Case study: Total Talent Solutions for a Biotechnology company

Total talent solution for leading biotech

Sana Biotechnology, Inc. is focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines for patients. They share a vision of repairing and controlling genes, replacing missing or damaged cells, and making their therapies broadly available to patients. With operations in Seattle, Cambridge, and South San Francisco, they are working to create an enduring company that changes how the world treats disease.

Sana has been in talent acquisition partnership with Skills Alliance since 2020. Upon engagement, Sana was recently formed as a highly innovative company that had ambitious growth targets in a highly specialized area.  They required the ability to scale rapidly while accessing extremely specialized talent in multiple functional areas and required a partner who could support this effort.

The challenge

  • Sana required experts in a highly innovative cell and gene therapy space across multiple locations which meant interview panels were often complex. This created challenges for a lean, growing organization where hiring managers were also subject matter experts with heavy demands on time.
  • As a new company operating in the highly dynamic biotechnology sector, they required high levels of flexibility: the capability to both scale and contract quickly based on changing demands and market dynamics.
  • The Sana team required a solution that would allow it to optimize its talent engagement across its direct and extended workforce, and ensure their workforce was fully compliant.
  • The Sana leadership team needed support that would allow them to make informed strategic decisions in a high growth environment.
  • Recruitment technology was required to support the process for both their permanent and contingent workforce.

The solution

Skills Alliance deployed a total talent solution (TTS) that met client requirements for flexibility by including the ability for both rapid scale-up and contraction while maintaining service excellence. This strategic solution included:

  • Robust Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) support for talent acquisition, enabling the Sana team to hire at volume, improving the time to hire and experience for talent acquisition and hiring manager teams
  • Deployed a Managed Service Provider (MSP) solution for contingent labor, including Vendor Management System (VMS) technology to manage the client’s contingent workforce across all departments, improving budget adherence and including full treasury management
  • Deployed direct delivery support for contingent labor, leveraging Skills Alliance specific expertise in the cell therapy market to boost access to talent within the cell therapy market, driving quality of hire
  • Unified this multifaceted solution with a cohesive Project Management Office (PMO) team, providing them with one point of contact for all of their talent acquisition requirements, boosting administrative support and simplifying the experience for the Sana team.

The results

Skills Alliance’s proactive and partnership-led approach has helped facilitate exciting results for the client, including:

  • Time to hire improvement of 50%
  • Cost savings of 19%
  • Full time employee (FTE) growth of over 230 employees
  • Contingent labour:
    • Skills Alliance direct delivery fill rate of 80%
    • Direct delivery drove high candidate quality – 30% of direct delivery placements converted to FTE
  • Program successfully scaled up and contracted multiple times to support changing market dynamics and client strategy, while maintaining service standards and continuity
  • Enhanced reporting and access to data, enabling informed client decision making
  • Improved efficiency and experience for client talent acquisition and hiring managers

 

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