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Biotech industry struggles to recruit talent
According to a recent National Science Foundation report, the demand for biotech workers is outpacing the rate at which U.S. universities are churning out graduates. And because academic institutions aren’t able to satisfy the industry’s demand for new Ph.D graduates, attracting and keeping workers is becoming an increasingly serious problem in the drug development process. Three categories of employees are in the shortest supply: biologists to make discoveries, researchers to take those discoveries through the proof-of-concept stage, and people to plan and execute clinical trials.
The biotech industry is a victim of its own success. Success means growth, which can only be fueled by hiring more researchers. But as CNNMoney notes, “in 2005…U.S. institutions turned out 6,368 Ph.D.s in biological sciences. That was only 1,000 more than a decade earlier.” One-third of those graduates are from abroad and may return home after completing their education.
"There is a war for talent, and that war will get more intense over the years," notes Roger Marchetti, Amylin Pharmaceuticals' senior vice president of human resources. In 2005 Amylin won FDA approval for its diabetes drug Byetta and has since been recruiting employees from other companies to sustain growth. Marchetti notes that very few new employees at Amylin are new grads. Amgen has taken another approach to solving its staffing issues. Last month it purchased Alantos Pharmaceuticals and gained diabetes drug ALS 2-0426--along with 45 Alantos scientists.
These solutions are, at best, temporary. Shuffling too few workers around for too many jobs can’t last forever, so many companies are looking overseas to fill the gap. But though there is a rich supply of talent abroad, the U.S. limits the number of visas it grants to foreign employees. By April 2007 the federal government had received almost three times as many visa applications as it will approve and biotechs anticipate filing even more applications in coming years.
- read the CNNMoney article for more
Related Articles:
U.K. researchers driven out by tough regulations. Report
GSK looks abroad for more scientists as U.K. shortage grows. Report
New report claims signs of bay area brain drain. Report
Comments
By Anonymous | Posted 1:57pm | June 11, 2008
Many thousands of experienced scientists have been laid off in recent years by Big Pharma (see today's report from GSK) and shuttered biotechs. Many of them are changing careers because they can't find a job.
Yet, company recruiters frequently seem to retain very restrictive hiring qualifications: new degree from a specific, select group of universities; no more than a few years experience in a select group of large companies, etc.
Perhaps staff shortages could be addressed at least in part by expanding the apparent talent pool to include more former life-sciences scientists - before all have committed themselves to new careers in different industries.
By Anonymous | Posted 11:39am | September 9, 2008
They say there is shortage of scientists, where is that? we are looking for job and everywhere you go you have to know some people in industry to only get your resume in front of person related to job advertisement, then they say you do not have industry experience or you are not new graduate. what is actual problem? People who are qualified and looking for job are not getting them and companies who need employees don't get them? why this controversy.............I am looking for job along with my husband. I am immunologist with 10 years postdoc experience and one year industry experience and he is cancer gene therapist with same experience...............I had applied to so many companies but never got any interview call even thoough I have in some of them 100% match...............who is responsible for this GAP ? Recruiters or companies or US? ANY ANSWERS? ANYBODY there? I am waiting.....................
By Anonymous | Posted 11:55am | September 9, 2008
I 100% agree with the last post. I had worked in biotech with a B.A. tech job. Then I went back to school, got my Ph.D. and 3 year post-doc.
Tried to go back to biotech, and no one would touch me because I didn't have biotech experience?????? It is the stupidest thing ever. What is really going on is that the people in biotech are afraid to let the people from academia in. Biotech targets people right out of school to mold them into a pair of hands or targets Ph.D.'s right out of school to mold them into a higher level pair of hands. The problem are the recruiters and people in power. They don't want other bright scientists to outshine them so they recruit lower level people.
By Anonymous | Posted 5:47pm | May 29, 2009
The recruiting struggle is of the industry's own making. Let me spell it out for you.
1. The only way one gets industrial experience is by getting a job that provides said experience.
2. On the job training as important as formal schooling. Companies need to train their workers.
3. Any scientist who has earned a Ph.D. in subdiscipline A can adapt to subdisciplines B, C, D, etc., simply by reading the appropriate standard operating procedures and relevant scientific peer-reviewed literature. Stop assuming that specialization in one field means total incompetence and inability in other fields.
This applies to M.S. and B.S. degrees as well.
4. Undergraduate programs cannot teach more than the basics in a few general disciplines, techniques, and skills. Biotech companies need to teach (yes, TEACH) their employees the newest techniques.
5. Everyone starts life with no experience. If you are an employee/supervisor/scientist/etc. at a biotech firm today, realize that you got there because others were willing to train and mentor you at the beginning of your career. Now is the time to return the favor and mentor others.
6. If you are not willing to train and mentor others in science, you have no business being a scientist.
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