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Reengineering the Recruitment Process

The skills needed in many roles are continually changing—and sources of talent are too.

The Covid-19 pandemic has upended many traditional business practices. When it comes to recruiting, the crisis has not so much disrupted as accelerated shifts in the talent landscape that were already under way, leaving many companies poorly served by their current hiring practices. In a period of steep unemployment, it might seem that companies looking to add workers would be in the driver’s seat. But job openings have also been rising in recent months, meaning that competition for top talent remains keen—and in uncertain times, bringing on the right people is more important than ever.

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Skills-based success: 10 recruiting case studies

The working world has been turned on its head with the pandemic, the Great Reshuffle, and the resulting skills shortage. Companies are searching for a powerful, sustainable way to recruit and retain talent, and 73% of them are now opting for skills-based hiring practices.

Skills-based recruitment practices are for everyone. Don’t believe us? We've put together 10 recruiting case studies that demonstrate how different individuals, industries, and regions have successfully implemented skills-based hiring.

Table of contents

What's the purpose of a recruiting case study, 3 personal recruiting case studies, 3 recruiting case studies by industry, 4 recruiting case studies by region, looking for more recruiting case studies, the state of skills-based hiring 2023.

Read TestGorilla's annual report to discover why over 70% of companies chose to adopt skills-based hiring methods in 2023.

In recruitment, case studies are helpful tools for employers seeking to build, develop, or optimize their recruitment processes. They can be great sources of information and inspiration. By understanding the successes and failures others have had with their hiring processes, hiring managers can take any relevant learnings without having to make the same mistakes that others have.

To make these recruiting case studies relevant for as many people as possible, we've divided them into personal case studies, case studies by industry, and case studies by region. Let's dive in.

Let’s first look at the personal stories of some stellar individuals who were recruited into their ideal industries using skills-based practices. These people didn’t have traditional backgrounds, but because of their unique skills, they got into amazing roles. All that was needed was a chance to prove those skills during recruitment.

1. Justin Hutchinson

Justin Hutchinson wanted a future in football, but he was faced with a hard choice at age 14: Focus on his career prospects or take care of his father with cancer.

Justin, of course, chose his father and has never regretted that choice, but it did mean giving up the chance of achieving his dream job.

After his father’s passing, Justin attended a community college to fulfill his father’s wish for him to get a degree. To pay rent and living expenses, Justin got a job at a smoothie franchise.

His aim was to simply support his cost of living by making fast food – but it turns out Justin’s real skill was people and communication.

Justin would study the cars that drove up, memorize their orders, and have them ready so he could spend time talking and getting to know the customers instead of making drinks.

One of Justin’s customers was a chief executive of a marketing company and was so impressed with his people skills, he offered Justin an internship.

It wasn’t long before Justin used his soft skills to turn that internship into a full-time position. He dropped out of college, poured his heart and soul into the role, and attained the role of Director of Business Development.

Justin attributes his success to his best skills:

Workplace empathy

Strategic and critical thinking

Sales management

Justin didn’t have a typical marketing background – his experience was a partial college education with no degree, on-the-job experience (and not a traditionally “relevant” job), and his internship.

Not everyone can find the perfect marketer in a charismatic smoothie server, but online skills testing holds the same principles: Look at abilities first and ask questions later.

Sales and marketing are industries that are uniquely dependent on soft skills, which makes skills-based hiring an obvious choice for recruiting. For information on how it helps with the tricky subject of ramp time, read our article on skills-based hiring and ramp time.

2. Latisha Carter

Latisha Carter had a dream of excelling in corporate America, but she never got the opportunity to attend college.

At age 17, Latisha became a single mother. This put her dreams of college on hiatus for the foreseeable future.

Three years later, after having another child, Latisha got a job as a nursing assistant. But she still couldn’t shake her desire to make it in the corporate world.

She secured a call center job with NCR, a software company, driven by their offer of extensive employee training. 

Offering extensive upskilling and reskilling is one of the best things you can put on the table for potential candidates. A study by Lorman showed that 59% of Millennials believe that development opportunities are extremely important when deciding whether to apply for a position.

Latisha used her experience at NCR to get a role in customer service at the software company Sage.

With determination and hard work, she continued to work her way up for 20 years until she became a director at Xero, an accounting technology company.

Latisha is now proudly a director in corporate America with no college degree. Her company is reaping the benefits of her presence and skills. 

In the second half of 2021, Xero’s approach to skills-based hiring and its emphasis on diversity pushed a 7% increase in racial and ethnic diversity.

Jana Galbraith, the executive general manager for people experience partnering for Xero, says: “ [H]istorically, hiring based on degree exclusively has perpetuated discrimination .”

This boost is great news for Xero because the benefits of diversity are broad and include increased productivity, innovation, and financial performance.

Latisha’s struggle to succeed is unfortunately common for working mothers. To learn more about this, read our article on the motherhood penalty .

3. Cindy Veach

Cindy Veach didn’t have a traditional background. She had all the tech know-how, but she only had experience involving massage therapy and social services.

But she had the skills and she knew it. Cindy says it was a happenstance that she stumbled upon her perfect role; she just wanted a role where she could use her best talents.

“I was looking for jobs I had the right skills for, organizational skills in particular,” said Cindy.

She happened upon a tech administration apprenticeship program at IBM. Before then, she saw her tech skills as just a hobby and never imagined herself in the tech industry – but she applied and was accepted.

Cindy had a steep learning curve ahead of her. She possessed the base tech skills but needed the training to reach the right level.

She attributes much of her success to the flexibility of her mentors. They continually told her that if a path “didn’t feel right,” she was welcome to experiment and try something new.

At the end of the apprenticeship, she applied for a network operations technician role and was hired. She took a position with flexible work options so she could still care for her two children comfortably. 

Skills-based hiring made this outcome possible. Cindy’s communication skills, digital expertise, and problem-solving abilities helped her secure her role, and the focus on continuous improvement is helping her develop it .

She says that the combination of her appetite for learning and her employer’s support for her success is the perfect duo for creating limitless growth.

We’ve heard plenty of people say “skills-based hiring doesn’t work in my industry.” But that’s just yet another myth we’ve debunked . Let’s take a look at a handful of case studies about how companies within certain industries have succeeded with skills-based recruitment initiatives.

4. Healthcare

Healthcare administration is an industry that’s notoriously difficult to get into. Between receiving a bachelor’s degree and completing a master’s program, it can take six to eight years of rigorous commitment.

However, more opportunities are arising that allow equally qualified candidates to get in without obtaining specific educational requirements.

Sam Saucedo-Hernandez had a tumultuous life, but she only ever wanted a solid career. As a child of parents who emigrated from Mexico, she wanted to be the first generation in her family to attain a degree.

Sam watched her parents struggle with low-wage jobs and promised herself she would do better for herself.

Her first attempt was at law school where she spent several years studying hard. Sam was ecstatic to get her degree and begin a career in law.

But two weeks after she got her associate of science degree, the school got shut down for fraud, leaving Sam jobless and $60,000 in debt.

Sam faced many challenges, but the turning point in her story was the day she received a letter promoting a no-cost medical administrative assistant job training program from JVS.

JVS is a program that helps people build skills and find solid career connections – particularly in the healthcare industry.[1]

JVS has seen amazing success with over 500 employer partners and an emphasis on promoting diversity: 88% of their participants are Black, Hispanic, Asian, or a wide range of other ethnicities.

Sam applied for the program and was accepted. She secured a position as a medical administrative assistant, but her training has led her to her current role in the audiology department.

Though she’s fortunate for her position, Sam says she’s still looking forward, wondering where her skills can take her from here. 

Programs like JVS are working tirelessly to make more stories like this possible. With a focus on skills over experience, they bring in valuable candidates to industries that may otherwise be restricted to them.

5. Manufacturing

Steelcase, a furniture manufacturing company, wanted to build a fairer place for employment opportunities and encourage better representation for employees of color. So they adopted skills-based hiring practices.

They’re far from the only ones. According to TestGorilla’s State of Skills-Based Hiring report, 85% of businesses in 2023 had the goal to increase diversity.

And companies are succeeding at this by implementing skills-based hiring: 91% of organizations saw an increase in diversity due to skills-based hiring.

Steelcase realized that if they truly wanted to boost their DE&I initiatives , traditional hiring methods wouldn’t do.

They decided their hiring processes needed to be revamped for the better, so they adopted some new practices:

Prioritizing skills over resume and pedigree

Removing experience requirements wherever possible

Favoring continuous improvement over perfection

Revamping job descriptions to reduce biased language

Prioritizing diversity among equally qualified candidates

Steelcase decided that practices like these would enable them to reach diverse talent organically, and it worked. Since the program started, Steelcase’s new hires are 55% women and 30% racial or ethnic minorities.

Steelcase’s initiatives are amazing, so we encourage similar active moves to boost diversity. To read more about this topic, read our blog on why being intentional about workplace diversity is non-negotiable .

6. Software

ADP, an HR management software company, adopted a recruiting strategy to focus on skills , rely less on credentials, and make an effort to provide opportunities for candidates with nontraditional backgrounds.

This strategy included training talent acquisition professionals on best practices, hiring specific diversity recruiters, removing degree requirements from high-volume recruiting roles, and leveraging better training and mentorship for new hires.

What were the results? ADP saw great success in one year:

An increase in the number of candidates with no college degree

An increase in Black representation in the candidate pool

An increase in Hispanic representation in the candidate pool

This program was heavily inspired and backed by Maria Black, the chief executive of ADP, and her strong belief in corporate social responsibility.

She has a strong passion for supporting working women, veterans, and other underrepresented talents.[2]

Maria is an excellent example of the power of leading from the top. When your company’s leadership supports a great cause, it benefits both employees and company alike and builds a better organizational culture .

Next, let’s take a look at some case studies about the regions and countries that are taking on skills-based recruitment practices. For more on this subject, check out our post on skills-based hiring around the world .

7. Maryland, USA

In 2022, the state of Maryland dropped four-year degree requirements for thousands of jobs in the government sector.

The aim of this initiative was to draw attention to the value of alternative credentials and experience. State officials want to give people a better shot at securing a stable, fulfilling job.

Governor Larry Hogan was quoted as saying:

“[W]e are ensuring qualified, non-degree candidates are regularly being considered for these career-changing opportunities.”[3]

Over 38,000 people work for the state of Maryland and it’s estimated that more than half of those jobs can be performed by people whose alternative skill routes can easily substitute for a college education.

These alternative routes include:

Life experience

Non-relevant job experience

Hobbies and volunteer work

Alternative training

Community college education

Maryland estimates that about 47% of its working population are STARs (skilled through alternative routes). That’s 2.8 million workers, and these people need solid opportunities – opportunities that they can access through skills-based hiring.

To learn more about how unnecessary degree requirements are holding top talent back, read our blog on degree inflation .

8. Indiana, USA

Indiana’s tech leaders are struggling to attract and retain great talent. They’re facing a major skill shortage and they can’t solve it with the “usual” hiring methods.

Traditional recruiting methods exclude over 95% of Indiana’s workforce.

Indiana has a workforce of 3,332,239 people, but consider this:

A four-year degree requirement removes 75%

Biases can eliminate up to 30% of the pool

Requiring specific past experience removes 93% of the talent pool

With all of that in mind, a pool of more than three million candidates is reduced to just over 42,000.

Indiana’s Office of Technology (IOT) realized that skills-based hiring practices could fix this problem and solve their shortage.

They started by removing degree requirements from most job descriptions, then took the next step and started offering reskilling opportunities to workers from alternative industries, such as line cooks and truck drivers.

Tracy Barnes, IOT’s chief information officer, said that the results of the program have been positive and they’re “very pleased” so far. She also said that she’s equally excited to see the positive life impacts for the candidates involved.

9. Asia-Pacific

Skills-based hiring is quickly gaining traction in the Asia-Pacific area.

One study showed that 79% of businesses in the Asia-Pacific area look for skills when hiring versus the 21% that prioritize education and experience.[4]

The same study found that internal mobility is more important than ever and that companies want to prioritize gender equality and disability inclusion . These points can also be accomplished by adopting skills-based hiring.

Asia-Pacific is looking to skills-based practices to improve the future of their recruitment processes, but Singapore-based TruTrip is already reaping the benefits .

TruTrip is a business travel management company that needed help assessing candidate skills and hiring the best candidates, so they gave TestGorilla a try.

Here are a few ways that TestGorilla’s pre-employment skills testing helped TruTrip’s recruitment processes:

Gives them a way to objectively assess applicants’ skills and knowledge

Helps them eliminate bias from the hiring process

Enables them to consistently make better hiring decisions

Reduces their reliance on resume screening

Enhances teamwork and communication

Improves the employee experience of new hires

According to Hugh Batley, the founder of TruTrip, their new hires are a better fit. These employees become great contributors and have a better initial experience with the company.

TestGorilla also helps TruTrip save thousands of dollars by reducing the chances of a costly mis-hire. 

This isn’t unusual. According to TestGorilla’s State of Skills-Based Hiring report, 92.5% of organizations using skills-based practices saw a reduction in mis-hires in 2022.

10. The UK and the EU

The UK and the EU have developed a strong focus on skills over the past few years.

Interest in skills-based hiring in the UK rose 63% from 2021 to 2022 . This drastic increase is due to employers wanting a wider talent pool and candidates prioritizing and valuing their alternative experience.

This move is helping job opportunities reach the 73.6% of people in the United Kingdom who don’t possess a four-year degree. [5]

As for the European Union, they developed the “Pact For Skills” program in 2020. This program was created to encourage and fund better upskilling and reskilling while also promoting greater diversity and gender equality.[6]

A good example from both areas is the British-Lithuanian bank, Revolut.

Revolut adopted skills-based hiring by using TestGorilla’s skills tests and, as a result, improved their time-to-hire by 40% .

Among many other benefits, Revolut found TestGorilla’s language tests life-saving. Assessing language proficiency is essential for a multinational company, but traditional methods are time-consuming and laborious.

TestGorilla’s language tests help Revolut to quickly and easily evaluate their candidates’ reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. This helped them to nearly fully automate their screening process, improving time-to-hire greatly.

To read more case studies and success stories about skills-based hiring, check out our 10 stories that demonstrate the power of skills-based hiring or our collection of customer case studies .

Here are 3 top picks from our case studies:

Revolut improves time-to-hire by 40% using TestGorilla

Design Pickle uses TestGorilla to boost application completion rate by 25%

TestGorilla helps TruTrip to save money and improve employee experience

If you’d like to acquaint yourself with a solid skills-based hiring practice, browse our test library and review our skills tests.

“JVS 2022 Impact Report”. (2022). JVS . Retrieved March 6, 2023. https://impact2022.jvs.org/

“Maria Black, president and CEO”. (n.d). Business Roundtable. Retrieved March 6, 2023. https://www.businessroundtable.org/about-us/members/maria-black-president-and-ceo-adp

McGraw, Mark. (April 4, 2022). “Dropping Degree Requirements: Do Employers Still Care About Education?”. World at Work . Retrieved March 6, 2023. https://worldatwork.org/resources/publications/workspan-daily/dropping-degree-requirements-do-employers-still-care-about-education

“The Future of Talent”. (2021). LinkedIn . Retrieved March 6, 2023. https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/talent-solutions/resources/pdfs/future-of-talent-whitepaper.pdf

“Overview of the education system”. (2022). Education GPS . Retrieved March 6, 2023. https://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?primaryCountry=GBR&treshold=10&topic=EO

“Pact for Skills”. (November 10, 2020). European Commission . Retrieved March 6, 2023.  https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1517&langId=en

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Executive search. recruitment. talent advisory. career coaching. outplacement., case studies in the recruitment process – an assessment method for gathering data on a candidate.

Recently I started recruiting for a management consulting company who uses client case studies as part of their selection process. For them, it has proven to be an effective way of gathering information on a candidate to assess suitability.

To better understand the use of case studies in the recruitment process, my assistant Laura and I did research into the topic, this blog post is to share that information with you.

An overview of case studies in the recruitment process

Case studies are used as a method of competency measuring. Competency methods can focus on technical abilities, social and behavioural skills, or a combination of the two.

Case studies are most popular in management consulting (though they are used in some other industries) since they are able to mimic the kinds of tasks that would be required in the job.

They are done face-to-face during a specified time slot or given to the candidate to complete in their own time.

See Hiring by Competency Models, Patty Grigoryev (2006)

University of Sydney, Case study interviews https://sydney.edu.au/careers/students/applying-for-jobs/interview-tips/case-study-interviews.html

Research on case study efficacy

The premise behind administering a case study as an assessment method is that it offers a level playing field, to some degree, by allowing shortlisted candidates to demonstrate their technical abilities and personal qualities irrespective of past experience and qualification(s).

Case studies enable interviewers to see the strengths and weaknesses of candidates in action, including:

• Engaging in logical and analytical reasoning.
• Thinking creatively and generating innovative solutions.
• Problem-solving.
• Working under time pressure.
• Effective communication skills, including presenting in front of one or several interviewers and using a whiteboard to express concepts.

Case studies are detailed in their nature, add cost to the overall recruitment process (because they require time and resources to administer) and are often one of the final stages in the recruitment process.

Reducing the risk of a bad hire

It is well-established that the costs of a bad hire for a business are huge, especially in leadership roles where it can affect the performance of the whole team.

The hard costs of a bad hire are estimated to range between 50% and 200% of the first-year salary. In management consulting, a bad hire cannot only affect the internal team – a poor client experience can have significant impacts from a brand and billing perspective.

Finding ways to reduce the number of bad hires isn’t easy, case studies have been developed to provide additional data points to make a more informed hiring decision. Using competency modelling methods such as case studies, it has been shown to increase success in hiring decisions, with the most significant improvement stemming from a better culture fit.

Talent Management 360, Using case studies to recruit talent https://talentmanagement360.com/using-case-studies-to-recruit-talent/

Case studies and management consulting companies

Big 4 accounting firms and strategy consulting houses like McKinsey and Bain consistently use case studies in their recruitment process, for example:

PWC appears to only use case studies in relation to taxation and when hiring recent graduates. They are described as “provide students with realistic fact situations in which a number of tax problems and opportunities can be identified”. They acknowledge that law students and business students may choose to approach them differently and give some background regarding the issues and deliverables expected, such as that students are expected to “incorporate a certain amount of tax planning into their solutions”.

https://www.pwc.com/us/en/careers/university-relations/tax-case-studies.html

By contrast, Deloitte’s approach is broader. The case interview is designed to assess problem-solving and analytical skills, as well as logic and strategy. However, it is also designed to give candidates an insight into their prospective role, since the cases align with real projects. They clearly step out a five-step approach that candidates should use to address the case interview and give a list of helpful tips that they recommend will help interviewees get the most out of the experience. There is also an interactive case interview practice website ( http://caseinterviewprep.deloitte.com/ ) designed to assist.

https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/careers/articles/join-deloitte-careers-case-interview-tips.html

McKinsey & Company who are notorious for gruelling recruitment methods, with some prospective employee’s having up to 20 interviews before receiving an offer, including a compulsory case interview.

McKinsey offer four example case interviews, which can all be found at this link:

https://www.mckinsey.com/careers/interviewing

Bain states that any candidate applying for a consulting role should expect a case interview, and those cases will be based on Bain’s client work. They provide two examples, as well as a mock interview for candidates to watch:

https://www.bain.com/careers/interview-prep/case-interview/

Capital One

Capital One also has a detailed case study guide which demonstrates what they will assess (problem solving and analytical skills) as well as providing examples:

https://jobs.capitalone.co.uk/business-analyst-case-study-guide

Time allotted

The PWC case studies are to be done in the student’s own time, but there is a general guideline offered: “The time required of the student to complete the case requirements will vary greatly, depending upon the level of tax knowledge of the individual student, their software skills, and the number and type of issues in each case. As a very general guideline, each case study, with all issues included, should require not less than 10 hours of issue formation, research, and analysis by a graduate tax student, before the final deliverable(s) are developed.”

Deloitte’s case interview preparation page states that each case is 15-20 minutes long but does not give any set time limits and there is no suggestion that responses are timed.

See PWC Case Studies in Taxation https://www.pwc.com/us/en/careers/university_relations/documents/Case-Studies-in-Taxation-2018.pdf

Measuring the responses

PWC’s case studies are designed to test both technical skills (tax knowledge, Excel ability) and broader skills such as problem solving and creativity. It is stated that the ‘deliverables’ can be in many forms including “a letter to the client identified in the case study, a memo to the client file, or preparing a ruling request for the IRS. Some case study users require oral presentations. These may take the form of a straight presentation or role-play in the setting of a client meeting, resolution of an audit, or representation of a client in a court.” Actually measuring these is not expressly dealt with, but the document does provide a set of solutions to each case study for comparison, akin to a marking key.

By comparison Deloitte is focused less on finding the ‘right answer’ and emphasises that candidates will do well by clearly demonstrating a logical thought process. Having a clear structure and acknowledging any assumptions are listed as recommendations. Possible answers are given in the example attached and they focus on having both justifications and implications for each point. It’s all about the ‘how’ rather than the ‘what’. For numerical/technical questions however, there is a clear right and wrong.

Other methods of work sample testing

There are alternative methods for collecting data points on a candidate, these include: written questionnaires, take home or in office real life job tasks, online assessment tools and group assessment centres.

One hiring manager I was recruiting for would take a full two hours to conduct an interview with a candidate. In the first hour he would cover off behavioural and company ‘fit’ questions, in the second hour he would launch into a long list of technical questions, including real case study examples from working at his company.

This thorough approach made the hiring manager more confident in his decision to hire the individual (or not hire if the candidate wasn’t strong enough).

Here are some other quality articles on evidence based interviewing and testing.

• The Case for Evidence Based Interviewing: Part 1 and Part 2
• Assessing Soft Skills

When I’m engaged to conduct a recruitment process for a client I recommend gathering as many data points on the candidate as possible – including a type of work sample, if possible.

I’m always looking for ways to help organisations recruit better. Leveraging years of experience in corporate recruiting I can assist with finding the bottlenecks and weak points in your hiring process and improving hiring outcomes.

Find out more about my services here: https://elite-human-capital.com/consulting-services/

To talk with me about how I can help, make contact today.

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Case Study: Infosys – Talent Management Processes Automation with AI

• First Online: 17 June 2023
• pp 1451–1458

Cite this chapter

• Parasuram Balasubramanian 3 &
• D. R. Balakrishna 4  

Part of the book series: Springer Handbooks ((SHB))

4460 Accesses

The IT industry has been a pioneer in the use of Automation and AI. Infosys, a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, has expanded the use of automation across their internal processes and offers these capabilities to their clients. One of their outstanding success stories has been in recruitment.

As a large-scale recruiter, the recruitment function at Infosys was complex, voluminous, and highly manual. From over 130,000 employees in 2010, the firm had nearly 260,000 employees in 2020. They were processing over 2,140,000 in 2020 that was 2.5 times the applications received in 2010. This created a tremendous workload for the recruitment team.

The automation journey of the Recruitment function at Infosys has been arduous. During their solution building, they were hit by new challenges arising out of a global pandemic in early 2020, when they had to suddenly move to a virtual environment. The disaster also created the need to expand their workforce as the number of IT projects grew.

The automation program was executed at speed to respond in time to the continuously changing landscape. It resulted in transformational changes, bringing both high efficiency and effectiveness. For example, the time taken from sourcing to making an offer is reduced by 86%. The project demonstrates the structured approach to discovering, developing, and democratizing AI and automation, thereby encouraging its adoption. Infosys continues to invest in the technology as they believe it plays a critical role in staying relevant to their clients by delivering industry-leading business solutions.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Ashok K Panda, Anie Mathew, and Meghna Chatterjee from Infosys for their contribution in collating and curating this case study. See Chapter 46 for broader content of automation in data science, software, and information services.

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Authors and affiliations.

Theme Work Analytics Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, India

Parasuram Balasubramanian

Infosys Ltd., Bengaluru, India

D. R. Balakrishna

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Shimon Y. Nof

Appendix 1: A Detailed Look at Major Activities and Their Intricacies

1.1 sourcing: raising hiring requests and finding resumes.

Hiring Requisitions, which were earlier created manually, are now automatically created by directly fetching data from talent indent tools. Job descriptions of common roles are predefined and auto-populated with recruiters having the option to manually intervene. Once a new job is posted, various sourcing channels are automatically updated.

Sourcing Applications: Earlier recruiters had to wait for candidates to apply or search and download best-fit resumes from different channels to create candidate profiles in internal system. With InTAP, resumes are uploaded in bulk, which are then automatically parsed for profile creation.

The integrated talent platform sends recruiters a list of AI-enabled recommendations of candidates picked from internal databases as well as external job boards. They are ranked in the order of their fitment to the job/skill with 95% accuracy. These candidates are matched for their skill, experience, location, proficiency, accreditation, and other criteria. The best candidates can then be tagged by the recruiter for the job. This cuts down nearly 80–90% of the sourcing time.

Candidate experience is also enhanced as most of the fields in application form are prepopulated.

1.2 Screening: Prescreening, Shortlisting, and Prescheduling

Prescreening: Weeding out duplicate applications, applicants from blacklisted companies, or alumni who do not qualify to be rehired was earlier done manually using excel comparisons. Removing exact duplicates is now fully automated based on AI logic with auto-rejections. Blacklisted candidates are auto-flagged based on organization policy. For rehires, system pulls past employment details from internal applications such as the separation tool and makes recommendations.

Screening: The resume parser throws up a list of recommendations and ranks them based on the match between candidate’s profile and job requirement. The ranking logic is driven by explainable AI, and an 80% match indicates high probability of the candidate being a good fit for the role. The parser has eliminated recruited team’s task of sifting manually through thousands of resumes.

Prescheduling: A background check is run prior to interview, to validate academics, check references and past employment history, and scan social media interactions, and liaison with specialized vendors. The Infosys Fraud Detector (IFD) plays a big role by using machine learning and deep learning-based Long Short-Term Memory and Feed Forward model for handling textual and numerical inputs, respectively. For fraudulent image detection, it uses Optical Character Recognition and Named Entity Recognition.

1.3 Interview: Scheduling, Panel Management, and Conducting Interviews

Interview scheduling: With on-campus hiring now moved to online platforms, InTAP offers the capability to organize large-scale hiring. Once hiring event is created in the system, it fetches relevant candidates and tags them to it. The platform matches slots between panelists and candidates. InTAP uses RPA to automatically schedule and trigger invitations. Automated reminders through messaging apps, SMS, and IVR can be sent to candidates to reduce cancellation and no-shows. RPA has significantly freed up recruitment team’s effort in scheduling.

The system sends an invitation to tagged candidates and a notification on messaging apps offering them to choose a slot for the event. Once slot is selected and assigned, candidate needs to submit minimum set of data for verification. Final invitation to the event with required details is extended to shortlisted candidates. System notifies panelists of their upcoming commitment and blocks their calendar. Details of candidates are shared with the panelists.

Vimmy Thaman , a candidate who got selected through the new recruitment process, says, “ Every step was intuitive, and I received timely notifications and reminders to ensure I did not miss my interview or any submissions. The virtual arrangements and management was so smooth that it made the onboarding process effortless. ”

Panel management and interview: Traditionally, recruitment was conducted in person at an Infosys campus. With virtual interviews, panelists now use an online interview platform that is integrated with recruitment portal for a seamless experience. Lobby feature keeps candidates engaged while they await their turn and provides visibility to the recruiter on the number of candidates waiting to be interviewed. Panelists validate the candidate by checking an identity proof and capturing photograph / screenshot of the screen. Gamification to create incentives for panelists is being considered, which can be integrated into the interview platform.

Puru Bhandarkar , Delivery Head of a Business unit, says, “ The virtual hiring process is seamless and smooth, and the collaboration between my resource planning team and recruitment team has now become much faster because everything is flowing through the automated InTAP system. Interview process has also become hassle-free with virtual mode, and InTAP is a great application that has resulted in considerable effort reduction for my team. ”

1.4 Selection: Offer and Acceptance

Offer: The talent acquisition platform runs the required algorithm to calculate compensation and benefit details and generate an offer letter to the candidate, who gets the option to reject or accept the offer online.

Acceptance: Once the offer is accepted, candidate is guided from the career site to the onboarding application known as Infosys Launchpad. The candidate data from InTap, the acquisition platform, is automatically updated into Launchpad.

Infosys also has an application exclusively for engineering students in India, called InfyTQ, that serves as a digital learning platform to create talent readiness at an industry level. It is an opportunity for the organization to groom and hire the future technology workforce of India. Students who qualify for hiring are seamlessly moved into the InTap platform.

1.5 Allocation: Onboarding, Training, and Project Allocation

Onboarding: Infosys Launchpad offers a one-stop onboarding solution to assist new joiners to complete formalities and guides them through their first few weeks at work.

The application focuses on information assimilation, seamless enablement across all systems, timely payroll processing, and preparing for day one at work with tools such as smart cards and access to all relevant work applications. As the application is prepopulated with data captured during interview and selection process, smooth and seamless experience for candidate is ensured. The application is highly configurable and can be customized as per organizational and country-wise policy mandates. Infosys Launchpad has significantly reduced time in payroll and ID card issue processes across different countries.

Syed Ahmed , Delivery Manager of a Business unit, says, “ With increased hiring this year and in the virtual post-pandemic scenario, the automated hiring process was a boon for our team to speed up recruitment and get skilled talents onboarded quickly to meet our client demands. What earlier took 50 days for us to onboard a new employee, is now completed in 10 days. ”

Engagement, training, and allocation: Once a part of the organization, an Infosys employee continues to be enabled with AI-based solutions that are highly employee-centric. InfyMe is an app developed as part of the “Employee Experience” program which allows employees to conduct key business transactions on the go. Culture-sensitive training modules are also embedded into their training plan. Employees can define their growth and aspirations as well as progress in their career. Earlier, learning, training, and accessing work-related applications were through multiple systems which was painful, and this is now entirely seamless.

Rushiraj Desai , who recently joined Infosys says, “ I applied for job opening in Infosys during the 2020 pandemic situation. I was doubtful about the onboarding process but at the same time had trust on digital capabilities that IT companies offer. Infosys, true to its reputation, completely digitized the whole experience - from applying for job opening, interview schedule, selection, onboarding & document submission for background verification. Launchpad is a great tool and easy to interact with, workflow is very well laid out for employees to submit all personal / professional data and necessary documents online. Great to experience that data and documents flow to internal finance and HR systems automatically. The 2-day onboarding program was also well organized & completely virtual from introduction to giving access to employees to Infosys IT systems/applications. ”

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Balasubramanian, P., Balakrishna, D.R. (2023). Case Study: Infosys – Talent Management Processes Automation with AI. In: Nof, S.Y. (eds) Springer Handbook of Automation. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96729-1_70

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Home » Management Case Studies » Case Study: Google’s Recruitment and Selection Process

Case Study: Google’s Recruitment and Selection Process

Google Inc., the world’s largest and most popular search engine company, is also one of the most sought after companies in the world. Due to the popularity of the company caused by its highly attractive compensation and benefits packages for its employees, millions of job applications are constantly received by Google on an annual basis. While other companies envy Google for attracting and acquiring such highly-talented and highly-skilled individuals from all over the world, the company finds it as a serious cause of dilemma.

When Google Inc. topped the ranks for the most popular companies in the world , it could no longer contain the number of applications it receives from thousands of job hunters from all over the globe. And since the company aims to hire only the best employees that fit the organizational culture and standards of Google , the company started thinking of ways to better improve its recruitment and selection process for its would-be employees.

In an article released in New York Times in 2007, Google Inc shared its non-traditional, highly creative and unconventional approach of selecting and hiring employees. Initially, the Google management sought the aid of its highly-competent and well-skilled technical staff in order to find ways to quickly go through and review the millions of applications it stored in its recruitment database.

The Google Inc management also decided to focus on the distinct behavioral characteristics and personality that separates Google employees from any other employees in other known companies. It shifted its focus from academic qualifications and technical experiences to the applicant’s personality , creativity , leadership capacities , innovative and non-conventional ways of thinking and the applicant’s overall exposure to the world. The academic qualifications and the intensive job experience just came in as second priorities of the company in choosing the best candidates for any open positions.

Since then, the Google Inc company not only became known for its outstanding and “luxurious” job compensation and benefits packages it offers its employees, but also in making use of some of the most powerful recruitment assessment tools capable of picking the best employees in the world that fit the standards set by Google.

The Google Recruitment Process

One of the most notable statements of Eric Schmidt , the CEO of Google Inc. is that “Google invests in people.” The main reason why people from different cultures, have been dreaming of being recruited and hired by Google is that the company offers possibly the most outstanding job compensation packages any normal employee could ever enjoy.

In order to attract the best employees, Google draws them by the promise of wealth and luxury, providing their employees with almost everything an employee could possibly need, from absurdly high compensations to extravagant and luxurious benefits like gourmet food, carwash, gym, snacks, exercise classes, dry cleaning services, car services, haircuts, oil changes, massages, checkups and many more, all for free.

Nevertheless, the recruitment process was also far beyond ordinary. Several people who have had experience in the Google recruitment process narrates that the experience was totally nerve-wracking. One applicant who underwent interviews for Google has had five to seven interviews in one day for two to three straight days. That applicant claims that the interviews were really tough with some of the brightest people in the world, conducting the interviews filled with brain teasers, algorithmic problems, and IQ tests.

Another applicant who also have had experiences in the recruitment process of Google claims that his Google experience was one of the most nerve-wracking adventures of his life. The interviewers were looking for extremely bright individuals and so the recruitment method was filled with IQ tests, brain teasers, algorithms, data structures, and a lot of mathematics involved in it.

The Google Selection Process

Google is no doubt the world’s best recruitment leader. Google is known for various unique approaches that it has utilized in order to attract the cream of the crop or the best of the bests. One way is through employment branding. Google has so successfully utilized their brand in order to attract the most talented and highly-competent individuals in the world. Because of their claim of providing the best employee-employer experience supported by the many perks, benefits and high salaries that Google employees get to enjoy, Google became the most desired companies for men and women in the world.

While the work and job responsibilities in Google are not that easy, the stock options benefit is one of the key drivers of retention and continuous acquisition of the best employees for this company. In 2007, employee turn-over at Google was reportedly less than 5% which was simply phenomenal. People didn’t want to leave the company because the amazing provisions and benefits that the company offers its employees. Moreover, the creative approaches of Google when it comes to hiring and retaining employees were simply exceptional. Employees claim that money was never an issue for Google in terms of utilizing it to take care of its employees.

One notable recruitment technique that Google utilized in 2006 was the targeted and unobtrusive approach to sending recruitment messages. Google crafted a simple technique to recruit the best students in certain schools and universities to work for them. They allowed people from these schools to access the search portal of Google wherein the students’ IP address would be identified to see from what organization the person belongs into. The technique was successfully executed using a minimalist and unobtrusive style of recruitment wherein below the search box, the Google system would know whether the targeted student is graduating or not and whether or not they intend to work for Google after graduation. The approach was definitely a successful micro-targeted approach. It was also in the same year when Google opened up to the idea of an Employee Referral Program. In putting up this program, Google made sure that it would deliver them a world-class employee whose personality, qualifications and work ethics reflect the Google standards.

A year passed by and Google’s attempts for recruitment innovations continued to improve. In 2007, Google developed a simple and effective assessment tool to screen its millions of applicants all over the world via an algorithm assessment tool. The algorithm technique effectively separated the top and the best performers from thousands of candidates vying for a position. Moreover, the assessment tool was made sure to successfully predict the best possible candidates from the least and the average and has managed to resolve the issue on the usual assessment tools being used by most companies, relying mainly on the academic qualifications and intensive industry and job experience.

Truly, what separates the Google recruitment process from the typical and the usual recruitment methodologies that other companies employ is its ability to accurately identify the best candidates for the position using a more data-based and scientific approach to the recruitment process. Also, it has significantly reduced the reliability of interviews, which for most companies, serves as the final indicator of how well an employee will perform at work. Furthermore, the algorithm approach which is a common business model that the company employs was effectively used to assess whether potential candidates can indeed perform given the high performance standards of Google.

The secret to be selected as a Google employee is that one has to think a lot like an “engineer”. Apparently, Google expects their employees to be highly quantitative and highly analytical as well as highly capable of dealing with too many data all at the same time. During the interviews, an applicant must also be able to demonstrate his skill or capacity by writing codes, intelligently analyzing case studies and brain teasers and solving algorithmic problems on the spot. Also, Google is searching for applicants who are highly practical and are capable of making something out of nothing that people can make use of.

The Google Interview Process

Since Google is known to be the ultimate recruitment and selection machine, its interview processes are also the most grueling experiences an applicant could ever have. Usually, the interviews begin using the telephone. Once the phone interviews conducted have been successful, the applicant would be scheduled by the recruitment officer and be invited for a series of five to ten interviews in one day with ten different people. For some people who have successfully undergone this process, they described it as the most excruciating employment experience of their lives as a lot of mental gymnastics were necessary to prove your skills.

There were many instances when the applicants were asked to write codes, brain storm, role play or solve mathematical equations on the spot just to prove that they are highly-skilled and competent. In other instances, the applicants are even tested of their marketing skills even though the position an applicant is applying for is highly technical. The interviewers seem to have control and power over the applicants letting them do everything just to prove that they are worthy for the position. Common questions involved computer network problems, Java programming and algorithms by which Google is known for.

Moreover, other applicants can rate and share comments on another applicant which Google can track and use as another basis for hiring or not hiring an applicant. Overall, the process was a lengthy, tedious and nerve-wracking experience which can possibly traumatize anyone whose dream is to work for one of the most prestigious companies in the world. Nevertheless, the perks and benefits are limitless and are more than enough to compensate for such a tough employment experience.

Related posts:

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• How to Improve Your Recruitment Process
• Integrity Testing in Employee Selection Process
• How Blockchain Transforms the Recruitment Process?
• Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) – Definition, Benefits and Risks
• Recruitment Process
• Case Study: Restructuring Process of Volkswagen
• Type of tests taken in the selection process
• Types of interview conducted in the selection process
• Selection Process in Human Resource Management

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• Open access
• Published: 30 May 2024

Organizational aspects of tissue engineering clinical translation: insights from a qualitative case study

• Renan Gonçalves Leonel da Silva   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9679-6389 1 ,
• Larry Au 2 &
• Alessandro Blasimme 1  

Translational Medicine Communications volume  9 , Article number:  17 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Tissue engineering is a multidisciplinary field that combines principles from cell biology, bioengineering, material sciences, medicine and surgery to create functional and viable bioproducts that can be used to repair or replace damaged or diseased tissues in the human body. The complexity of tissue engineering can affect the prospects of efficiently translating scientific discoveries in the field into scalable clinical approaches that could benefit patients. Organizational challenges may play a key role in the clinical translation of tissue engineering for the benefit of patients.

To gain insight into the organizational aspects of tissue engineering that may create impediments to efficient clinical translation, we conducted a retrospective qualitative case study of one tissue engineering multi-site translational project on knee cartilage engineered tissue grafts. We collected qualitative data using a set of different methods: semi-structured interviews, documentary research and audio-visual content analysis.

Our study identified various challenges associated to first-in-human trials in tissue engineering particularly related to: logistics and communication; research participant recruitment; clinician and medical student participation; study management; and regulation.

Conclusions

While not directly generalizable to other types of advanced therapies or to regenerative medicine in general, our results offer valuable insights into organizational barriers that may prevent efficient clinical translation in the field of tissue engineering.

Introduction

Tissue engineering is a multidisciplinary field that combines principles from cell biology, bioengineering, material sciences, medicine and surgery to create functional and viable bioproducts that can be used to repair or replace damaged or diseased tissues in the human body [ 1 ]. Tissue engineering involves designing and fabricating artificial scaffolds, cultivating cells in vitro, and then integrating the cells and scaffolds into a functional tissue construct that can be implanted into the body. It has to potential to advance regenerative medicine, providing new treatments for a wide array of medical conditions, from organ failure to damaged tissue repair [ 2 ]. Cell sources for tissue engineering purposes include pluripotent and multipotent stem cells, progenitor cells, induced pluripotent stem cells as well as fully differentiated ones. Such cells can be sourced from donors, be retrieved in the course of biopsies, surgery and other medical procedures, or derived from embryos donated or generated for research purposes.

In the European Union, tissue engineering products are regulated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) via Regulation 1394/2007/EC [ 3 , 4 ]. Between 2009 and 2022, EMA has approved only 21 ATMPs, but for 7 of them marketing authorization was either withdrawn or not renewed [ 5 ]. Of the remaining 14 ATMPs, 11 are gene therapy products, 1 is a cell therapy product and 2 are tissue engineering products, namely Holoclar (an autologous therapy to repair damaged corneal surface) and Spherox (an autologous therapy to repair knee cartilage) [ 6 ].

These figures show that the process of efficiently translating tissue engineering approaches to clinical use is challenging. Many factors have been identified as impediments to clinical translation including insufficient scientific knowledge, lack of dedicated funding, inadequate regulatory frameworks, ethical barriers and intellectual property roadblocks [ 7 ]. However, it is not clear what specific impediments impinge on clinical translation in the field of regenerative medicine and in tissue engineering in particular [ 8 ].

To elucidate this issue and to gain insight into organizational barriers to clinical translation in tissue engineering, we conducted a retrospective qualitative case study based on a tissue engineering multi-site translational project on knee cartilage engineered tissue grafts.

This study aims to explore organizational impediments to the clinical translation of tissue engineering medicinal products. Given the complexity of the issue and the relative lack of published literature on such a specific topic, we decided to conduct a retrospective qualitative case study supported by a multimethod strategy of data access and analysis. The research protocol received approval from the Ethics Commission of ETH Zurich (2021-N-71).

Case study research is a kind of investigation consisting of a focused analysis of a single case aimed at shedding light on complex issues and at fostering understanding of key features of a given complex phenomenon [ 9 ]. Qualitative case studies are by their nature focused on the specific features of the case, they tend to be descriptive, and they favor heuristic interpretation over generalization of study results [ 10 ].

The choice of methods in qualitative case studies reflects researchers’ intuitions about which sources of knowledge are more likely to provide valuable insight about the case and, more in general, about the phenomenon under study [ 11 ]. Such sources can include people, documents, and ethnographic observations, to name those that are more frequently used.

Our case study is a publicly funded tissue engineering multi-site translational project on autologous cell-based engineered tissue grafts.

For the purpose of this paper, we have pseudonymized our primary data. Furthermore, we have made sure that neither participants, nor the analyzed project per se are identifiable.

This study employed a combined set of qualitative methods to analyze the practices, research behaviors, and organizational considerations in tissue engineering and translational research on engineered-cartilage implant and tissue repair, with a focus on ethical implications of development and clinical trials with ATMPs for regenerative medicine purposes.

The methods include the examination of transcripts generated from over than 200 min of interviews applied with the project’s Principal Investigator and two senior project managers (a scientific coordinator, responsible for the development of the tissue grafts, and the leader of Surgery, responsible for the replacement surgical procedure with participants); a review of twelve reports, and articles bringing project’s outcomes available on the website of the study or in the funder’s webpage, and an audiovisual content analysis of seven project presentations done by the researchers in which they explain in detail the organizational issues faced during the study.

Three researchers (a University Professor, a Senior Scientist and a Senior Surgeon) were selected for interviews, representing different roles within a multicentered clinical study. The interviews were conducted remotely between June and November 2021. The participants included a Principal Investigator/Professor of Tissue Engineering, a Senior Scientist/head of autologous cell-based engineered-cartilage research and development – also manager of clinical trial data and information, and a Physician/head of surgery and tissue graft implant.

The interviews aimed to gather insights into the project’s management, organizational challenges and the configuration of research processes. Data and personal information have been fully anonymized. Table  1 provides an overview of interviewees’ characteristics, including their roles within the multicentered clinical study.

Documentary research

Qualified data about this case is available in official websites and sources, such as reports, project description, case presentations and publications. Aiming to complement data from interviews, and to provide data robustness through diverse materials’ sources we selected twelve documents to compose a data package to be analyzed and triangulated with data from interviews.

The package consisted of official reports, scientific publications, conference proceedings, and relevant informational pieces from clinical blogs. These documents specifically discussed practices, research behaviors, and organizational considerations related to tissue engineering and translational research on engineered-cartilage implant and tissue repair. The analysis of these documents provided a comprehensive understanding of the research field. Table  2 presents the details of the twelve selected documents, including the original research articles, reports and other project outcomes. Data about publications were fully anonymized to avoid participant identification.

Audiovisual content analysis

Much evidence about the organizational challenges and emerging questions associated with first-in-human clinical trials in tissue engineering are available online in the format of videos and audiovisual content. The use of materials available digitally has gained space in multimethod qualitative studies that have recently introduced audiovisual content analysis as a mechanism to access reliable information about cases that deal with a scarce amount of data due to its novelty, restricted access or because it is a field under development [ 12 ].

Seven recorded videos (publicly available) were examined as part of the audiovisual content analysis. These videos were uploaded to the official channels of the project and funders and were fully available on streaming platforms. The audiovisual content analysis was fundamental in gaining insights into the project presentations, highlighting key aspects of the research, methodologies, and outcomes. The analysis of these materials complemented the findings from the interviews and documentary research.

To ensure confidentiality and protect the privacy of the individuals involved in the research, all information related to the researchers’ identity, institutional affiliation, and funders was anonymized. This anonymization process was in accordance with the consent forms signed by the participants and agreed upon by all parties involved. Table  3 outlines the characteristics of the seven presentations analyzed in the audiovisual content analysis, including the video source and key themes addressed.

The combination of these qualitative methods provided a multiperspective analysis of the tissue engineering clinical translation, with a specific focus on organizational aspects. While not directly generalizable to other types of advanced therapies or to regenerative medicine in general, our results offer valuable insights into organizational barriers that may prevent efficient clinical translation in the field of tissue engineering.

Confounding variables and missing data are crucial considerations in our study. Although we did not address confounding variables, they could significantly impact the scope and conclusions of our analysis. Factors such as the geographical locations of participants and research/clinical staff, the level of technological novelty in first-in-human tissue engineering clinical translation (which may differ from other similar translational agendas), and contextual considerations within the research project, including the expertise of the team of scientists and clinicians, and years of experience in tissue engineering, are examples. We did not access data on these potential variables because our study aims to provide a broader overview of challenges and how stakeholders approach solutions.

Our study identified various challenges associated with first-in-human trials in tissue engineering, particularly related to five themes: (1) logistics and communication, (2) research participant recruitment, (3) clinicians and medical student participation, (4) study management, and (5) regulation.

Logistics and communication

Logistics and communicational issues emerged as a common concern between researchers and clinic stakeholders. It was noted that the coordination and effective exchange of information among various parties involved in the research process posed challenges.

For a participant leading the management of clinical trial’s data for over than a decade, problems derived from persistent difficulties in coordinating time and availability of both scientists and surgeons that advance the clinical trial in parallel with their current professional activities and commitments.

None of us have this trial as our exclusive activity or work responsibility. We all do it in parallel with teaching, supervising students, other projects and publishing results from previous projects. And the management of such a study takes a lot of time. To me, part of the challenges relate to this issue, and would be great to have a research team dedicated full-time to the trial, but this is not possible (Participant 2).

In this trial, time was directly related to regulations to bring results from the lab to the bedside, and with communication issues among scientists and healthcare professionals from different fields of expertise. A participant stated that time is a relevant variable in clinical trials in tissue engineering, and that to implement the study in accordance with all the rules and protocols takes long that demands better strategies of time allocation and mechanisms to push trials as routine of clinical practice.

Things take a lot of time in this kind of [clinical] study (…) Just to show you, for instance, we start this research back in 2000 and the first applicable standard operating procedure (SOP) for GMP production was examined in 2010.” (AvC 1). I think it’s important to start as complicated a necessary to understand the system, to design it. But then simplify it. Because otherwise it will not make it into the routine clinical practice (Participant 3).

The problem of time expenditure in covering regulatory demands was reinforced by a researcher during a presentation in 2022, framed as “challenges associated with moving lab results to translational studies”. They explained the logistics needed to set the laboratory to run such a first in human trial.

We went from a research lab to clinical studies. So, we had to move our lab to translational studies. And for that, you need to change your research protocol. You have to go for GMP (Good manufacturing parties) production and GMP compliant reagents, so, a lot of things to change in the end. To be compliant with this, we needed a quality management system composed by plenty of documentation… In our group we do both product manufacturing following GMP and also to deal with the paperwork for the clinical studies together with the surgeons, like study protocols, inform consent, etc. all this things… (AvC3).

The problem of logistics is also seen as result of the implementation of best practices and standards, which require acts of interpretation to fit local conditions and to guarantee that protocols will be respected accordingly by a team of researchers and clinicians spread in multiple countries:

We have a full team which is working on this. Because yes, there are some documentation that gives the guidelines. These are huge packs of documentations which are not simple to decipher and to interpret. So it requires experts. And I can say only with research culture, I would have trouble to address these issues… We cannot trust that a scientist will just read an article and understand what necessary. (Participant 2)

The communication issue was framed by a clinical study manager as the challenge “to make people to speak the same language” (Doc4). Researchers expressed the need for improved communication protocols to facilitate smooth collaboration and streamline the progress of the trial. A participant said it demands a clear communication between styles of thinking from science, engineering and clinics. To translate engineering principles into clinical practice, for this team member, entailed the need to become more scientific, and to master the most up-to-date scientific advances in a particular field.

For me it’s really dedication of being like a scientific surgeon. And I narrowed my clinical field to be more specialized, and to be able to cover all (AvC4).

Research participant recruitment

Effective management of participant recruitment also appeared as a notable organizational challenge in first-in-human trials of tissue engineering, requiring improved strategies and procedures. One interviewee stressed the relevance of being clear about safety to effectively recruit research participants.

In patient recruitment, a crucial issue of the clinical study is to demonstrate safety and efficacy, which should be given special attention already during the planning of the trial. (Doc3)

Skepticism among patients and their preference for similar tissue grafts already available on the market were identified as significant challenges in candidate selection. Researchers found that patients often had reservations and hesitations towards participating in trials involving novel tissue grafts.

(…) some people would not take the risk to get something new. They say, I go for what is already on the market (…) they want the new treatment instead of a prosthesis (…) I mean people think twice about whether they want to try something new or if they go for what is already available in the market for 10 years. (Participant 2).

Tissue grafts and biomaterials’ manufacturers work can, sometimes, clash with clinical priorities. From the point of view of tissue engineers, producing a tissue graft takes time, and many problems might emerge in this process. However, on the other hand, an interviewee points out that clinical workload (time) and lack of scientific skills affect recruitment’s efficiency due to technical issues placed beyond the clinical expertise.

The main problem is clinical workload. So time for research. I would also say it is related to the lack of research skills. There’s a lack of scientific knowledge on those methods. And also not only the scientific methods but creativity, ideas or innovation (Participant 3).

Transparency issues pertaining to participant recruitment and the communication of risks associated with first-in-human trials were identified as crucial concerns by researchers.

De facto, when they have for example a patient that does not entirely qualify for the inclusion criteria let’s say, then the tendency would be, well ‘why don’t we change the inclusion criteria so that we fit this patient’. And I must say that it never reaches a clash because we say, ‘well no’. Because otherwise we cannot address with the same powered design in this clinical trial with this scientific question. And so they accept it. But the tendency would be again to introduce always this level of flexibility (Participant 2).

The challenge of participant recruitment also relates to issues of transparency among groups of researchers working in the study. For a PI of the study, it is hard to control all variables emerging at the clinical side in multi-centered trials due to different approaches adopted by researcher to recruit participants.

I feel privileged to work with illuminated surgeons and clinicians. But from what I see in the international context, some [clinicians] offer an experimental procedure to a patient as a praxis [participant meant without fully discuss its risks and implications]. So new [protocols] have to be developed, have to be introduced in the clinic, but in the context of well-designed and transparently communicated trials. (Participant 1).

Clinician and medical student participation

The participation of clinicians and medical students in first-in-human trials was observed to be lower than initially anticipated by principal investigators (PIs) and project managers.

Clinician-researchers often take on multiple roles in translational research studies. Other than relying on themselves for recruitment, the team member also goes on to explain that they also rely on relationships and networks of co-workers, peers, and potential collaborators to recruit patients:

I have my outpatient service. So I see lots of patients myself. But if something is launched I inform colleagues to also watch out for possible patients. And we have a certain program of research education in the hospital. And every now and then I present, and then I also mention the ongoing projects so that people are informed. And it’s more or less the same in the lab. So we have progress reports, and where we have meetings. And maybe, sometimes it’s also just when having a coffee that you talk about such things. So very informal sometimes” (Participant 3).

Another researcher-clinician on the team also reports the importance of informal ties: “For instance [our team leader], if he know some surgeon who are interested in other clinic, it often starts like this. If you know someone, because then you know if people are motivated, if they work seriously, and everything. It’s a bit easier” (Participant 1). Informal ties thus not only help recruit potential patients, but also helps identify suitable collaborators.

Despite efforts to engage medical professionals in these trials, their involvement was below the expected levels. This limited participation raised concerns regarding the overall effectiveness and feasibility of the trials, as well as the potential impact on data collection and analysis. Then, to facilitate translational research, hospitals and universities can also implement organizational strategies of proximity and relation-work to facilitate exchanges in knowledge and ideas. As an interviewee responded:

Lots of surgeons were going into the lab for research year to learn basic science, to understand what is happening there, and also maybe giving back with this knowledge into the clinic. So there’s was a quite intense exchange. This is quite was quite key. And this was also supported by the department that you get the position and that you get a salary. Which is not the standard as a clinician, that you’re going to the lab and you receive a salary… So I was supported and was with overarching structure of the surgery and the university” (Participant 2).

Study management

As a multidisciplinary team engaged in the translation of engineering principles to the clinical context, there were moments when respondents highlighted potentials for clashes and conflicts in priorities, goals, and approaches between different team members.

If we want this science translated to a clinical setting, the challenge will be in my view to streamline and in most cases simplify processes to make them practical. I think some of the approaches that are being pursued are fantastic, are just conceptually so sophisticated and advanced. But the possibility to implement them into simple protocols that can be adopted by manufacturing groups and that can be transferable into the clinic is the main challenge (Participant 1).

The standardization of routines, availability of surgeons, the non-rare change of protocols for first-in-human trials in tissue engineering, and the management of patient participation were highlighted as key issues of the study management by PIs. A surgeon member of the clinical study pointed out the implementation of a standardized routine as a critical collective practice for the success of a clinical trial in tissue engineering, once it improves the reliability of procedures from the lab to the surgical table.

This is the requirement for scientific advances to be introduced clinically: a standardized routine. Because if we do not understand systems, we cannot control them. And people used to say, that the best way of understanding something is to is to create it. Because then you have a grasp on it (…) Standardization and reliability are necessary for clinical trials [and] for entering the routine practice for certain therapies (Participant 3).

A participant notes the need for standardization across organizations involved in the trial:

For this large multicenter study we are the ones who provide all the documentation to all the other centers. For instance, we write patient information, all those things, and they are translated to other languages if necessary of course. We have a standard operating procedure, so protocols, and try to make sure that everyone is following the same protocol in each country. We kind of centralize all the information when they send it back as well, if patients had problems, adverse events, everything… (Participant 2).

While strategies of proximity and relation-work may help with local regulators, regulators further away may be yet another challenge that researchers face when attempting to seek approval for their new projects.

Restrictive regulations due to the absence of protocols, limited patient availability, and translational lag in certain national contexts were identified as factors that compelled researchers to seek collaborations with international partners, as mentioned in a study report “At the same time, regulatory issues have become more complex, and there is no clear road map.” (Doc5).

The absence of established protocols specific to first-in-human trials in tissue engineering created uncertainty and hindered the overall efficiency of the research process. Since protocols in this area are constantly in change, it was framed by a scientist as a key challenge involved in the management of the clinical study.

You always need to continuous the development of your product, because clinical indications of our products are constantly changing. For example, sometimes the patients have larger defects to be treated. Then, we need to provide larger (tissue) grafts, so we need more cells. At the beginning we use to culture our cells with blood from the patient, so, no foreign product, so then we realized we would need to much blood from the patient to go for a larger production (laughs), so, not really nice as well… So then we changed products, for instance. Then, for that, you have to validate changing in raw material (replace autologous serum by hPL) and do a comparability study to show it is going to be the same.” (AvC1).

But the relationship between research teams with regulatory authorities also differs depending on the locale. As the project leader explained:

“We have received a lot of support and a lot of signals of flexibility to help us enter the early phases of the clinical trial. Clearly from a pilot trial, you want to reach marketing authorization for a product, then everything becomes more stringent. But in academic settings, to have an investigatory initiated clinical trial in [named the country], we have found the trajectory, the pathway is indeed facilitated by the regulatory agency. Which is less at the [international] level, and absolutely not the case at the [named third country] level… So we can consider ourselves privileged” (Participant 1).

According to an article cited by an interviewee (Doc9), the regulatory issues among scientists and physicians in multi-centered trials are directly associated to the lack of harmonization of regulations in the field internationally.

“A challenge for academia can arise not only from the regulations themselves, but also, in multi-centric studies, from the lack of harmonization between different countries. This becomes apparent in the different interpretation of European regulations, different implementation of directives in the national law of each country, requirements for qualification of personnel as well as in requirements for the manufacturing processes regarding quality of reagents and testing. This may lead to acceptance of a clinical trial in one country, but not in another, requiring several submissions until all authorities are satisfied.” (Doc9).

Due to regulatory constraints and inadequate patient pool in some countries, researchers faced difficulties in conducting the trials solely within national boundaries. As a result, international collaborations became imperative for overcoming these challenges and ensuring the progress and success of the research (Doc6 and AvC3).

Aside from external organizations, proximity and relation-work also aides in the management of regulatory oversight and scrutiny of research. As the surgical research member points out:

I recommend to contact the authorities early and keep in touch with them. (…) For research groups [that] have no experience with regulators, I tell to contact or collaborate with groups with experience on this. Those might have some ideas about good platforms for translation, that helps with regulation because it is quite a big field and takes a lot of work and time. And also lots of money. It is difficult for a small research lab to cover this (Participant 2).

Tissue engineering offers great prospects in the field of regenerative medicine to heal and repair tissue and bodily structures damaged by injury or disease. The clinical advantage of tissue engineering is that it offers biocompatible solutions that can be customized to the specific needs of patients, by harnessing the natural healing capacities of the human body while sustaining such process through bio-engineered scaffolds that greatly enhance the prospects of healing damage. Nevertheless, due to its technical complexity, tissue engineering poses critical challenges that demand a holistic approach to organizational management. Some organizational issues inherent to first-in-human clinical trials have been documented in the literature, especially regarding problems associated to market authorization and the regulatory processes [ 13 ].

In our study, researchers have also pointed persistent challenges of tissue engineering trials, as those also identified in our empirical analysis regarding to study management, clinician and medical student participation, recruitment and transparency. We highlight roles played by expertise access, resilient public engagement and efficient dialogue with patients, translational education and training, routines, and early consideration to ethics and regulation of new technologies as potential strategies to address challenges in tissue engineering trials. In Table  4 we summarize key challenges and its corresponding solutions as highlighted by participants of the study.

A recurrent theme discussed by the literature on translational research’s management deals with the importance of “expertise access” in such trials. The involvement of diverse specialists, including clinical researchers, cell biologists, surgeons and other healthcare professionals is integral to comprehensively assess the safety and potential efficacy of novel compounds. Wilkinson et al. (2017) [ 14 ] highlight the significance of early engagement of cross-disciplinary teams to facilitate robust trial design and ensure efficient execution. Similarly, Jones and Smith (2019) access to specialized expertise is important in identifying and addressing potential risks, thereby safeguarding the well-being of trial participants [ 15 ].

Simultaneously, the literature shows the critical role of organizational change in overcoming the challenges posed by first-in-human trials. Klim et al. (2020) advocate for the establishment of dedicated translational research units that facilitate streamlined decision-making processes and foster collaboration among stakeholders [ 16 ]. Such organizational innovations encompass adaptive trial designs, which allow flexibility in protocols based on emerging data, leading to more efficient resource allocation (time and expertise included), and quicker identification of compound attributes. Additionally, organizations should consider more efficient dialogue with patients as part of institutional mechanisms to both facilitate communication of benefits of new biotechnologies and to enhance access to future study participants.

The implications of organizational innovation extend beyond trial execution and influence the broader landscape of healthcare innovation. As noted by Brown et al. (2021), effective collaboration facilitates more accurate translation of preclinical data, reducing the likelihood of trial failures and optimizing resource allocation [ 17 ]. Innovative organizational approaches can expedite trial timelines and contribute to cost savings [ 18 ].

Overcoming logistical barriers, such as the availability of specialized professionals, can be particularly challenging in emerging areas of therapeutic intervention such new bioengineered tissue grafts and other biotechnologies holding higher levels of risk and translational failure [ 19 ]. Addressing these challenges is essential to fully realize the potential benefits a translational interface between science, engineering and medicine in clinical trials.

Finally, early ethical and regulatory considerations are a central component of first-in-human trials. Ensuring access to relevant expertise aligns with the ethical obligation to minimize risks to participants [ 20 ]. Furthermore, organizational innovations contribute to transparency and participants’ autonomy through enhanced communication, enabling participants to make better informed decisions about their involvement in trials. This ethical dimension adds weight to the relevance of both expertise access and organizational change in first in human trials.

Our study has limitations. The small number of participants might lead to questions about the statistical significance and relevance of the data used to formulate our hypotheses and considerations regarding the challenges and solutions to improve tissue engineering clinical translation. However, the limited number of research and clinical staff in the field has been highlighted by interviewees as a significant challenge within this realm of research and development. Additional limitations could arise from the anonymization of study participants, which may obscure potentially pertinent information concerning technical and organizational aspects related to the clinical translation of a specific biotechnology.

Our study illustrates the intricacy of organizational challenges in first-in-human clinical trials in tissue engineering and highlights the pivotal roles played by study management and interdisciplinary expertise to accommodate translational research competences and new knowledge. By harnessing specialized expertise and embracing innovative trial design approaches, stakeholders can navigate the complexity of clinical translation in tissue engineering more effectively, ultimately contributing to improved tissue engineering clinical translation.

These findings shed light on the complexities needed to conduct first-in-human trials in tissue engineering and underscore the need for effective strategies, standardized protocols, and international collaborations to overcome these challenges and advance the field.

While not directly generalizable to other types of advanced therapies or to regenerative medicine in general, our results offer valuable insights into organizational barriers that may prevent efficient clinical translation in the field of tissue engineering. The processes of clinical translation in tissue engineering have significantly advanced over the last decade.

Enhancing organizational tools, refining funding mechanisms, and incentivizing early ethical and regulatory scrutiny of new biotechnologies to tackle the issues outlined in our study could significantly reduce translational lag and prevent delays in promising tissue engineering clinical translation.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge all the respondents of the interview study for their valuable input. We would also like to thank Shannon Hubbs for proofreading the final version of this manuscript.

This study is a result of the research project ‘Ethical and Regulatory Questions Related to Engineered Molecular Systems’, which was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation through the National Centre of Competence in Research “Molecular Systems Engineering” (NCCR-MSE), grant n. 205608.

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Renan Gonçalves Leonel da Silva & Alessandro Blasimme

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Contributions

RD accessed study participants, applied interviews, collected, transcribed, coded and analyzed the data regarding the organizational issues of first-in-human trial of tissue engineering clinical translation, as well as drafted the first version of this manuscript. LA assisted in data analysis, writing, drafting and reviewed all versions of the manuscript. AB analyzed the data, and actively worked on drafting all versions of the manuscript, as well as provided expert review, funding, supervision and lead the development of the manuscript to improve methodological accuracy and clarity. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Renan Gonçalves Leonel da Silva .

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This research received the approval of the Ethics Commission of ETH Zurich (2021-N-71).

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da Silva, R.G.L., Au, L. & Blasimme, A. Organizational aspects of tissue engineering clinical translation: insights from a qualitative case study. transl med commun 9 , 17 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41231-024-00179-7

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Received : 23 January 2024

Accepted : 22 May 2024

Published : 30 May 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s41231-024-00179-7

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