November 11, 2015
By Angela Rose, BioSpace.com News
Biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device employers in Massachusetts are preparing for the Fall Genetown Talent Connect event as the increasing concentration of organizations continues to drive demand for professionals in the Genetown hotbed.
According to a recent outlook report from JLL, the Greater Boston area is home to the largest concentration of life science researchers in the United States. Many elite academic and research institutions are located here, as well as world-class medical facilities including the top three NIH-funded hospitals in the nation. Nearly 1,900 establishments employ more than 82,000 professionals in the industry—and over the last 10 years, Boston alone has seen more than 22,000 new life science jobs added to its economy.
“The local life science job market is tight,” Bob Evans, senior business development and marketing director at Cambridge Biomedical Inc., recently told BioSpace . “There are now so many life science companies within the Cambridge and metro Boston area all vying for the same talent pool.” Fortunately, this isn’t entirely negative for employers. “Due to the large number of companies in this area, the natural ‘churn’ of employees helps us in some respects. There are always scientists seeking to move to an organization that offers challenging positions and variety in the work being conducted.”
Finding these scientists is one of the reasons Cambridge Biomedical and other area employers are attending Talent Connect, BioSpace’s innovative take on the job fair. “We believe that Talent Connect is well placed to assist us in presenting our needs to a wide range of potential candidates,” Evans explained. “It gives us an opportunity to show how Cambridge Biomedical is a good fit for their career.”
Job seekers who want to meet and network with representatives from AbbVie , AGTC, AstraZeneca LP , Baxalta , Cambridge Biomedical Inc., Contact Singapore, ICQ Consultants, Integrated Project Management Company, Inc., Kapa Biosystems, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, MedImmune, LLC , NanoTemper Technologies Inc., Nitto Denko Avecia Inc., Radius Health , RaNA Therapeutics, Inc., Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and other Genetown life sciences employers can do so at the Marriott Cambridge on November 19 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Each organization will be conducting on-site in-depth private interviews with candidates as they recruit for multiple job openings.Pre-registration for the event is required, as is the submission of a resume for pre-screening and approval for the one-on-one 15-minute interviews. However, job seeker effort should be more than rewarded by the opportunities this fall’s Talent Connect employers are offering. Evans told BioSpace, “We will be specifically searching for Senior Research Scientists and Research Associates with industry experience in assay development at Talent Connect.”
According to a recent industry snapshot from the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, biopharma employment in the state grew 4.9 percent in 2014, the largest increase since 2008. Genzyme, a Sanofi Company, is the largest biotech employer in the region, followed by Biogen, Inc. , PAREXEL International , Pfizer Inc. , and Novartis . The average salary within the industry in Massachusetts was $120,628 in 2014.
