Despite layoffs, scientists in high demand

Good news for scientists and researchers: despite a number of layoffs and hiring freezes, there is still high demand in the biotech industry. And human resources managers are going above and beyond to attract good talent. 

Cambridge-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals [1] and Cubist Pharmaceuticals are among the companies planning to hire more employees. Over the next 14 months, Millennium--recently acquired by Japan-based Takeda--will hire 300 people, including data managers, oncologists and salespeople, according to a report in the Boston Herald.

While the job market may be waning in some states, Massachusetts [2] seems to be at the center of the biotech expansion [3]. The state recently approved a $1 billion economic incentive package for the life sciences industries, and new companies are relocating to Massachusetts while others are expanding their operations. According to a report from MassBio and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center [3], 85 percent of the state's life-sciences employers expect to expand in the next two years. And apparently finding life sciences candidates is difficult: 90 percent of employers surveyed said they had difficulty hiring clinical research staff.

Millennium has begun advertising its job opportunities on a billboard near Boston's Museum of Science. Not one to shy away from competition, the company has also decided to strategically place advertisements inside Cambridge subway stations located near other life-sciences companies, as well as inside shuttle buses that transport workers to and from various biotech research centers.

- read the Boston Herald report [4]

Related Articles:
Report: Mass. needs more biotech workers [3]
Mass. ponders how to hand out $500M [5]
Canada short on biotech workers [6]
MedImmune to hire 800 in pipeline push [7]
Massachusetts - Top Five Regions Targeting Biotech, 2008 [2]