Safe to say that there isn't an HR professional across the globe that remains untouched by the war for talent and therein lies the motivation for many in our field to invest in building a talent pipeline. AB SCIEX is a global leader focused on the research, design, manufacture and marketing of state-of-the-art solutions for mass spectrometry. These solutions, which are sold to researchers or scientists around the world at pharmaceutical companies, contract research laboratories, academic and medical institutions, and health and life sciences organizations, are designed to help accelerate the complex process of discovering and developing new drug compounds, understanding the causes of disease, and protecting the safety of food, water, and the environment.

Sales of a high end technology such as mass spectrometry to buyers in B2B space requires skill sets that leave an impact enough to create a first time user, convert an existing user or educate someone who would aspire to be an AB SCIEX user one day. What this essentially means from a talent acquisition standpoint is to nurture and groom talent in a way that can create an experience for a potential customer which leaves him/her a little more knowledgeable not only about the technology, product features and improvements, but also updated about the applications and research trends in life sciences.

Danaher Corporation's life sciences platform has an offering of analytical instrumentation products that have premium brands such as AB SCIEX, Beckman Coulter, Leica-Microsystems among others. It was only natural then for AB SCIEX to participate in Danaher India's University hiring initiative launched earlier this year. From hiring niche trained talent in the past the mindset shift to go to campus was driven primarily by the need to build a talent funnel with relevant skill sets for the life sciences market. The program aims for fresh talent from a variety of academic specializations to be inducted for a cross functional exposure and eventually have them positioned as knowledge partners to the industry rather than have them sell instruments alone.

The first phase of this initiative has involved the leaders from these companies to come together and create awareness about sales and application/technical support areas to those who have seen careers traditionally rooted in research. There has been enthusiasm and interest at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad campus, Manipal Univeristy and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai and the first batch of students will join us this summer. The long term strategy is to build talent to address the LS market from a Danaher perspective today and in the future considering double digit growth every year.

The campus hiring will allow us to inculcate the desired values for operating in the Danaher business environment and also help us to forge lasting collaborative relationships with academia. The researchers and practitioners in the life sciences industries can look forward to a professional and enriching experience even during their search for the right solutions in analytical instrumentation. Here is hoping that this bright talent will bring about a refreshing change in that experience and will help us raise the bar!