By David Schoonmaker

You don't have to look far into the statistics to realize that careers in the pharmaceutical industry are hot. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks it as one of the fastest growing manufacturing sectors. Employment is expected to grow 26% from 2004 to 2014, compared with an average of only 14% for other industries. Altogether about 2500 firms in the U.S. are involved in producing medications, employing 291,000 workers in 2004. Big pharma, however, is aptly named; 59% of those jobs are with companies employing more than 500 people. What's more, earnings and benefits are much better than in other fields, with pharmaceutical workers making about 35% more than the industry average.

The question is: How do you break into the business? The jobs most in demand and most desirable also happen to be filled by people who are highly qualified. Almost 60% of those 291,000 pharmaceutical employees have bachelor degrees or higher, and nearly a third have advanced degrees. Let's look in more detail at where the jobs are in pharmaceutical research and development, what's required to land one, and how you can put your best foot forward.

Who's Hiring Whom?

The pharmaceutical business is highly competitive and that goes for human resources (HR) as well as products. Recruitment is ongoing, and some jobs are particularly challenging to fill. According to Marcie Geremakis, director of HR, research, for Roche, Nutley, NJ, “Scientific disciplines in high demand have been medicinal chemists, pathologists, toxicologists, and in vivo biologists.” Patricia Rice, recruiting manager for Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ, agrees: “I specialize in late development clinical employment and drug safety, and M.D.s have been in strong demand. Expertise in certain therapeutic areas is especially difficult to find.”

M.D.s may be most in demand, but other specialties are also highly valued. Brad Smith, director of human resources, staffing, at Roche notes that people with expertise in regulatory affairs are difficult to find, as are those with experience in clinical drug development. Smith continues, “It's also worth noting the ongoing demand for medical liaisons.” These are people with expertise in specific therapeutic areas who can educate and inform physicians and other healthcare practitioners.

Marc Mascolo, recruitment sourcing manager at Johnson & Johnson, says he also hires individuals with bachelor or masters degrees as long as they have experience and proven success in the laboratory. “A successful track record is very important,” he says.

How Are They Looking?

There's no set way that HR managers search for qualified candidates, but most firms have at least the first step in common: they look internally. Johnson & Johnson encourages employees as well as outsiders to create profiles on its web site, and that database is where Rice and Mascolo look first.

Because each company has a subtly distinct culture, people who have experience at the firm have a built-in advantage in getting up to speed in a new postion. Bristol-Myers Squibb, New York, NY, for example, has specific behavioral characteristics they look for in employees. Lorraine Parker-Clegg, director of staffing at the company's Pharmaceutical Research Institute, says that experience is the only way to learn the dynamics of working in a particular organization.

That doesn't mean that they aren't looking externally, though. Many recruiters attend career fairs, some purchase print advertising, most advertise on web sites—a few on large, general sites, but many at niche sites for professional associations or journals—and most use recruitment firms at least on occasion.

Networking is also vital. Brad Smith says “Roche uses a three-tiered approach: first we try to develop our own talent, then our recruiters look externally for talent. If the first two fail to turn up a sufficient number of qualified candidates, we may go to a recruitment firm.” He notes that these are almost always niche firms that have developed expertise in finding very particular kinds of candidates.

Where the Jobs Are

There are three obvious locations where the pharmaceutical industry is highly concentrated: the New York metropolitan area, the Northeast, particularly along Boston's Route 128, and the San Francisco Bay Area. As Brad Smith observes, “Pharma locates where the talent is, and talent goes where the work is. This is one reason why we have such a high concentration of pharma companies in New Jersey.” That doesn't mean that other locations are off the map, though. Marc Mascolo says that Seattle is experiencing a lot of growth, and others mention the Midwest. Also, North Carolina actually ranks third nationwide in the number of biotechnology companies, and a number of those are large pharmaceutical firms.