Poor Quality Consultants:

When looking for high-quality work, it’s essential to think carefully about the people you hire. What makes a good consultant? What are some signs of poor-quality consultants? Identifying key traits can be an effective first step in improving your workforce and ensuring that every hire is right. 

How to Identify Poor Quality Consultants

We are receiving hundreds of applicants for every position. So how do you avoid hiring poor quality consultants when you are being overwhelmed with candidates? The first step is to learn the key indicators of what makes a consultant poor quality, so you never have to settle for a candidate that mediocre or doesn’t fit your needs. 

Red Flags for Poor Quality Consultants

To help you identify poor-quality consultants, we’ve put together some easily identifiable red flags. When reviewing a candidate for your company, you should utilize caution if you encounter any of these red flags and inquire further about their relevance to the position you are hiring for. 

Poor Employment History 

Does your candidate have unexplained gaps in employment or short tenure with multiple employers? These issues aren’t necessarily deal-breakers, but you need to know the reasoning behind the gaps or short tenures before you make a decision.

A red flag would be if the candidate has a trend of leaving contracts for better opportunities before their initial contract terms had expired. I also pay close attention to complaints about previous positions. If the candidate complains about work-life balance or travel, I dig into how that position may (or may not) differ from the one I am offering. 

Here at craresources, we make sure to ask these questions to determine acceptable reasoning before submitting candidates to our clients, but you may also want to conduct a background check to investigate other components of their work/life history.

Insufficient Knowledge

Being a CRA is a job that requires strong industry knowledge and experience. Even if the resume looks flawless, a candidate worth the current market value should be able to easily answer questions about their monitoring skills and clinical trial experience in an interview. However, when asked these questions, if the candidate seems to have trouble confidently formulating answers or describing their relevant experience, they may lack the knowledge necessary to get the job done. 

Poor References

With the prevalence of fraud in this industry, it’s important not only to receive qualifying information from the candidate but from relevant references as well. When you ask the candidate for references, tune into how he or she responds to the request. Did the tone of voice change? We often sense a shift in energy or notice a slight change in their demeanor. Behavior like this may betray a lack of confidence in their past experiences with their references, or they may be concerned with even providing relevant references.

A quality CRA candidate will follow your reference process. And their references will respond quickly with excellent feedback. If the candidate’s references are nonresponsive or lukewarm, you may want to question if that candidate is of the right caliber for your organization.

Green Flags For Quality Consultants

When hiring CRAs, you should actively seek out these traits to find the best candidates.

Honesty

No one is perfect, and that is okay. However, this is why you should actively avoid anyone who claims to be! When we see ‘perfect’ resumes, we dig deeper. When we interview candidates, we always ask about prior missed deadlines or difficulties in the workplace. The ideal candidate will be straightforward and honest about their shortcomings but should also offer insight into how they have worked to rectify them. 

Communication Skills

Communication skills and mastery of the English language should be the first thing you notice about a candidate. Is the resume easy to browse with sufficient relevant details included? Can the CRA clearly and thoroughly articulate their expertise and experience during the interview? Skilled communicators make any project, task, or meeting go smoothly. Therefore, good communication skills are critical when judging a candidate’s aptitude and avoiding poor-quality consultants. 

Relevant Experience

You may be looking for a CRA to monitor a specific study with a focused therapeutic area, or perhaps you are looking for a diverse range of therapeutic experiences so that you can utilize the CRA on different projects. Whatever your needs may be, I recommend you create an interview template that outlines all of the skills and experiences your team requires.   

Let craresources Help

With hundreds of applicants expressing interest in every position, it can be a challenge to sort through all of the candidates to find the best fit. This is why you should consider looking to a firm like craresources to assist you in finding the right consultant. We go above and beyond to ensure that all of the candidates we source are qualified and devoid of fraud so that the hiring process can go as smoothly as possible.

Of course, the job isn’t finished on the hire date. We remain in contact as an unbiased point of contact for both our clients and the CRAs we place. Our goal is to always ensure the entire contract term is as productive as possible. Contact us today to see how we can help you.