According to a New York Times Job Market national survey on recruitment in the pharmaceutical industry, only 7% of college students and 14% of young professionals are very likely to consider a job in the pharmaceutical industry because many students (65%) and young professionals (51%) assume they are not qualified for a job in that industry.Harris Interactive, on behalf of New York Times Job Market, conducted a national online survey of 1,200 college students aged 18-25 and college-educated working professionals aged 22-30. The survey report was completed in May 2004.“Many college students and young workers assume a background in science is required for a career in the pharmaceutical industry, which just isn’t the case,” said Brad Smith, director of Staffing and Diversity, Hoffman-La Roche, Inc. “In fact, there’s great demand in our industry for talented people with backgrounds in marketing, sales and other non-scientific areas.”According to the survey, the most common reason cited by college students who felt that they would not qualify for a job in the pharmaceutical industry is that they did not have enough of a science background (65%). And the main reason cited by young professionals who are not interested in pursuing work in the pharmaceutical industry is that they are not interested in science or do not like science (47%).
