Case Study: Balancing two simultaneous vacancies for a surgical robotics company’s rapid growth

The situation

A surgical robotics company specialising in radiosurgery had worked closely with Hobson Prior on a previous urgent hire for a senior software engineering vacancy, which we filled in 2.5 weeks. This success led to Hobson Prior becoming their exclusive engineering recruitment specialist.

We were approached by the VP of Engineering to support the delivery of two engineers: one to focus on UI and API engineering and a senior “treatment planning systems” (TPS) generalist.

These roles required niche skillsets and were urgently required for the company to fulfil their 12-month development plans. Due to the importance and detail required in these hires, they were concerned about the pressure of trying to fill both roles simultaneously.

The Hobson Prior solution

Having already built a recruitment partnership with Hobson Prior, we regularly met with this company and were fully aware of their development plans, employer branding proposition and how their internal teams preferred to work. Because of this, we were already well-versed in how best to represent them to prospective candidates in our vast medical technology engineering network.

After an initial briefing, we identified the specific requirements of these vacancies and developed a shortlisting process that would make sure any submitted candidates were vetted and had managed expectations to reduce any unnecessary pressure on the thinly spread hiring manager.

It was highlighted that the TPS generalist role needed to be prioritised. We developed a process to ensure that candidates highlighted for the UI role were still processed and nurtured to ensure a positive candidate journey, whilst our MedTech recruiters focused on the generalist vacancy.

The result

Hobson Prior introduced 7 candidates within 3 working days for the TSP generalist role and had multiple interviews off the back of this work. The hiring manager highlighted one incredibly strong TPS software engineer and worked with Hobson Prior to prioritize this process and ensure this candidate was excited to accept the role, which they did. This first urgent hire was completed within 2 working weeks.

Meanwhile, our team continued to shortlist and process candidates for the UI role. The hiring manager identified a strong candidate in our shortlist and wanted to progress, but was concerned about how the experienced candidate would adapt to the move from their global corporate experience to their company’s more agile start-up deadlines.

As we had built a strong rapport with this candidate, we were able to develop a try-before-you-hire solution, where the engineer was contracted through our US entity, allowing them both to begin working with each other and assess whether the faster pace worked for them both.

Both the client and the candidate accepted and are currently working well together under this trial before committing to a full-time employment offer.