Technology conference

For more information, contact Jeff Bendix, 216-368-6070 or jxb34@po.cwru.edu.

Posted 11-22-99

In biotechnology job market, experience is necessary

If you want to land a job in one of northeast Ohio's biotechnology or biomedical companies, your chances are a lot better if you have some previous work experience.

That message emerged from a recent half-day conference, "Biomed/BioTech Industry in Northeast Ohio: Linking with academia to find workforce solutions for the new millennium." The conference was co-sponsored by Case Western Reserve University's Office of Career Planning and Placement, the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, and the Edison BioTechnology Center, and was held at the George S. Dively Management Center.

Patricia Cirillo, president of the Beachwood-based Cypress Research Group, presented results of a survey assessing the employment needs of biomedical and biotechnology companies in northeast Ohio.

For many of these companies, Cirillo explained, work experience is critical for new employees, and they are willing to look outside the region or raid other industries to find people who have it. It may also explain why many companies recruit from outside northeast Ohio despite the many students graduating from area universities in fields such as engineering, biology, and chemistry.

Among other findings of the survey:

Biomedical and biotechnology companies prefer people with scientific backgrounds even for non-technical jobs such as marketing
Most of the training these companies provide their employees takes place on the job.
Only 7 percent of the companies surveyed had an arrangement with a community or technical college to provide training, but more than half expressed interest in starting an apprenticeship program.

Other keynote speakers discussed their experiences in finding employees for their companies. Among them was Vince Owens, president and chief operating officer of Biomec Inc., a start-up company specializing in the design and commercialization of medical instruments. Eleven of its 14 engineers on staff were recruited from the medical device industry.

"Cleveland is a good place to start up a company and get your initial staffing," he said. "But once you get past the initial stages, finding qualified people becomes more difficult."

James Scozzie, president of Ricerca Inc. -- a company providing research and development services for companies in the agrochemical, specialty chemical, and pharmaceutical industries -- said his company and most others prefer to hire people locally whenever possible. "It's quicker and cheaper," he said. However, finding people with experience still takes precedence. "For us, experience is key, and we will pay a premium to find it."

Scozzie said recruiting people to work in Cleveland is much easier now than in recent years. "I can remember 10 or 12 years ago when qualified candidates wouldn't even talk to us. But Cleveland's improved reputation as a city and the recognition of the area as a hotbed of biotech/biomedical companies has really helped." He added that his company has hired senior personnel from Austin and Seattle in the past six months.

A follow-up conference is planned for Friday, December 3. For information contact Janice Simmons at 368-4433.

-CWRU-