Since March 2020, there has been a significant acceleration in biotech, life sciences, and the medical industry as a whole. Biotech investment has increased to record levels, and hundreds of new businesses have sprung up, marking a period of unrivalled expansion in virtually every element of the industry.
Notwithstanding the fact that such expansion unquestionably serves the greater good, difficulties in recruiting qualified candidates for positions in the biotechnology industry has emerged as a visible problem in the industry.
In this scenario, we at Amazing Workplaces had a discussion with Dr. Ganesh Nikam, Founder-Director at Biojobz, India’s first , most reliable and fastest growing headhunting and staffing agency from to specialize in the Biopharma and life-science industries.
In this discussion, we speak to Dr. Ganesh Nikam about the current scenario, top challenges and various other aspects of hiring and recruitment in the biotech and life sciences space.
Here is an excerpt of the interview.
Kindly share your point of view on the current scenario of the hiring and recruitment trends and their evolving future
Building a great talent pool necessitates investing time, effort and resources in online and offline channels, coupled with internal initiatives. With innovative hiring technologies and techniques such as social recruitment advancing almost every day, talent pool initiatives have been democratized and streamlined. Increased use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in keyword-based resume prediction and matching has made the job of HR manager easier. Similarly, Social media platforms have widely accelerated the pace for searching and validation of candidates. No wonder HRs are increasing their presence on social platforms for employer branding. HR departments are rapidly shifting away from a transactional approach to hiring in favour of being proactive and building a relevant talent pipeline. Initiatives such as video interviews, improved employee-friendly regulations concerning Work From Home (WFH), and gender inclusivity approach is what attracts a good candidate in a lucrative market. Telling a compelling employer story allows businesses to stay ahead of the competition while also spotting new, emerging recruitment practices.
HR departments are rapidly shifting away from a transactional approach to hiring in favour of being proactive and building a relevant talent pipeline.
What are the various job opportunities available in the Biotech industry?
Biotechnology has extensive applications in agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, health, pharmaceutical, and industrial sectors, among others. Although biotechnology industries produce a wide range of products, from vaccines to seeds to specialised equipment, many job duties and titles are shared across the industry. Some of the job opportunities available in the Biotech industry include Manufacturing, Regulatory Compliance, QA (Quality Assurance), QC (Quality Control), Clinical Development and IT/AI/Digital Skills.
According to you, which are the five essential things that a Biotech firm should be looking for while hiring new talent?
Without a doubt, the readiness to identify and retain a synergistic mix of internal and external team members, all collaborating seamlessly towards the same objective, is a pivotal success factor for all biotechnology companies. Since recruitment in health care (Pharma, Biologicals, Vaccine Manufactures) is extremely technology-specific, requiring technically skilled manpower as well as strong alignment with the company’s technical product pipeline, the following are the five essential things that a Biotech firm should look for when hiring new talent:
- Deep understanding of their technical domain.
- Domain-specific similar prior work experience instead of more varied experience.
- Adherence to the international standard of quality.
- End-to-end process understanding.
- Flexibility to relocate.
Globally, leaders of organisations in almost every industry use downsizing as a tool of strategic planning to maximise efficiencies, reduce operating costs, and improve profitability. However, leaders of organisations that rely on layoffs as part of a strategic direction may witness more negative than positive outcomes. Downsizing efforts may jeopardise relationships between leaders and employees in organisations.
We keep hearing about regular layoffs. In this scenario, how do you manage to handle talent acquisition for your clients?
When confronted with difficult economic conditions, leaders of organisations may alter operations in order to stay competitive. Globally, leaders of organisations in almost every industry use downsizing as a tool of strategic planning to maximise efficiencies, reduce operating costs, and improve profitability. However, leaders of organisations that rely on layoffs as part of a strategic direction may witness more negative than positive outcomes. Downsizing efforts may jeopardise relationships between leaders and employees in organisations. Since many layoffs are miscommunicated, Biojobz management makes every effort to clearly communicate the reason for layoffs to its candidates. More importantly, Biojobz understands the ever-changing business side of the Life Science industry and accordingly delivers the right fitment of middle and senior resources while also taking the candidates’ long-term career goals into account.
How does one effectively use new-age social media platforms/tools for sourcing and profiling candidates. How can companies leverage this easily?
Social hiring, or simply social recruitment, has emerged as the one of most dominant methods of talent acquisition today. To identify, engage, and recruit workers, job searching firms and internal corporate recruiters are increasingly turning to social recruitment platforms, which has quickly surpassed more customary recruiting sources such as campus interviews and worker referrals. Recruiters employ social networking sites to reach more people and a larger pool of candidates, including passive candidates, more quickly and at a lower cost than traditional recruitment approaches such as classified ads and job postings. Most companies are also increasing their presence on social media platforms in order to achieve a high rating on-Ambition Box and Glassdoor.
To identify, engage, and recruit workers, job searching firms and internal corporate recruiters are increasingly turning to social recruitment platforms
What does the future of the jobs landscape look like in the biotech industry?
India’s biotechnology industry is entering a new era of expansion. The biotechnology industry has the potential to strengthen the Indian economy and drive the country’s growth momentum, with inroads into critical sectors such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, services, and information technology. The reason for the sector’s expansion is also that biotech products will gradually lose patents over the next ten years. Simultaneously, a good science-based pool in India is assisting in shifting Biotech work from developed countries to India due to talent availability and price. More importantly, a strong R&D investment is fuelling demand for research and development jobs in the Indian biotech industry.
