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As we have seen, pharmaceutical manufacturing is both an inventive industry and one where quality control is absolutely vital. In this kind of industry, the people that the companies employ are a key resource.
The Human Resources (Personnel) Department looks after the important areas of:
- recruitment
- training
- managing and motivating personnel.
In this chapter we will look at recruiting people. |
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GETTING THE PERSONNEL |
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The first stage of recruitment is to think about the job to be filled. There are a range of jobs in the manufacturing division of any pharmaceutical company. Each one needs different qualifications and experience. |
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Job roles |
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Figure 24 shows some of the departments and jobs at Pillco.
When the managers at Pillco think about recruitment, they start by focusing on the job to be filled. This, in turn, suggests the kind of qualifications and experience they want from an applicant. If they need process engineers for primary production then they are looking for graduates with a degree in an appropriate subject (e.g. chemistry, pharmacy, engineering). They should have relevant experience of working in the primary manufacture of chemicals or appropriate training must be available. |
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| Departments |
Jobs |
Qualifications required |
Quality operations
This involves testing raw materials and finished goods. |
Analysts
Senior analysts |
5 GCSEs
Degree |
Primary Production
This area includes fermentation, organics, drying, milling and blending. |
Operator
Techincal Support
Process Engineers |
5 GCSEs
Degree
Graduates + experience |
Secondary Production
This area involves manufacturing and packaging of medicines |
Operator
Process Scientist |
5 GCSEs
Graduates + experience |
Engineering
This includes repair and maintanance, project engineering, utilities and waste management. |
Electricians
Fitters
Instrument Technicians
Project engineers
Mechanical engineers
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Apprenticeship + BTEC NC or HNC
Apprenticeship + BTEC NC or HNC
Apprenticeship + BTEC NC or HNC
Graduates + experience
Graduates + experience |
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| Figure 24. Departments and jobs at Pillco. |
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| Figure 25. Recruiting the right people is vital. |
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Job Description |
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These requirements are set out formally in the Job Specification or Job Description. An example of a Job Description is shown in Resource 5. It is for a Laboratory Technician in the Quality Operations Department of the Manufacturing Division of Pillco. |
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All organisations involve a range of different jobs.
Choose an organisation you know well and try to draw up a table like figure 24 showing departments, jobs and qualifications or experience needed.
Draw up a detailed job description for one of the jobs. |
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Person Specifications |
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The job description is only the start of the process. Academic qualifications don’t necessarily show all of the qualities and skills needed in a job.
For instance a quality control supervisor needs to be: methodical, careful, accurate, reliable and able to keep meticulous records.
However, a project engineer will need to have quite different qualities. The person needs also to have some relevant environmental and Health & Safety knowledge, and be good at communicating, delegating and responding rapidly to new problems. |
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Job behavioural profiles |
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Often, organisations will develop job behavioural profiles using a job analysis questionnaire. This helps them work out what kind of qualities are needed for a job. Resource 6 shows some of the questions used in job analysis questionnaires.
The aim of the exercise is to put together a list of the qualities that would make a person perfectly suited to the vacant job. The job analysis is usually carried out by a group of people. These would include:
- the manager responsible for the position being analysed
- the person carrying out the job at the moment
- the personnel or human resource specialists.
The questionnaire is first completed individually, then the group meets to compare answers. They arrive at an overall group conclusion for each question. The end product of the process is a person specification.
An example of a person specification produced for a Laboratory Technician is shown in Resource 7. |
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Work in groups to draw up job behavioural profiles for jobs you have had personal experience of. You could use part-time jobs you have had for this exercise. Use the job analysis questionnaire. Remember that you need to reach a consensus answer on each question.
Once you have a complete set of answers try to work out a list of qualities which reflect your answers.
Use the information to draw up a Person Specification, using the same format as the one in Resource 6.
Comment on the objectivity of the questionnaire.
Try making job specifications for different jobs. Is there much variety/overlap in the different specifications |
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