I wanted to leave a company review, but as I am not a current or former employee, I am only able to leave an interview review. I had two interviews with PPD. My first interview was a 30 minute interview with a PPD recruiter. He was absolutely wonderful! He explained how PPD was growing at an exponential rate, reviewed the responsibilities of the position with me, and thoroughly reviewed my work history. He also asked me what I was looking for. I explained that after working over 15 years in clinical research that I was really looking to find my final “home”- a soft place to land where I could potentially work for the rest of my career. The recruiter fully understood my desire to join a reputable CRO like PPD, and seemed very impressed with my experience. He communicated that he felt PPD was the perfect fit for me, and that we would be in touch. I followed up a week later with some questions, after learning that Thermo Fisher was buying PPD, but the recruiter assured me that the merger was a positive one that would allow PPD to strengthen their market position. I agreed wholeheartedly, as I was familiar with both companies. It was at this point that my recruiter communicated to me that he was transferring me to another recruiter that was now handling talent acquisition for the role I applied to. The new recruiter was nice, but wasn’t as friendly or responsive as the first recruiter, which is fully understandable as everyone is different and has a different approach. I had to wait ten days until my interview was set up, but that just speaks to how busy the hiring team is. I was sent a Microsoft Teams invite and additional attachments regarding benefits, PTO, etc. This really got me excited!
The interview was actually two one hour interviews with different Clinical Operations Managers. Both of them had taken the time to review my resume and seemed very engaged during the process. They were both very friendly but conducted the interviews differently. My first interviewer was very relaxed and asked more casual questions, and my second interviewer was more direct and asked questions in the STAR format. I even got a compliment regarding my knowledge of a recent program partnership that PPD had made recently initiated! I was interviewed on a Friday and told the team would be meeting the following Monday to make a determination on next steps. The interviews went so well that I felt confident that I was going to be offered the job.
However, after a week passed with no word, I followed up with my recruiter. I received no response. I began to question myself, going over every detail of each interview. Certainly my positive rapport with the managers I interviewed with was not one-sided. Another four days passed and then I received a lengthy email from my recruiter. I was not being selected to join PPD because I had no Bachelor’s Degree.
This is where my negative review comes in. Although I appreciate my recruiter’s honesty (as he simply could have lied and told me that another candidate had been selected), I completed the online application through the PPD Career Portal and also provided my resume to the recruiter. My not having a Bachelor’s Degree was well documented. How this was not known is beyond me. Additionally, I have worked in clinical research for over 15 years. I have worked at the Sponsor level, the site level, and at the CRO level, so I have learned this industry from every angle. I am relatively young, determined, smart, a fast learner, and more than anything, I pride myself on my communication and client management skills. In 2021, I would expect that competency and relevant, practical experience would outweigh any educational requirements for non-clinical roles. For a company with such vision, selecting candidates based on outdated hiring practices seems pretty shortsighted.
