Recruiting the right talent for the European Medicines Agency
Client
The European Medicines Agency (EMA)The background:
The European Medicines Agency (EMA), a decentralised EU agency based in Amsterdam, is on a mission to protect and promote public and animal health by evaluating and supervising medicine for human and veterinary use. As a large EU institution, they have a constant need for temporary staff to support the implementation of major projects or during peak work periods. They usually need to find employees quickly, so they chose us to help them ensure their operations continue smoothly.
Aim of the project:
Our partnership with EMA began in January 2023 and is still active. We have been tasked with recruiting and hiring employees for various support functions, including administrative personnel, management, and IT. While we have yet to have the opportunity to visit EMA or the Netherlands in person, we have effectively conducted remote recruitment for them, showcasing our ability to adapt and succeed in an online environment.
Once EMA sends us a request to fill a particular position, we commit to finding at least three suitable candidates within five days. This may seem like a tight deadline, but we have overcome this challenge every time. We start with a quick call with the hiring manager responsible for the final selection of candidates to better understand who they are looking for.
After the interview, we create a detailed job description and post it on LinkedIn or start headhunting there. Then, we begin the interview and preselection process of the candidates. Typically, we receive around 50-100 applications per position. We ensure our final candidates are qualified, highly motivated, and genuinely interested in working at EMA. Finally, the client interviews the proposed candidates and selects the right person. Then, our local partner in the Netherlands handles all the practicalities related to the employment procedures.
We ensure a successful recruitment process by leveraging our strong talent pool in the region and proactively reaching out to suitable candidates. Our commitment extends beyond the hiring process, as we provide valuable feedback to all unselected finalists. Our proactive approach has resulted in successful hires by EMA on multiple occasions, highlighting the effectiveness of our engagement strategy.
Services provided:
- Facilitating discussions with the EMA’s hiring manager regarding the job position.
- Creating job profiles.
- Proactively recruiting from our talent pool and LinkedIn.
- Advertising open job positions.
- Presenting EMA with a shortlist of candidates.
- Providing ongoing support to employees to ensure their daily needs are met, and any problems are resolved promptly.
Project results:
Over the past year, we have filled 19 unique positions for the EMA, and 10 contracts have been extended. This demonstrates that our temporary staff have been excellent at their jobs and gives us and the client confidence in our recruitment process.
We have received positive feedback from the client regarding our recruitment process. They particularly appreciated our efforts to gather information about the positions directly from the hiring managers.
Our collaboration with the EMA is ongoing, and we take pride in the fact that we have successfully fulfilled all of their recruitment requests. We are delighted to share that all our candidates have remained in their positions without termination or voluntary departure. Furthermore, our employees have expressed high levels of satisfaction and motivation in their work at EMA, which has contributed to a positive and productive partnership.
“Cooperation with Civitta has been an utmost smooth experience, starting from the easy application process on their intuitive website to receiving ongoing support as an EMA (EU agency) employee. I immediately experienced that I had fallen into the good hands of talent managers who would take the best care of me and match my qualifications with the future employer’s needs. The continuous communication was always prompt and precise, with a special moment being a heartfelt phone call delivering the news of my successful placement at the EU agency, clearly showcasing Civitta’s commitment to a personal touch.”
Mantas B.
