Biotechnology Job Fairs...A New Method Of Searching For Research Employment

Soon after finishing school, most new science graduates will utilize the entire spectrum of traditional job-seeking methods-- such as help- wanted ads, networking, university placement services, and assistance provided by scientific societies--to begin the next stage of their career. Another method that has been gaining in popularity over the years is the science job fair--a large conference of company representatives accepting resumes and interviewing for new employees. Although these events have been around for decades, a relatively new phenomenon is the industry-specific job fair, and one in particular is becoming ubiquitous and effective, its organizers say--job fairs for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. For more information about job fairs, contact: Career Connection 299 W. Hillcrest Dr., Suite 106 Thousand Oaks, Calif. 91360 Life Science Associates 2100 Embarcadero, Suite 101 Oakland, Calif. 94606 (510) 436-3976 The Lendman Group 5500 Greenwich Rd. Virginia Beach, Va. 23462 (804) 473-2480 "In fact, right now the marketplace is becoming glutted with offerings of biotech and pharmaceutical job fairs," says Christos Richards, founder of Career Connection, a company based in Thousand Oaks, Calif., that arranges biotech/pharmaceutical job fairs. Held in either a ballroom or a suite, usually in a large hotel, commercial job fairs of this type generally attract between 10 and 20 national and local biotech companies looking for new employees. Job seekers can show up unannounced to submit resumes, and, in some cases, even conduct interviews with prospective employers. Along with Career Connection, Life Science Associates in Oakland, Calif., and the Lendman Group in Virginia Beach, Va., are the United States' three largest producers of job fairs in the life and biological sciences; each company will sponsor between six and 10 fairs this year. A biotech or pharmaceutical company will pay one flat fee to the organizer, usually around $3,500; in return, company officials are allowed to interview as many candidates and make as many hires as they wish from the pool of applicants who attend the fair, organizers of the fairs say. "The job fair forum can be exceptionally effective for both employers and employees," says Richards, whose five-year-old company was one of the original producers of biotechnology job fairs, running its first in 1990 in La Jolla, Calif. "For the employer, it's an opportunity to make multiple hires for a fraction of the cost of one hire through a search firm. And for the job candidate, the fair is a chance to submit a resume or have an interview with many companies in one afternoon." Major biotech and pharmaceutical companies such as Amgen Inc. in Thousand Oaks, Calif.; Genentech Inc., San Francisco, Calif.; Serono Laboratories Inc. in Norwell, Mass.; Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in Syracuse, N.Y.; XOMA Corp. of Berkeley, Calif.; and divisions of the Baxter Healthcare Corp., headquartered in Deerfield, Ill., often frequent the fairs. The average number of hires per biotech company per job fair is between two and five, the organizers of the fairs say. Most of the companies that send representatives to the fairs are looking for scientists with Ph.D.-level education and between five and 10 years of laboratory experience, according to Jo Curtin, president of Life Science Associates (LSA), a division of Career Expo Conference Planners, also in Oakland. Though Career Expo has been producing job fairs in the areas of engineering/technical, sales, and business operations on the West bioscience fair in November 1992. "Biotech job fairs are still a fairly new idea to people, but I think it's going to become a more and more prevalent force in recruiting," Curtin says. The Lendman Group, though it has produced job fairs for about 30 years, only recently began running biotech-specific fairs in January. Steve Campbell, president of the company, says that its first biotech fair in Cambridge, Mass., called "Biotech '93," attracted 1,500 job- seekers, 57 percent of whom had a Ph.D.- level education. "The beauty of a job fair from the perspective of the job candidate," says Campbell, "is he or she can come and conduct a pretty sizable job search under one roof in a few hours and really know where they stand. That might take several weeks to do via the post office." Also, he says, the Lendman Group will accept resumes or CVs through mail or fax from job-seekers unable to attend the event and will distribute them to the participating companies. However, some career counselors doubt that many new graduates find employment at the biotech job fairs. Mary Heiberger, associate director of the career planning and placement center at the University of Pennsylvania, says most Ph.D.-level scientists obtain their jobs through networking, applying directly to companies, responding to ads, availing themselves of job services provided by scientific societies, and obtaining referrals from advisers. "We survey our graduating Ph.D. candidates every year and one of the questions we ask is: `How do you get your jobs?' And `I attended a commercial job fair and connected with it that way' is an answer I've never seen or heard about from students," says Heiberger. She says Ph.D.-level scientists are often searching for positions too specialized to have much success shopping at a random event. "I think a scientist who wants to find employment is much better off getting involved in their own professional association than running around looking for some company that claims it will produce magic for them," she says. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says most of the graduating scientists he sees meet employers right on campus, rather than attending a job fair. "What can't be reproduced anywhere is the wealth of connections we're lucky to be able to have with individual companies," says Weatherall, who notes that in one year, between 350 and 400 companies visit MIT looking for hires. Generally, when companies go to job fairs, they are looking to fill a number of highly specialized positions with experienced individuals, says Mark Iorio, human resource manager for the biotech manufacturing facility at Serono Laboratories. He says Serono attends around four job fairs a year and makes at least one hire per event. "We usually hire new graduates right off campus," he says. "But what a job fair can do for a fresh-out graduate is give them invaluable interview experience and give them exposure to what the top companies are doing so they understand what opportunities might exist."

Biotechnology Job Fairs...A New Method Of Searching For Research Employment

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