Life Sciences' Talent Crunch
Navigating the Talent Shortage in Life Sciences: Causes and Solutions
WMFC For People in a Hurry
What’s inside:
The Life Sciences industry faces a talent crunch, with an estimated worldwide talent deficit of 85 million people by 2030, making it difficult for companies to find and retain skilled professionals.
Key causes of the talent crunch include an aging workforce, increasing demand, specialized skill requirements, global competition, rapid technological advancements, and a rise in self-employment.
Proactively addressing the talent crunch can help companies anticipate industry needs and develop strategies to attract and retain talent.
Implementing a combination of solutions, such as investing in talent pipelines and exploring new talent sources, can help Life Sciences companies overcome the talent crunch and continue to grow and innovate.
Fraser Dove International, a Life Sciences talent consultancy, uses a talent ecosystem model to effectively tackle the talent crunch in the industry.
The Talent Crunch vs Life Sciences
The Life Sciences industry is one of the fastest-growing industries worldwide. This is great for advancing healthcare; it brings new medicines, therapies, and devices to the market that can improve people's lives. Unfortunately, it does come with increased challenges!
The Life Sciences Industry is facing a substantial challenge in the form of what we call the Talent Crunch, driven by the demand for highly skilled professionals, which vastly outstrips the supply. With aging workforces and the increasing prevalence of diseases, the need for innovative solutions in the Life Science industry has never been greater.
In fact, it’s estimated that by 2030, there will be a worldwide talent deficit of 85 million people.
The talent crunch is a major concern for Life Sciences companies as they struggle to find and retain skilled professionals. So what does the talent crunch actually mean for Life Science businesses?
Key Causes of the Talent Crunch
The talent crunch effectively means that there is a talent shortage with an increasing demand for talent with a specific skill set. Some critical factors which are worsening the talent crunch include:
1. An Aging Workforce: Many experienced professionals are nearing retirement age, and fewer younger professionals are entering the industry. Without new people to fill these jobs, a massive deficit is quickly approaching.
2. Increasing Demand: Rapid growth and expansion of the industry are leading to an increased demand for talent that exceeds the available supply.
3. Specialised Skills: Working in the Life Sciences requires specialised skills and education. With advancing therapeutic areas, these skill sets are in higher demand than ever but not necessarily in high abundance.
4. Global Competition: The Life Sciences are a global industry, and the competition for talent is fierce. Both individual countries and new emerging biotech businesses are investing heavily in education and training programs to attract the best and brightest to their markets.
5. New technologies and platforms: As new technologies, techniques, and treatments are developed, organisations require individuals with the expertise to apply these innovations in real-world settings. Technological advancement in Life Sciences is particularly rapid, which means there is a constant need for talent. This, in turn, creates a need for more qualified workers on the market, leading to competition for talent and making it difficult for organisations to find the right people for the job.
6. Self-Employment: There is an increase in individuals being self-employed or becoming consultants. These candidates are, therefore, outside the market for full-time employment, reducing the talent pool available even further.
These are just a handful of factors contributing to this talent crunch.
Tackle the Talent Crunch Effectively
With the severity of the talent crunch in mind, it’s crucial that your talent strategy becomes proactive instead of reactive.
Proactively implementing a combination of solutions can help lessen the impact of the talent crunch. These solutions are an essential element, as simply rushing the process can lead to a bad hire.
At Fraser Dove, we’ve discovered that the cost of a bad executive hire can equate to 200% of a candidate’s salary. If you don’t have these solutions in place, we recommend working with a talent partner you trust.
We have seen that companies that take a proactive approach can anticipate the talent needs of the industry and develop strategies to attract and retain talented individuals. By investing in your talent pipeline, and exploring new talent sources, Life Sciences companies can overcome the talent crunch and continue to grow and innovate.
In conclusion, the talent crunch is a significant challenge for the Life Sciences industry. It is crucial for companies to adopt innovative strategies to attract and retain skilled professionals. Here at Fraser Dove International, we have done this by being the only Life Sciences talent consultancy to use a talent ecosystem model.
About the Author
This week’s article was brought to you by WMFC’s very first guest author, Mitchell Pease.
Mitchell currently works as a Search Consultant at Fraser Dove International. After completing a BSc in Biochemistry with a major in Immunology, he quickly realised that the traditional scientist route didn’t entice him.
Instead, he followed his passion for the Life Sciences and immunology by putting this into action through talent. Now in his role at Fraser Dove International, he is part of an international business’ efforts to enhance the Life Sciences through talent!
Biotech’s Still Breathing — Funding Announcements
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Sinopia Biosciences’ bioinformatics platform uses proprietary machine learning for drug repurposing to identify therapeutics that reduce adverse drug reactions of life-changing medications, helping doctors to identify pathways that are implicated in causing Parkinson's Disease and produce better treatments.
View on: LinkedIn.com
New Funding Raised: $5.3M, Grant
Round Investors: National Institutes of Health (lead), Michael J. Fox Foundation
Growth Focus: Advance its lead clinical candidate, SB-0110, to clinical trials, for the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease.
Press: Business Wire, Yahoo Finance
HQ: San Diego, CA
Industry: Biotechnology
Employee Count: 4
Complement Therapeutics aims to design a platform methodology to stratify and treat patients based on their complement-activation profile, providing patients with improved medical treatment for complement-related diseases, including age-related macular degeneration.
View on: LinkedIn.com
New Funding Raised: €72M, Series A
Round Investors: Forbion Capital Partners (lead), Gimv (lead), Cambridge Innovation Capital, Hadean Ventures
Growth Focus: Continue the development and complete a Phase Ib clinical proof of concept of its lead product CTx001.
Press: PR Newswire
HQ: London, England
Industry: Biotechnology
Employee Count: 11
Mercy BioAnalytics is developing a Halo liquid biopsy platform that utilizes biomarker co-localization to interrogate abundant, blood-based extracellular vesicles that carry cancer signatures from their parent cells, enabling oncologists with the ability to better detect early-stage cancers.
View on: LinkedIn.com
New Funding Raised: $41M, Series A
Round Investors: Novalis LifeSciences (lead), Sozo Ventures, Hatteras Venture Partners, iSelect Fund
Growth Focus: Boost the development and commercialization of its Mercy Halo test.
Press: FinSMEs
HQ: Natick, MA
Industry: Biotechnology Research
Employee Count: 27
Lookin’ Around?
Dream Jobs in Science & Companies Hiring:
Corteva — Automation Architect - OT & IOT (View Job Post)
Colossal Biosciences — Scientist, Stem Cell Biology (View Here)
Plexium — Scientist, Computational Chemistry (View Here)
Lonza — Head of Operations mRNA (View Here)
TetraScience — Senior Director of Partner Marketing, Tetra Partner Network (View Here)
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