Your recruitment partner is often the first and last point of contact with candidates interested in your company. It is important that you engage with partners who are reputable, act with integrity and will be an extension of the candidate experience you have worked hard to build.
It is therefore essential to do your homework to find out as much as possible about the experience in dealing with the agency. Visit the company website to see what values are important to them. If they echo your own, it is more likely that this will make the working relationship easier. Furthermore, if a recruitment agency has been supporting a steady portfolio of clients for several years, then this is obviously a good start.
It is also worth reading testimonials online from a variety of sources such as their website, Google, Glassdoor and LinkedIn. And if they are really on the ball, they should be measuring their client satisfaction rating, through benchmarking and business reviews.
Chemistry and Communications
To develop and maintain good relations and trust over time, communication is key. If internal processes do not align, this can cause difficulties later down the road. Compliance to industry benchmarks and standards often underpins this, and so don’t be afraid to ask them about their internal systems and processes.
Do not underestimate gut instinct! If you naturally have a good rapport with the people in the agency and you’re both on the same wavelength, and they just “get” the brief, it’s likely that candidates will also have a similar experience. We are all human after all.
Sourcing and Screening
Does the agency really understand the job profile before reaching out to the market? Have they recruited for similar roles before? Do they understand the nuances between similar but not the same positions. Do they pick up the phone to check their understanding of the role if need be? Misunderstanding the brief before reaching out to candidates is time-wasted and negatively impacts on the candidate’s perception of the recruiter.
An agency should be able to promote jobs online via different channels and via organic and paid media, depending on budget. However, often candidates are found via networks and contacts. It is therefore vital to ask how the agency sources their talent. Whilst digital advertising can attract new candidates, recruiters that work hard to stay close to their talent pool and the market by networking will ultimately be more successful.
If the agency is limited to candidates within the active job-seeker market only, it is less likely that you will successfully fill the role with the right candidate. However, if the recruitment team are skilled in sourcing from the passive market (those who are not actively looking to change roles), then you will have much more chance of finding the best person for the job.
Pre-screening tests and candidate verification tools like background and reference checks are often done in advance by efficient recruitment firms as this speeds-up the hiring process by putting forward the most suitable candidates only. Candidates can lose interest in the position if the hiring process is taking too long meaning that money, time, and productivity is lost.
Service Levels and Track Record
Will the recruitment agency deliver to your time, budget, and quality expectations? It is essential to have a conversation early on about how fees and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) SLA’s might differ for permanent and contract roles. Here are some typical questions to ask to validate their track record:
- Can the agency handle the volume and type of hires?
- What is the time-to-hire rate?
- What is the interview-to-hire rate?
- What is the billing rate and process?
Who is Team Horizon?
Team Horizon is a leading expert provider of Scientific, Technical and Engineering talent solutions to Pharmaceutical, Biopharmaceutical, Medical Devices, MedTech and Advanced Manufacturing clients in Ireland.
With specific market knowledge, and over ten years of experience in the Life Sciences and Manufacturing sector, we specialise in recruitment for following areas: Engineering, Project Management, EHS, Quality, Validation, IT, Scientific, Laboratory, Supply Chain, Operations, Maintenance, Regulatory.
What is our mission?
Our mission is to provide leading technical talent and expert know-how for our clients, who manufacture healthcare products that improve patients’ lives. We espouse our values of teamwork, passion, and respect, and we advocate equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace. These values ring through in everything we do, and this drives our culture of innovation, transparency, and continuous improvement.
How can we support you?
We offer:
- Flexible and scalable talent solutions for temporary, permanent, and contingent staffing
- High quality candidates from our extensive talent pool that has depth and breadth and includes:
- Entry level to executive appointments
- Professional contractors providing specialist skills and expertise for business-critical projects.
- A scientific and collaborative approach
- Through building flexible but long-lasting relations with our clients, our team can become an extension of your own creating a seamless experience for both the client and candidate.
- Results through delivering exceptional customer service
- We focus on quality over quantity – matching the right candidates with the right roles. We work closely to your HR departments KPI’s: CV efficiency, time-to-interview, time-to-hire, and offer acceptance rate.
Get in Touch
If you’d like a chat about how Team Horizon can help with your resourcing strategy, contact our Director of Operations, Lisa O’Connor via email lisa.oconnor@teamhorizon.ie or call 098 50600.
Meet us at the 2023 ISPE Biotech Conference
The 2023 ISPE Biotech Conference brings together industry leaders and experts to discuss the latest innovations and trends in the sector during the 26th and 27th June in Dublin.
Our Principal Consultant, Mark McLean, and our Senior Sales Associate, Niall Birdsall, will be attending the event along with our equipment partner, Wilco.
Wilco will be at stand 43 showcasing their Container Closure Integrity Testing (CCIT) approach with Headspace Analysis and how this risk-based solution design process contributes to Annex 1 compliance.
You can also find out more about their customised solutions for leak detection and automated visual inspection from lab to production through their virtual showroom.
For further information and to register, visit: https://ispe.org/conferences/2023-biotechnology-conference#
Darcy Ainscough-Denton
Darcy Ainscough Denton
Darcy has over four years of experience in recruitment and worked in engineering recruitment before joining our team.
She has a keen interest in the pharmaceutical industry, a passion for recruitment, and will be managing Quality & Validation, Procurement & Supply Chain, and Finance & HR roles.
What Candidates Say About Darcy
"Darcy has been a pleasure to work with. Reaching out over LinkedIn she was approachable and informative and encouraged me to take the opportunity at hand. Her advice and pre interview prep was excellent and made the whole process very enjoyable and exciting.
Thank you Darcy."
"I would definitely recommend Darcy for anyone who is looking for jobs. She has helped me land my current role that I am in. She had made the whole process very smooth throughout."
David Connolly
David Connolly
David is an experienced Recruitment Professional, with a history of working in the UK & Ireland. Skilled in networking, headhunting, and relationship building.
Currently recruiting for the Life Sciences/Pharmaceutical industry nationwide, with a focus on contracting positions.
When not recruiting, David enjoys spending time with his young son and following a variety of sports – Soccer, GAA and Boxing.
Also, he plays amateur soccer at the weekends. He has a keen interest in History and holds a Heritage Studies degree from GMIT.
Meet with Fill Finish Technology at the upcoming inaugural Making Pharma Ireland Exhibition & Conference from September 27-28.
Mark McLean, our Principal Consultant, will be on hand along with our Equipment Vendors, to discuss your equipment needs for sterile manufacturing and update you on our fill finish capabilities.
To schedule a meeting with Mark, email info@fillfinish.com.
Join our free webinar at 12.30pm on the 25th March, entitled Accelerate Your QP Career Path to explore your career development options with this informative session featuring Qualified Persons (QPs) from the Pharmaceutical Industry:
- Claire Rooney, Senior Product QA Manager, Qualified Person, AbbVie
- Maresa Harte, Quality Operations Manager, Athlone Laboratories
- Orla Hartnett, QP/Quality Manager, Renew Pharmaceuticals
This unique live webinar, brought to you by Team Horizon, features a strong panel of inspiring and motivating expert Quality leaders, who will share their own experiences, knowledge and journeys of how they became QPs.
We’ll be discussing opportunities and challenges in the Quality sector in the (bio)pharmaceutical industry in Ireland. A lively Q&A format will enable you to connect, engage and learn from industry leaders, helping you to develop and navigate your career in Quality and achieve your full potential.
This webinar is part of the Pharma Quality Forum live webinar series 2022, which provides topical and engaging industry topics with valuable insights for Quality, Validation, Regulatory Affairs and Pharmaceutical Manufacturing professionals.
If you are an aspiring quality professional looking to get ahead (or are already where you want to be and just want to connect), then this webinar is for you. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Team Horizon becomes an agent for De Lama, manufacturers of process and sterilisation equipment
CASTLEBAR, CO MAYO, IRELAND; OCT. 7, 2021 – TEAM HORIZON, leading provider of technical, engineering and talent solutions, announced that it has entered into a partnership with De LAMA, sterilisation, washing, decontamination and process equipment manufacturers, to become their partner for markets in the U.K. and Ireland. With over 70 years of experience, De Lama is a world leader in the design and production of high quality sterilisers.
The partnership extends Team Horizon’s portfolio as equipment agents, and further enables their capability to bring project engineering expertise and equipment solutions that help their clients achieve critical project milestones in their pharmaceutical commercial manufacturing projects.
Mark McLean, Managing Director, Team Horizon said, “I’m delighted to partner with De Lama. This venture means that we can now offer our pharma, biotech and medtech customers in the UK and Ireland, more process and sterilisation solutions. It also strengthens our position as a leading provider of engineering solutions for manufacturing in the life sciences industry”.
Marco Bianchi, Marketing & Sales Manager, De Lama said, “I look forward to working with Team Horizon. We can now offer even greater value for our customers in the UK and Ireland, providing bespoke solutions and cutting-edge technologies.”
ENDS
About TEAM HORIZON
Team Horizon is a leading provider of technical, engineering and talent solutions to the Life Sciences sector. Founded in 2010, the company offers specialist project engineering solutions for the fill-finish, primary, secondary and tertiary packaging elements of the manufacturing life cycle, and contract services providing resourcing and recruitment solutions focused on engineering, quality, technical and scientific roles. Clients include 15 of the top 30 global medical device firms, 16 of the top 30 global pharmaceutical firms and five of the top ten global biotechnology firms. Team Horizon was recently shortlisted in the Pharma Supplier of the Year category at the Pharma Industry Awards 2021.
www.teamhorizon.ie
About DE LAMA
De Lama: over 70 years of experience in Autoclaves and Sterilizers for steam sterilization, dry heat sterilization, moist heat sterilization, eto sterilization, hydrogen peroxide sterilization, ovens for depyrogenation. The range is completed with excellent equipment: H2O2 pass-box for decontamination, dryers and dryers under vacuum and industrial washers for pharmaceutical sector.
For further information, please contact: Lisa O'Connor, Director of Operations, Team Horizon, lisa.oconnor@teamhorizon.ie, +353 (0)98 50600
We recently held a webinar on Blow-Fill-Seal (BFS) Aseptic Filling Technology in association with Rommelag, and we discussed the pharmaceutical applications of BFS technology, contract manufacturing options, and the benefits and opportunities that BFS technology can provide.
Blow-Fill-Seal technology was invented in 1962 by Rommelag founder Gerhard Hansen. BFS is a rapid, flexible and cost-effective aseptic fill/finish solution for packaging sterile liquids for pharmaceutical applications. Rommelag is both the inventor and current global market leader for blow-fill-seal technology. Rommelag specialises in the aseptic filling of liquid drug products for the pharmaceutical and medical device industry with over 2000 bottelpack machines installed and operating in 80 countries around the world.
BFS technology is a pharmaceutical primary packaging-filling process that combines three normally separate operations: container formation, filling and closure/sealing. It is simply the consolidation of an automated form, fill and seal packaging sequence into one machine. Plastic containers are blow-moulded, filled with liquid product (gels, emulsions, suspensions) and sealed in one continuous operation under aseptic processing conditions. There are many applications with a primary focus on the liquid pharmaceutical market for many routes of administration: parenterals (large and small volume), inhaled, oral, sub-cutaneous and ophthalmic. It can therefore also be used for vaccines and biologicals.
The container itself is newly created, and so eliminates the need for prior transportation and storage. It is break-proof, user friendly and offers flexibility for the design of the container. The exposure time is reduced from minutes to seconds, and the product is sealed immediately after filling. The risk of contamination lessens with each of these steps within the single automated system. It is more accurate (less product waste) and reliable, and is approved by regulatory bodies in the EU (EMA) and the U.S.A (FDA). In fact, the inherent safety of the process, packaging sterile products under aseptic automated conditions has led the FDA to describe Blow-Fill-Seal technology as an "advanced aseptic process", (USP 1116).
ABOUT TEAM HORIZON
Team Horizon is a leading provider of technical, engineering and talent solutions to the Life Sciences sector. Founded in 2010, the company offers specialist project engineering solutions for the fill-finish, primary, secondary and tertiary packaging elements of the manufacturing life cycle, and contract services providing resourcing and recruitment solutions focused on engineering, quality, technical and scientific roles.
Team Horizon is the UK and Ireland agent for Rommelag, and offer considerable experience and expertise in project delivery, focusing on aseptic fill/finish applications including BFS technology. Team Horizon can provide support with equipment systems including formulation; aseptic filling and isolator systems; lyophilization; cleaning and sterilisation systems through to clean utility systems.
Clients include 15 of the top 30 global medical device firms, 16 of the top 30 global pharmaceutical firms and five of the top ten global biotechnology firms.
ABOUT ROMMELAG
Rommelag Engineering division designs and builds bottelpack machines, which are capable of manufacturing up to 34,000 containers per hour in a wide variety of forms (examples include bottles/tubes /ampoules) and plastic blends (typically polyethylene or polypropylene) with filling volumes ranging from 0.04 to 10,000 ml.
Rommelag CMO division fills more than 2 million containers per day for customers all over the world, operating more than 50 systems in multiple configurations. Equipment and process are set up to meet EU/FDA pharmaceutical standards, perform test fills, and deliver production or small-scale batches for our customers.