About the client

Merit Medical is a leading medical device business. Headquartered in the US with large European offices in Maastricht and Galway, Merit manufacture cutting edge medical devices used within the Interventional Cardiology, Interventional Radiology and Oncology markets. Their products are used by surgeons and interventionalists across the UK and Merit pride themselves on a reputation of innovation, customer care and a true passion for making the roles of clinicians easier and more effective with their products.

After a successful commercial performance in 2021, Merit was going through some personnel changes in their commercial team largely due to internal promotions and growth. January 2022 was pivotal in the development of the team as they had taken the decision to source two new Territory Sales Managers in the North UK managing key relationships in the North West and Yorkshire regions.

Merit had initially taken these positions to market in January 2022 with a combination of advertising led and direct referral techniques to attract candidates and following a disappointing response, decided to engage with external recruitment agencies.

After a further period of eight weeks, it was evident that the quality of candidates received were lacking in relevant experience and cultural fit. Subsequently, RMG was engaged in sourcing talent for these positions in April 2022.

Our approach

After taking a comprehensive brief from key decision makers in the hiring process, it was evident that there were twomain objectives to be addressed

1 – the preference was on quality candidates that were engaged and interested in the opportunity to join Merit. Previously there had been disappointment during the recruitment process which was ultimately due to candidates not being effectively screened and measured against the core competencies of the role. The emphasis was on ‘quality’ candidates rather than ‘quantity’.

2 – time was of the essence. Though the quality needed to be there, in order to the Merit team to meet commercial plans set for 2022, there was a need to act with pace and engage candidates as soon as possible.

Using our knowledge of the med-tech market as well as our expertise in finding and engaging with high calibre talent that were not on the ‘active’ job market, the RMG team were able to source five potential candidates across the two positions within a two week period. These candidates were screened against the competencies the role required and importantly we made sure that they were fully engaged in the recruitment process.

Outcome

Following a three stage recruitment process completed over a three week period in which all 5 candidates received positive feedback, Merit had successfully offered a position to two candidates. After struggling to source talent for these positions for five calendar months, RMG had successfully found two exceptional individuals in a five-week period from the initial briefing – relieving the hiring managers within Merit Medical of the pressures of having costly gaps within their commercial team. A positive outcome for all involved!

The candidates began their positions in mid-June and initial feedback has been extremely positive.

Following these successful hires, RMG was subsequently engaged on an additional position within the Merit team in the South West of England, and following a slick two week recruitment process, they can look forward to another new starter in August.