Frequently Asked Questions

No, as a candidate, you do NOT need to pay any fees for our services. Our services are completely free to candidates. We are paid by our clients, to act on their behalf and to attract talent to their business.

There are a number of benefits that you will enjoy by partnering with us in your job search:

• Time & Effort: We can do the leg work for you in finding out and advising which companies are hiring and for what positions. And we try to make the entire process as easy for you as possible. Finding a new job whilst working can be tricky, so partnering with us can help take the pressure off and give you that reassurance as you work through the recruitment process.
• Choice: Because we represent a large number of companies in each of our sectors, we are able to discuss different options with you, which gives you a more rounded appreciation of what the job market currently looks like and what the various options are.
• Knowledge & Advice: Based on your specific criteria, we can help you hone in on the vacancies and companies that are most closely aligned with your needs. Our consultants only operate in their own specific sectors and so have sound technical knowledge around the roles and the services each of our clients offer.
• Interview Preparation: We will support you all the way through the application, interview, and offer stages. At the interview stage, we spend lots of time with you to help prepare you and make you feel as comfortable as we can. 
• Negotiation: You might find discussing packages, salary and benefits with a prospective employer a little awkward. If required, we can look after these discussions for you, liaising with you and the client to ensure expectations are aligned from the beginning, making sure any offer of employment matches what you are looking for.

We operate purely within the Pharmaceutical, Biotech, Medical Devices & Life Science Industries. Within these, there are many distinct sectors or skills functions, and we specialise in a large number of these, from drug discovery to clinical trials, market access, and commercialisation.

Our expertise spans the following functions: Sales, Marketing, Market Access, Health Economics, Outcomes Research, Real World Evidence, Market Research, Business Intelligence, Manufacturing, Medical Communications, Medical Information, Advertising, Public Relations, Medical Affairs, Medical Information, Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Research, Manufacturing, Quality Assurance, Human Resources and Central Functions, Research & Development/Scientific, Supply Chain, and Procurement.

Click through to our jobs page to filter by sector and job type.

We recruit all levels from entry-level all the way up to board level. Click through to our jobs page to browse our current vacancies, but if you don’t see anything of interest, please get in touch to discuss your requirements and we’ll endeavour to support you in your next career move.

Yes. We recruit for both contract and permanent vacancies. Contract roles can be day rate contracts or fixed-term contracts and can vary in length from 3 to 6 or 12 months, sometimes longer. Many of our clients are open to part-time working too. You can filter by these criteria on our job search page to find the role that suits you.

Occasionally, though the majority of our vacancies do require some relevant experience from within that particular sector or skills function. If unsure, give us a call on 01625 541 030 and we’ll put you in touch with the relevant consultant to discuss your experience in more detail.

Absolutely. Simply apply to any of our vacancies that you are interested in and attach your CV. The relevant consultant will review your application and contact you to discuss. Alternatively, you can arrange a call with a consultant to discuss your criteria via our homepage.

No, never. We seek permission from every candidate before sharing any of their details with our clients. We would discuss the role and the company with you in detail, allowing you to make the choice as to which companies you want to apply to.

No. We would never do this without speaking to you first.

Unfortunately, we wouldn’t be able to support you unless you have the correct visas or working permits in place. Our clients simply wouldn’t progress any application without these. For further information please visit https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

The benefit of working with Carrot Recruitment is that we will support you at every step of the recruitment process and hopefully take away some of the pressures you’d otherwise experience if you were taking that journey alone. The process flows quite logically:

Application Stage

You apply via our website, or you get in touch with us to discuss the options. Alternatively, we may have contacted you because we want to discuss a particular opportunity with you. Click here to view our jobs page.

Screening Stage

Following your application, if we believe your experience is in line with what our clients are looking for then we’d set up an initial call with you to discuss your experience and your job search criteria. This can be done via a Zoom-type meeting or an old-fashioned phone call.

CV Submission Stage

Together, we’d decide which roles to apply for and we then submit your details to the client(s). We would share your CV with them and provide the client with as much information as possible regarding your suitability, your relevant experience, your achievements, and perhaps even your personality traits.

We would also share information such as your location, whether you want full-time or part-time, what your current package is, and what you are ideally looking for in your next role. And importantly, your motivations for moving jobs. After sending this information to the client, we would have a conversation with the client about your suitability and hopefully we’d secure a first interview.

If so we would set that up for you (see beneath), but if not, then of course we would provide you with feedback as to why the client decided not to progress. In this instance we’d be thinking about other roles that you may be suited to. If there are none at this time then we’d store your details on our secure database and contact you in future if another suitable opportunity arose. We’d also encourage you to check our jobs page from time to time and sign up for job alerts.

The Interview Stage

Nowadays, many of our clients conduct their interviews via Zoom or MS Teams, though some do prefer to meet in person where possible. First interviews can be a little less formal and more designed to allow you and the client to get to know each other. For them to understand your background, your key skills, your main achievements, and your motivations for seeking out a new role. It’s also a chance for you to learn about the role and the company.

First interviews typically last 45-60 mins. If successful and you’re still keen, then we’d progress to a second interview. This might involve more, or different people and it may take a different format. There may be a task, for example, sometimes completed prior to the actual interview but sometimes woven into the interview. An hour or perhaps a little longer is typical and this interview tends to be a bit more in-depth where the client is looking for examples of your skills and to see concrete evidence of your positive impact in previous work settings.

The Offer Stage

Should the interviews go well then, the client may decide to offer you the role. They would discuss this with us, and we’d recap your requirements in terms of package, working patterns, etc. Normally the client would email us or provide us with the details over the telephone. We would then call you to discuss the offer outline and would follow that up on email for you to read through. Hopefully, the offer is what you were hoping for, in which case we’d just need an email to confirm you’d be happy to accept.

However, if there are elements that you need more information around or are not entirely satisfied with, then we’d work through these with you and the client to try to resolve these as swiftly as possible. After acceptance, the client would then arrange for a contract to be sent to you for your review and signature. We’d agree on start dates and once the contract is in place, you would then plan your resignation from your current role. We can support with that too.

Onboarding Stage

There may of course be a period of 1 month - or perhaps longer - where you are working your notice period, but we’ll remain in touch with you to ensure you have all the information you need for day one in your new role. 

We’ll even give you a buzz as you come to the end of your first week, just to check that all went well and to offer any support if required. As long as you’re happy to, we can remain in contact with you throughout the first few months, just to check you’re settling in well.

We certainly endeavour to, however on occasion we may receive a high volume of applicants and are perhaps unable to get back to everyone. If you haven’t heard back within 3 days of your application, then you can assume it was unsuccessful. If you do want to speak to someone or to follow up on your application, then please do feel free to contact us and we’ll get you in touch with the relevant consultant in your sector.

There are two ways to apply for a job through Carrot Recruitment. You can apply through our website for a particular role, or you can send us your CV and we will match you to roles we think will suit your experience. And don’t worry, we will NEVER send your CV to a company without your express say-so.

Our customer service has been rated ‘world-class’. Read through some of our latest testimonials here.

It’s important to note that not all recruiters are poor and that in fact there are many recruitment firms who are extremely good at what they do, and they represent their clients and candidates very professionally. We’d like to think we’re in this same group of recruiters who put good customer service right at the forefront. We combine this with genuinely specialist sector knowledge which is a winning combination that sees clients and candidates come back to us time and time again. The team at Carrot are lovely; all extremely personable and always happy to help out where they can.