Biotech, Pharmaceutical Hiring: A Bright Spot On Bleak Horizon

While the job market for scientists is generally dismal these days, you'd never know it from listening to Jonathan Meulbroek. A microbiologist and mucosal immunologist, Meulbroek is finishing a two-year postdoctoral position in infectious disease research at Eli Lilly and Co. in Indianapolis. Recently, he has had more invitations for job interviews than he has had time to accept. After receiving three job offers, he opted for a position with a major pharmaceutical firm. “I'm very pleased with how my job search has gone,“ he says. “I've come to the conclusion that contributing in an industrial setting is the best choice for me.” lt seems as if a growing number of life scientists are coming to that same conclusion. While staff positions in academia and federal research centers are fairly scarce, jobs for researchers remain relatively plentiful in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Several statistical projections bear this out. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 34 percent employment gain for biological scientists between 1990 and 2005, with most new jobs in the private sector. In the biotech industry, total employment is expected to surge from 70,000 in 1991 to more than 200,000 by the year 2000, according to the Industrial Biotechnology Association, an industry group based in Washington, D.C. “If you really want to be in the biotech industry, a Ph.D. in the life sciences is still the best ticket in,“ says James W. Sharpe, president of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association and of GX Biosystems Inc. in Langhorne, Pa. David Jensen, who heads an executive search firm specializing in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, says that maturing biotech companies need life scientists who can help them make the transition from pure research and development to large-scale production. Jensen, president of Search Masters International in Sedona, Ariz., foresees continued demand for microbiologists. Also in short supply: protein chemists who can separate and purify genetically engineered products. Those who go prospecting for a job in the pharmaceutical industry also may hit pay dirt. In the U.S., the industry employs more than 45,000 people, according to the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA) in Washington, D.C. Although recent mergers have dampened the pace of hiring somewhat, most companies are increasing employment of scientists as their R&D budgets expand, says association spokesman Jeffrey L. Trewhitt. The nation's pharmaceutical companies will invest an estimated $10.9 billion this year in R&D, according to PMA. That sum is a 13.5 percent increase from last year. Total industry investment in R&D has doubled in the last five years, the association says. Despite the growing job market for life scientists, however, competition for most positions remains extremely keen. “lt's as competitive for a Ph.D. to get a position in industry as it is in academia,“ says Joseph M. Davie, president of research and development at Searle in Skokie, Ill. For instance, the Groton, Conn.based R&D division of pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. received more than 7,000 applications last year. Fewer than 1 percent of those led to hires, says David Burnett, assistant director of employer resources for the research division. However, for some specialists, demand outstrips the supply, at least in the biotech industry, says Jensen. In high demand: protein chemists, cell biologists, bioanalytic chemists, and biocomputer specialists. For example, Ecogen Inc. in Langhorne, Pa., has been searching for months for a protein chemist, says Bruce Carlton, executive vice president of research and development. “The pool of available applicants seems pretty small,“ he says. If you're contemplating a career move to the biotech or pharmaceutical industries, it's important to evaluate how you feel about doing research in industry vs. academia. On the positive side, you can do state-of-the-art research in either sector, says Davie. “Very often, industrial research has the image of following behind academic science. I was pleasantly surprised to see that's a myth,“ says Davie, who came to Earle from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he was a professor of microbiology and immunology and head of that department. Harvard immunologist Edgar Haber, who helped preside over the creation of the Bristol-Meyers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, is intimately familiar with both worlds of research. He sees the key differences this way: “In the pharmaceutical industry, one is usually assigned a topic. You can do just as good science, but it is considerably more directed. In academia, the mandate is to be original.” Apparently, academia is where Haber is happiest: Recently, he returned to Harvard to become the Elkan R. Blout Professor of Biological Science at the School of Public Health. To work in biotech, it helps to be flexible. “Here job descriptions get in the way. You need to look beyond your job to support the whole environment of the company,” says Stephen Prichard, director of human resources and administration for DNA Plant Technology Corp., an agricultural biotech firm in Cinnaminson, N.J. As a biotech firm grows and evolves, job responsibilities also may change and expand. For example, when entomologist Timothy Johnson came to Ecogen as a researcher in 1986, he never dreamed that one day he would spend much of his time giving presentations to potential Wall Street investors and traveling the globe on business. Today, he spends only 5 percent of his time on research. “One of the attractive things about working in a small company is you get to do a large number of things rather quickly,” says Johnson. In general, salaries in industry are higher than in academia, say PBA's Sharpe and others. Pharmaceutical companies tend to pay best at all levels of employment and to offer the most comprehensive benefits. However, in the biotech industry, “you're not going to get as much pay [as in the pharmaceutical business], but there's the opportunity to hit the big one, in terms of stock options,” says Susan Racca, vice president of administration for the Industrial Biotechnology Association. The association estimates that 94 percent of biotech companies offer stock option plans to their employees (see table on page 7). “When you have stock options, you have the opportunity to make a fortune,” says Sharpe. But in terms of job security, biotech firms rank near the bottom of the list, he says. Compared to the stability of a tenured job in academia or a staff position in a major pharmaceutical company, biotech employment is far more volatile, because companies sometimes fold or radically change directions, Sharpe says: “It's a wonderful place to seek employment, and the science you do can be very sophisticated and rewarding, but the industry is unstable.”

Biotech, Pharmaceutical Hiring: A Bright Spot On Bleak Horizon

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Jean Wallace

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August 1992

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