Kite’s cell manufacturing facility in Frederick has recently launched what it calls its Veteran Pathways Program. The program is led by veteran hiring program strategist Bre Cameron. Cameron is a Navy veteran with more than a decade of experience in talent acquisition.
Partners in Greater Philadelphia’s life sciences ecosystem are collaborating to create a new workforce development training model to connect biotech jobs with a wider range of Philadelphians, including residents from disadvantaged communities. In a field that often requires PhDs or master’s degrees for most roles, the program – “Biomedical Technician Training Program: Aseptic Manufacturing” – will create opportunities for Philadelphians with at least a high school equivalency. The initiative is one way the region is working together to meet the talent needs in its rapidly growing cell and gene therapy sector.
Rather than spending weeks, potentially months trying to learn these techniques, what if you could instead take a short workshop where you could learn from some of the experts in the field, not only becoming immersed in how to perform IF and IHC, but learning the theory behind each step and how to troubleshoot when things go wrong?
This fall marks 5 years since I finished my PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Maryland and started my first non-academic job as a medical writer. I’ve learned a lot since then. And given that more and more scientists are opting for careers beyond academia, I wanted to share a bit about what I’ve learned so far in hopes that it will help others on their non-academic journeys.
Post-interview letters of appreciation aren’t mandatory, but lots of hiring managers appreciate them. What’s the etiquette these days?
Here’s our Summer 2022 Roundup of top Maryland life sciences companies with more than 10 active job listings across a wide range of fields and experience levels.
When I worked in industry, I helped review resumes for potential new research associates. We often looked for fresh-out-of-college candidates who had worked in a lab for at least a year, and finding them wasn’t easy. Students would pad their CVs with tales of “experience” that turned out to be nothing more than an assigned lab section for a course. “I have extensive hands-on experience in the research area of Labs 1 through 6 and real-world applications like Homework Questions 18-25 Due Monday” wasn’t exactly what we were looking for. After all, there are a lot of nuances that come with real lab work, and it was safer if someone had experienced those nuances before we turned them loose in our facility.
So I was pleasantly surprised recently when I spoke at a conference where most of the students had spent a full 2 years working in a lab—an impressive amount of experience for any undergraduate. They presented their work on well-crafted posters, gave interesting talks about their research, and generally seemed thrilled to spend their Saturday this way.
Part of why it was a surprise—though in hindsight maybe it shouldn’t have been—is that the conference was exclusively for community…
The emergence of a bear market teetering on recession, high inflation, war, continued supply chain issues, and a pandemic that just won’t end have pushed public and private biotechs to shed jobs. This has put thousands of biotech professionals back on the hunt for a new job, which is beginning to swing the job market pendulum back to an employer’s favor.
One perhaps underappreciated and underutilized source of high value information and job market insights are podcasts. Podcasts provide job seekers a window into companies, CEOs, larger market forces and even who’s growing and hiring.
After a major boom spurred by the pandemic investment and the emergence of a host of promising cell and gene therapy companies, the life sciences—along with a multitude of other business segments—are feeling the downward push fomented by the pandemic, war, inflation, and the subsequent higher cost of goods.
