Finding the right candidate: Developing hiring guidelines for screening applicants for clinical research coordinator positions

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Elaine Fisher, Emory University; Rebecca S Thomas, Emory Healthcare; Melinda Higgins, Emory University; Charlie J Williams, Emory Healthcare; Ikseon Choi, University of Georgia; Linda McCauley, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-09-22
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2021
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cts.2021.853
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Clinical and Translational Science
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: e20
• End Page: e20
• Grant/Funding Information: Supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UL1TR002378. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
• Keywords: Human resource recruiter; clinical research; hiring process; clinical research coordinator (CRC); principal investigator
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Nursing; Health Sciences, General

Abstract

Impact: The success of any clinical research team is dependent on hiring individuals with the experience and skill set needed for a specific research project. Strategies to improve the ability of human resource (HR) recruiters to screen and advance qualified candidates for a project will result in improved initiation and execution of the project. Objective/Goals: HR recruiters play a critical role in matching research applicants to the posted job descriptions and presenting a list of top candidates to the PI/hiring manager for interview and hiring consideration. Methods/Study Population: Creating guidelines to screen for applicant qualification based on resumes when clinical research positions have multiple levels of expertise required is a complex process of discovery, moving from subjective rationale for rating individual resumes to a more structured less biased evaluation process. To improve the hiring process of the research workforce, we successfully developed guidelines for categorizing research coordinator applications by level from beginner to advanced. Results/Anticipated Results: Through guideline development, we provide a framework to reduce bias and improve the matching of applicant resumes to job levels for improved selection of top candidates to advance for interviewing. Improved applicant to job matching offers an advantage to reduce hiring time, anticipate training needs, and shorten the timeline to active project engagement. These guidelines can form the basis for initial screening and ultimately matching individual qualities to project-specific needs.