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Opportunities in the Private Sector
Author(s) -
Rosenberg Martin
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.223.2
Subject(s) - private sector , variety (cybernetics) , government (linguistics) , business , job market , training (meteorology) , marketing , public relations , economic growth , political science , engineering , economics , work (physics) , computer science , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , physics , artificial intelligence , meteorology
The number of life science graduates (BS, MS, PhD and post doc) entering the job market continues to significantly outpace the career opportunities available for academic research faculty positions. This trend has been ongoing for decades but has certainly become more pronounced in recent years. During the 1980s and ‘90s the growth in private sector jobs for life scientists (e.g., the Biotech industry, R&D expansion in Pharma, etc.), in addition to increased hiring in the public sector (e.g., government) provided alternative careers for the ever‐increasing numbers of graduates. Many of the jobs in the non‐academic sectors did not require bench skills but did require strong scientific acumen. In the past decade however, a variety of factors (e.g., economic) have resulted in major shifts in the availability of non‐academic bench and non‐bench opportunities for life scientists. Jobs in academia remain stagnant and the training period for PhDs and post docs has expanded, in part, due to the slow down in employment opportunities. We will discuss the impact of these various changes on the current and future trends in the life sciences job markets. Are there bright spots? What skill sets are needed to be competitive? Are the current training systems adequate and appropriate for meeting the needs? My hope is to stimulate your thinking about how to maximize your marketability and competitiveness in these challenging times.