The first 90 days in a new job are important, and today we are going to discuss the ‘ownership’ phase…which usually happens between days 60 and 90.

This phase happens once you have learned the basics. You have found your footing. And hopefully, you have stopped feeling like the brand-new person in the room.

The next question should be: what now?

• How do you move from simply doing the job to shaping your role in a way that supports your future?
• When do you speak up? And how do you do it without sounding like you are trying too hard?
• How do you show initiative in the new job without stepping on anyone’s toes?
• And how do you make sure the work you are doing now is building toward the career you actually want?

In this second part of our roundtable on the first 90 days of a new job (listen to part 1 here), our team digs deeply into that next phase. We talk about ownership, visibility, and the quiet confidence that comes from understanding your value and knowing how to communicate it. We also talk about the trickiest parts of starting strong: learning to advocate for yourself while remaining thoughtful, curious, and collaborative.

This conversation isn’t about having all the answers on day one. It is about learning how to ask better questions. It is also about noticing what isn’t working. And lastly, it is about how to position yourself as someone who isn’t just getting through the job…but growing through it.

Listen to Secrets of a CRA Recruiter on Your Favorite Channel! 

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Are You Settling In or Setting Yourself Up?

Starting a new job can feel exciting, a little intimidating, and if we are being honest, a bit like you are trying not to trip in front of everybody. You have the laptop, the logins, the introductions, and the strong desire to do a good job. But somewhere between being “the new person” and trying to prove yourself, a lot of professionals slip into a dangerous little habit called settling in during their first 90 days in a new role.

That is exactly what we unpack in the first part of our roundtable conversation, outlining an effective 30-60-90 day onboarding plan.

In this discussion, our recruitment team talks candidly about why the first 90 days in a new role matter so much, and why being too quiet or too busy can work against you faster than you might think. We explore what hiring managers are really watching for, why silence can raise questions, and how the early days of a new job are not just about proving that you got the offer, but showing you are ready to grow into the role.

The conversation also gets into the importance of asking questions, learning the culture, and understanding how a company really works before assuming you already know the playbook. Because let’s be real, every workplace has its own language, pace, and unspoken rules.

If you have ever wondered how to start strong without overdoing it, this episode is for you. Listen in and hear what our team has to say about making your first 90 days count.

Listen to Secrets of a CRA Recruiter on Your Favorite Channel! 

The post Roundtable: First 90 Days in a New Role… appeared first on craresources.

How to Excel in Your First 90 Days

Transitioning into a new job can feel both exciting and overwhelming. Your first 90 days are crucial to setting the tone for your success. This period is about adapting to the company culture, mastering new processes and procedures, and balancing your workload effectively. Impressing your team and leadership early is essential, and with a focused approach, you can make a lasting impact.

Manage Expectations and Establish Goals

Be fully transparent about your current skills and experience. This honesty allows your manager to fairly assess your learning curve. Early in your onboarding, ask your supervisor the most important question: What do you expect me to accomplish in my first 90 days? Work together to identify realistic goals, then create an actionable plan to achieve them. Meeting or exceeding these expectations will leave a strong, positive impression.

Volunteer for Assignments Wisely

Stepping forward and offering to help without being prompted demonstrates initiative and dedication. It shows your colleagues and supervisors that you are eager to contribute to the organization. However, take care not to overextend yourself. Only volunteer for responsibilities you are confident you can complete. Overcommitting can harm your credibility and the performance of your team.

Build Positive Relationships with Everyone

Whether you are speaking with a member of the cleaning staff or a senior executive, treat everyone with courtesy and respect. Every role in the organization plays a part in keeping things running smoothly. Moreover, you never know who might become a future decision-maker or who could provide a valuable professional reference.

Prioritize Your Work Effectively

Organize your daily tasks by urgency and importance. Some assignments may feel routine, but they can still serve as valuable opportunities to strengthen your skills and demonstrate consistency. Efficient time management from the start will set you apart.

Maintain a Positive Attitude

Every new role comes with challenges and moments of uncertainty. You may feel confused or discouraged at times, but remember that the company chose you for a reason. Use each day to identify small wins, whether it be learning a new system or receiving positive feedback. Over time, these wins will build momentum and confidence.

Address Problems with Solutions

If you notice an outdated or inefficient process, approach the issue constructively. Instead of merely pointing out what is wrong, propose a well-thought-out alternative. This will showcase your problem-solving skills, creativity, and ability to think strategically.

Final Thought

Transitioning into a new job is more than just adjusting to a new desk and responsibilities. It is about integrating into a new environment, proving your value, and laying the foundation for long-term success. By volunteering wisely, treating everyone with respect, prioritizing work, staying positive, offering solutions, and managing expectations, you set yourself up to thrive in your new role.

Have a specific question about transitioning into a new job? Reach out; we are here to help.

The post Transitioning Into A New Job appeared first on craresources.

Many organizations struggle to control their CRA attrition rate, having a difficult time encouraging their CRA team members to stick around. In a candidate-driven market, many companies attribute high turnover to the industry, while other organizations blame the individual who left.

One area that is typically overlooked, however, is that their CRA attrition rate often increases due to the direct or indirect actions of the hiring team. Here are several easily avoidable reasons hiring managers battle to keep their attrition rates down.

You settled during recruitment

You were in such a rush to hire, onboard, and train someone so that normalcy could be restored to the team that you hired the person who was a “close” fit instead of being a “perfect” fit. Refusing to settle is important in the long run.  

You got lazy with the job description

Sounds insulting…and for that, I apologize. However, it is critical to understand that pulling out an old job description and reusing it isn’t always the best route to go. If your job description is vague or inaccurate, not only will new hires leave once they realize the situation isn’t what they signed up for, you may end up dealing with a legal battle, as there are legal parameters job descriptions must abide by. Additionally, if your job description is unclear to the point of looking generic, qualified and career-oriented candidates will not likely apply. 

Candidates were not thoroughly screened

Did you communicate with candidates through email? How many people in your company spoke with them? And a better question: is your hiring team trained to properly interview candidates?  Did you ask ‘tried and true’ competency questions to qualify them? Did you dig deep into their past experiences to ensure they were up for the tasks associated with the position?

Once hired, New Hires feel undervalued and dispensable

Do not be afraid to give praise and make your new team members feel good when they accomplish their goals or complete tasks. Team members who feel valued by their company have a deeper sense of loyalty and will be more inclined to stay.

The New Hire’s relationship with management is unsatisfactory

Finding the right personality fit is important. Hiring someone who needs a lot of guidance but putting them into the hands of a ‘hands-off (pun intended) manager will be disastrous. Whether your new team member feels micromanaged, under-supported, or feels their opinions are ignored, team members will seek a job change if they are unhappy with the relationship with their superiors. This can be resolved by ensuring each team member onboarded fits your management team’s management style.

There are no work-life balance initiatives

You might be surprised at how much more engaged and positive your team members will work when they are allowed to balance their lives. We get it; there are definitely times when team members must have ‘butt in chair’ but providing flexibility where positive is a must.  Your team members will be much more willing to work those extra hours and long nights to get the job done if they are allowed to leave an hour early on Fridays to catch their kid’s baseball games or take a Monday off to visit with their parents.

Reexamine each part of the hiring puzzle if you’re battling to lower your CRA attrition rate. Yes, it could be the market.  And yes, it could be the individual candidate.  But if you focus on areas you, as a hiring team, can address, consider evaluating your methods for recruiting and screening candidates, show pride in your team members and their work, and try to hear and respond to each team member’s voice.

Decreasing Your CRA Attrition Rate

Once you have identified the root cause of your high attrition rates, acting quickly and decisively is important if you want to get that attrition under control. High attrition can create a poor working atmosphere and may drive the need to offer higher compensation in order to keep your top talent. 

Focus on your pre-interviewing process

Interviewing a candidate is a middle step between finding a qualified applicant and hiring one, but what happens before the interview can often go overlooked. It’s obvious when a candidate doesn’t interview well, as that is what the process is for. However, a poor interview doesn’t mean the candidate isn’t qualified.  

What is not so obvious is whether or not you should waste your time speaking with them at all. Doing your due diligence upfront while scrutinizing their resume, references, and work history will help you narrow to a smaller pool of star candidates so that your interview is simply the last step to identifying the perfect personality fit. We have more tips for the pre-qualification process here. 

Utilize your network

Are you working to get your organization back on its feet after an unfortunate series of hirings gone wrong? Then, take full advantage of your network and its members. If you’ve done your homework, then it is likely that you have an entire network full of industry professionals with the skills to perform within your organization or connections to find someone who will.

Invest in growth.

One way to ensure that your CRA attrition rate stays low is to invest in developing the team members you have. Not only does this improve the quality of workers in your organization, but it also gives your team members something to work towards while they are with you. Offering avenues for growth is essential in motivating a workforce; without them, your best performers may leave for better opportunities that do offer career development.

Be wary of fraud

In a market where job candidates are flying off the shelves, the prevalence of fraudulence is bound to grow. The market is tighter than ever, and the high demand has also led organizations to rush their search for the right candidate as well as ignore potential red flags that may betray fraudulence in an individual’s application. There are several ways to identify fraud, one primary way being education: check out our blog post on the topic for more information.

Never settle for unqualified candidates

It has been said before, and it will be said again: the market is tough right now. Finding qualified candidates is more challenging than ever. It can be tempting to settle for an applicant that isn’t everything you wanted but at least checks the majority of boxes. Do not do this. Settling for candidates who do not meet your qualifications or fit your company’s culture will cost you more time and money in the long run when you are hiring their replacement. It is better to wait for a more qualified individual upfront.

Consider outsourcing your search

Recruitment, unpredictably, can be the hardest part of running any organization. Finding the right people, vetting them, and training them can take up a valuable chunk of any professional’s time and may even end in hiring unqualified individuals. Consider outsourcing your recruitment to an organization like craresources. We have made it our job to recruit qualified CRAs for our clients, utilizing our network of thousands of qualified candidates across the countries to ensure you get the right hire every time.

The post Why Your CRA Attrition Rate is So High appeared first on craresources.

If your organization has a high CRA attrition rate, it’s time to take a long, hard look at why you’re losing clinical research associates. If poor-performing CRAs are quitting, it’s likely a symptom of an inefficient hiring process; after all, shouldn’t your hiring team have ruled out the poor-performing CRA candidate prior to the hire? However, if good CRAs leave, the root of the problem may go much deeper. Read more about the causes of high turnover and how to decrease your CRA attrition rate. 

CRA Attrition Rate: What It Is and Why It Matters

CRA attrition rate is the rate at which CRAs leave the company (either voluntarily or involuntarily), and there are two main types of attrition. The first type occurs when poor-performing CRAs are hired and later quit or are fired because they are unprepared for the workload. This is a sign of a weak recruitment process.

However, the second type of attrition is much more frustrating, and it occurs when good CRAs quit. Losing a good CRA will negatively impact your study data, as well as damage site and sponsor relationships. This loss of continuity will cause timeline delays, and one Tufts study suggests that delays in research studies could cost up to $600,000 to $8,000,000 per day. 

However, the lost profits don’t stop there. There’s also the cost of re-monitoring if the attrition is due to poor performance, the potential loss of research bids, and the cost of re-hiring, re-onboarding, and re-training new CRAs. Ultimately, the numbers speak for themselves – unless you’re looking to throw away your money, do everything in your power to a) avoid hiring poor-performing CRAs and b) keep good CRAs from jumping ship. 

Let’s first focus on keeping high-quality CRAs engaged. Read on to learn how.

Reduce CRA Attrition Rate: How to Keep Good CRAs from Quitting

Compensate Fairly

While compensation isn’t everything, it is essential that you offer a competitive rate for contractors and a competitive compensation package for perms. To lower your contract CRA attrition rate, take a look at how your contract CRA hourly rate compares to other companies that are also competing for these high-quality resources. 

While many companies offer retention bonuses for perms; we have clients who also offer retention bonuses to contract CRAs in order to incent these critical resources to stay through study closeout.  However, be careful when offering bonuses for things like the number of days on-site, as this metric isn’t focused on quality.  Incentive plans should focus on excellent performance, such as consistently turning reports in on time, minimizing report errors or revisions, etc. 

So while having a competitive rate is important, other factors are equally important. Additionally, bonuses and incentives can help solve the problem, but no amount of money can make up for weak company culture.

List Accurate Job Descriptions

Another way to lower the CRA attrition rate is to list job descriptions accurately. Good CRAs often quit because the position isn’t as originally advertised. Unexpected increases in travel, an abrupt shift in assigned tasks, unplanned schedule changes, or unforeseen project delays can turn a good fit into a pain point. Even if the job was originally presented correctly, the needs may change…making a good CRA become a bad fit. 

The key to either a misunderstanding in the original job scope or in a situation where the job parameters have changed is to be transparent. Always do your best to describe the job thoroughly and accurately. And when scope (or schedule or other job characteristics) change, have a candid discussion with your CRAs impacted by these changes.  

Be willing to still accommodate the contract CRAs’ original job preferences.  After all, there is a specific reason why these high-quality CRAs selected your company and this project. Ask these valuable resources their thoughts about the changes and find out what they are okay with.  You may need to proactively make some staffing shifts, but being transparent and proactive will still minimize (and maybe even eliminate) the CRA attrition rate.  At a minimum, being proactive in these discussions will mitigate a ‘surprise’ resignation from key team members, giving you time to gracefully plan for the staffing change.  

And it will definitely increase job satisfaction, as your team members will appreciate the openness, honesty, and flexibility exhibited during these types of discussions.

Additionally, be transparent about management styles during the recruitment process. For example, if a new hire doesn’t like to be micromanaged, they likely won’t mesh with your high-touch manager.  Alternatively, a junior CRA will require more ‘hand holding’, therefore may not work well with the manager whose style is more collaborative.  Keep these work styles and management preferences in mind when hiring to avoid conflict while offering appropriate support to your individual team members.

Create a Healthy Workplace Culture

Some companies think retention is all about the money, but that hasn’t been our experience. Richard Branson is known for the saying, “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough, so they don’t want to,” which brings us to company culture. How a company treats its CRAs is just as important as how well they pay them.  

To build a strong company culture, you first need to engage your CRAs. Build a corporate environment in which CRAs feel respected and heard. Proactively ask for feedback,  listen to their ideas, and implement those ideas whenever possible. 

Because CRAs are constantly traveling to different sites, it’s easy for them to miss out on opportunities to build relationships with other company team members.   For example, as these resources are typically in the field, they miss out on water cooler talk, lunch with the team, or ‘after work’ activities such as ball games, dinner, or happy hour. 

To remedy this, consider establishing social venues that extend beyond the office and can be performed with remote team members. You can do this by incentivizing proper high-performance behavior that builds loyalty and camaraderie. You can also coordinate specific meetings where all team members are co-located for both casual and work reasons (quarterly strategic meetings, as an example). 

Incorporate Flexible Schedules and more Remote Work Options

Another way to decrease the CRA attrition rate is to stop requiring your CRAs to come in-house when they aren’t on the road. Incorporating remote work options allows for greater flexibility, making work more accessible and less of a hassle. There are also several studies that point to greater productivity when working remotely.

Additionally, suppose you take the flexible work arrangement further by not demanding the CRAs to have their ‘butt in chair’ from 8:00 – 5:00 PM daily. In that case, you are likely to see even more productivity.  In a survey by Airtasker, they identified that team members who are allowed to work remotely with flexible hours were likely to work 1.4 more days every month or 16.8 more days every year than office workers. 

This increase in productivity extends to CRAs, keeping them happier and working harder. Providing a flexible work arrangement is essential for mitigating recruiters providing better offers to your CRAs. In our experience, we see that CRAs are more interested in home-based positions, often refusing to entertain the ‘in-house’ options even if the salary is 15-20% higher. 

Businesswire agrees with us, citing that freedom to work flexibly is more important than a pay raise. Hold CRAs accountable to deliverables, but let them dictate their time. You get more out of people when you are flexible, which cuts down on their dissatisfaction; thus lowering the CRA attrition rate. 

Engage Your CRAs and Build Loyalty

The CRA position is exceptionally independent, so this recommendation can be challenging, but building loyalty with your CRAs is important. One of the best ways to do this is to show your appreciation to the CRA team. Recognize individual and group achievements, send out congratulatory emails to celebrate each team member’s contribution to an achieved milestone and generally make your CRAs feel special.

Also, offer opportunities for additional training or career advancement.  Work with the CRAs who are interested in putting together an Individual Development Plan so they can achieve their objectives. Their improvement will be to your benefit, and the loyalty built will be priceless.  

Promote Internally

To decrease the CRA attrition rate, be open to promoting CRAs internally. This way, good CRAs don’t jump ship for another company. Both the sponsor or CRO benefits when CRAs have upward mobility and space to climb the company ladder. To encourage this internal promotion, encourage a progression or succession plan. Be forward-thinking about how you grow your people, and consider the talent you already have before looking elsewhere.

Hold Your Leadership Accountable

In a perfect world, instead of your high-quality CRAs leaving (aka, CRA Attrition Rate), they are promoted.  

To lower the CRA attrition rate, hold your leadership team accountable when their CRAs voluntarily leave the company because they are dissatisfied, or involuntarily leave the company due to poor performance.  

Holding your leadership accountable in this way will make leaders ultra-sensitive to maintaining their high performers; not only because it benefits them and the projects they manage, but because they are held accountable if their attrition rate is higher than the company average. 

Additionally, openly give kudos to those leadership team members who have CRAs promoted to other roles within the organization. When your leaders pay attention to how they develop and incentivize CRAs to progress their careers, they will also pay more attention to how to keep them satisfied…therefore keeping them from quitting. 

Lastly, on this topic, we find that one of the main problems with many companies is a lack of internal organization, company maturity, and process continuity. If the processes are constantly changing, new approaches aren’t being documented well, and CRAs are confused about what metrics they’re being held to, then CRAs will be discouraged and dissatisfied. 

Then, when these CRAs do quit, the remaining associates are stretched even thinner, increasing the likelihood of additional CRA Attrition. This can all speak to a lack of underlying support. If CRAs don’t have the leadership in place to feel supported or receive a timely response if issues like site fraudulence arise, they aren’t likely to stick around. To remedy this, hold your leaders accountable, ensuring that they’re there to engage, manage, and support their CRAs.

Evaluate your Company’s Reputation

Lastly, reduce the CRA attrition rate by being a company that does the right thing. Don’t let the metrics outweigh the ethics. Have a great reputation for contributing to the industry and not just pushing products, and CRAs will feel proud of their work. 

Give to charitable organizations and talk about it, discussing what you’re doing to make a difference and what this work means to you. 

Reputation is critical, and it’s hard to rebuild a brand once it’s been compromised. Analyze brand and reputation and think about how your treatment of employees factors into that. Consider conducting surveys both internally and externally to read your brand reputation. There’s no CRA shortage, so if you’re having difficulties recruiting CRAs, you should take a long, hard look at why these high-quality, critical resources don’t want to work with you. 

Decrease CRA Attrition Rate with craresources

To recruit and retain the best CRAs, you need to know why good CRAs quit in the first place. By decreasing your CRA attrition rate, you’ll save yourself time, money, and hassle, ensuring that good candidates have room to grow and flourish within your company.

If you have specific questions about strategies to decrease the CRA attrition rate, reach out to the experts at craresources. Engaging us to answer the hard questions and do the legwork will benefit you every time. Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can connect you with the most experienced CRAs and the best sponsor work environments time and time again.

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I’m sure that there are days that you feel completely miserable and seem to be waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop.  Sometimes the negativity you feel can be solved by just figuring out what is causing this feeling.  Is it a co-worker, your actual job, or just a portion of certain tasks in that job?

Maybe your co-workers are just as unhappy as you are and if you could swap certain tasks, it would help everyone be in a better place. It helps to be involved with your co-workers, somewhat but not to the extent that you visit during work hours.

Please read our article 7 Tips to Become More Organized.  Often becoming better organized can solve those areas of discontent as well. If you are better organized, it can positively affect your attitude and make some of that unhappiness go away.

Be sure to opt into our email courses for advice and guidance.  You can also follow us on Pinterest, and “Like” us on Facebook!

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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Are you considering a career change? If so, sign up for our Job Seeker email course which provides valuable insight into how to become more competitive in the marketplace. Check out our Blog for additional interview tips. 

The post Is Your Job Making You Happy? appeared first on craresources.

Please read our article 5 Ways to Kill Employee Morale and check out our hiring manager tips for advice to guide you and help keep you on track. Also, you can opt into our email course for advice on how to keep those talented employees.  You can also follow us on Pinterest and Like us on Facebook!

Dedicated to Every Client’s Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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Are you ever involved with the hiring process? If so, sign up for our Hiring Manager email course which focuses on how to attract and hire the highest quality candidates.

The post Underperforming Employees? appeared first on craresources.

Dedicated to Every Client’s Success,

Betty Crisp
www.craresources.com
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Are you ever involved with the hiring process? We specialize in clinical research recruiting! Sign up for our Hiring Manager email course which focuses on how to attract and hire the highest quality candidates.

The post Are You A Respectable Employer? appeared first on craresources.

Written by Betty Crisp

Dedicated to Every Client’s Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
Facebook

Are you ever involved with the hiring process? If so, sign up for our Hiring Manager email course which focuses on how to attract and hire the highest quality candidates.

The post Do You Have Effective Leading Habits? appeared first on craresources.

Many job searchers start their day to day with a feeling of dread in the pit of their stomach. How do you organize your job applications, and how do you remember what jobs you’ve already applied to?

Please read our article 7 Tips to Become More Organized. Follow our job seeker tips to help you, and opt into our email marketing campaign. You can also follow us on Pinterest and Like us on Facebook!

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Betty Crisp
www.craresources.com
Facebook

Are you considering a career change? We specialize in clinical research recruiting! Sign up for our Job Seeker email course which provides valuable insight into how to become more competitive in the marketplace.

The post Why Organization is a Job Seeker’s Best Friend appeared first on craresources.