Life Sciences Job Market in 2011 – A Pennsylvania Perspective
 Christopher MolineauxIn our previous issue, we interviewed BioNJ’s President Debbie Hart to get an update on life sciences career opportunities in New Jersey. This month, we interviewed Christopher Molineaux – President of Pennsylvania Bio – to get a Pennsylvania perspective on the current life sciences job market. He also offered some advice for professionals in search of new career opportunities in the life sciences.
Opportunities in the Life Sciences “Absolutely Exist”
“The life sciences job market is probably not as favorable as we’d like,” Molineaux admits. The larger pharmaceutical companies have been downsizing, contracting, and consolidating over the last 2 or 3 years, he explains, resulting in many industry layoffs regionally. “But opportunities absolutely exist,” he adds.
Where are many of today’s job opportunities in the life sciences? Molineaux points to the recent growth in contract research organizations (CROs) as having a positive and significant effect on Pennsylvania’s life sciences job market. “CROs are hiring and growing,” he explains, “and they reflect the entrepreneurial, aggressive, creative approach that is required in the life sciences job market today.”
Outsourcing – A Rapidly Growing Trend in the Life Sciences Market
The functional need to develop drugs and get them to physicians and their patients is still there, but it’s now increasingly being met by using a CRO model. More and more CROs are providing pre-clinical through clinical trials and post-approval research services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology drug developers today. So while big pharma may be diminishing its employee base, the outsourcing of nonstrategic functions is on the increase.
“I’ve heard it said, ‘If there’s a function that can be outsourced, it will be,’” says Molineaux. The nonstrategic functions that are most frequently being outsourced are those services that don’t require an in-depth knowledge of a company and its products, he explains, and can be easily transferred from one company to another. These functions include data analytics, finance, and human resources. Molineaux describes a local life sciences professional who successfully started a niche CRO that provides polychromatic flow cytometry outsource services for biopharmaceutical companies. This is a good example of a scientific discipline that is easily transferrable and that now forms the foundation of a new company.
Advice for Life Sciences Professionals Looking for New Job Opportunities
For life sciences professionals who are looking for new career opportunities, Molineaux advises, “They have to think about nontraditional avenues where their expertise will be welcomed and valued.” Given the new model of the life sciences industry that is currently emerging, he notes, these opportunities will less likely be in big pharma and more likely in a smaller start-up company or a CRO.
Life sciences professionals making a transition from big pharma need to be mentally and emotionally prepared for a different type of work environment. They’ll be expected to take on multiple accountabilities, be more versatile, and willing to take up any task to help make an organization successful. “In other words,” he says, “delegating isn’t always an option anymore.”
Molineaux also believes that there are opportunities for new graduates in the life sciences, but they need to be versed in more than just the sciences. College students pursuing a career in the biopharmaceutical industry should be able to understand the full continuum of the business – how science is translated into commercialization – to be most successful.
“Opportunities are out there,” Molineaux summarizes, “but today’s life sciences professionals need to be open to taking on some degree of risk.” The days of the big pharma industry are behind us – where every functional area is under one roof, from R&D to the commercialization of the products. So even if they’re not taking on the full risk of starting their own company, life sciences professionals looking for new career opportunities may have to be willing to join an organization that is just getting off the ground.
Ashton Tweed would like to thank Christopher Molineaux for this interview. If you are among the many life sciences professionals affected by the changes in the industry, Ashton Tweed can help you find the right placement opportunity – from product discovery through commercialization at leading life sciences companies – including interim executive positions and full-time placements. Additionally, if your company needs help from members of the Ashton Tweed Life Sciences Executive Talent Bank, we can supply that assistance either on an interim or a permanent basis. In either case, please email or call us at 610-725-0290. Ashton Tweed is pleased to continue to present insightful articles of interest to the industry. |
