Hiring Like-for-Like: Med Device Risk or Opportunity?
Hiring ‘like for like’: low risk… or missed opportunity in medical device recruitment
With years of experience recruiting across neuro, cardiology, and vascular, one trend stands out: many hiring briefs start with “like for like.” Organisations look for candidates in the same therapy area, from similar competitors, with the same customer base, overlapping geography, and familiar professional networks. It makes sense – it feels lower risk, easier to benchmark, and aligns internal stakeholders quickly.
But there’s a downside. When every company targets the same narrow pool of candidates, competition intensifies, salaries rise, and hiring timelines stretch. Most importantly, the talent pool doesn’t grow – it shrinks. According to the World Economic Forum, nearly 50% of employers globally struggle to find candidates with the right skills, highlighting a widening shortage across industries. LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends report also supports this, showing that organisations prioritising skills over strict experience matching are 60% more likely to make successful hires. This data reinforces that rigid, like-for-like hiring may make recruitment harder rather than easier.
The hidden cost of narrow hiring
Focusing solely on identical experience doesn’t just slow hiring – it can limit organisational performance. McKinsey & Company reports that companies embracing diverse talent pools and non-traditional career paths are more likely to outperform peers on profitability. Similarly, research from Harvard Business School shows that strict experience requirements exclude capable candidates, reducing access to skilled talent. Over time, this approach can prevent teams from acquiring fresh perspectives, broader thinking, and innovative problem-solving abilities.
High-impact hires often defy the brief
Some of the most effective hires we’ve observed didn’t match the conventional brief: a cardiology sales representative moving into neuro can bring a new approach to complex stakeholder mapping; a vascular specialist stepping into cardiology already understands hospital procurement dynamics. Even a commercial leader from outside the therapy area can introduce a completely new go-to-market strategy.
These hires may not look perfect on paper, but they offer skills and perspectives that typical like-for-like candidates often cannot. They provide adaptability, innovative thinking, and transferable problem-solving experience – qualities increasingly valuable in the fast-evolving medical device industry.
Innovation in hiring matches innovation in devices
Medical device companies pride themselves on innovation: new technologies, procedures, and clinical outcomes. Yet hiring strategies often default to familiarity. Experience matters – especially in clinical, relationship-driven roles – but over-prioritising identical experience can stifle new ideas and limit competitive advantage.
A small shift in mindset can have a big impact. Instead of asking, “Who has done this exact job before?” hiring managers can ask, “Who has solved a similar problem in a different way?” This reframing opens the door to broader thinking, more adaptability, and occasionally, a real competitive edge. The supporting research confirms this approach: skills-based hiring increases successful placements, expands the talent pool, and improves overall organisational performance.
Balancing safety with opportunity
This doesn’t mean abandoning like-for-like hiring. In roles requiring deep clinical expertise, established relationships, or highly technical knowledge, it remains critical. But the strongest teams balance core industry experience with adjacent skills, transferable capabilities, and diverse perspectives. Organisations that achieve this not only hire faster but build teams capable of navigating change, driving innovation, and gaining a long-term competitive edge.
In today’s tight talent environment, defaulting to familiar candidates may feel safe, but it rarely creates advantage. Sometimes the real growth comes from hiring slightly “off brief,” identifying individuals who aren’t identical to the current model but bring untapped potential, fresh thinking, and new approaches to complex problems. The question isn’t whether like-for-like hiring works – it clearly does – but whether relying on it exclusively quietly limits what your team could achieve.
By Akbar Ali, Associate Director, Skills Alliance
