The MedZilla Report: March 2008 Employment Outlook for Biotech/Pharma/Health
Seattle, WA (PRWEB) April 29, 2008 -- Unexpected was the word of the month for the March employment picture in the medical field. Employers were motivated to find top candidates in several new states, and in a big way. Texas, Colorado, and Delaware all showed large increases in the number of candidates sourced, with Colorado's numbers jumping upward by almost five percent. There were no correspondingly-large drops, except in Florida, which saw a falloff of 3.3 percent in candidate sourcing. As for what these employers were looking for, research ruled the day while sales saw a dramatic drop -- more than seven percent.
Despite these broad swings in searches made by employers, candidates just weren't looking for new jobs. In the top ten states where people searched for new jobs, the largest change was in California -- just under one percent positive.
Job postings went up 2.7 percent in California, and New York and Connecticut saw posting increases of more than one percent as well. New Jersey saw the greatest decline in job postings -- 2.5 percent -- and besides that state, only Illinois saw a decline of more than one percent. The jobs posted were mostly in IT, product development, and customer support; meanwhile, companies removed postings mostly for managers and operations staff.
What Does It Mean?
For the past few months, jobs have become available in health care when other industries faced massive layoffs. "Over the past 12 months, health care has added 363,000 jobs," said Michele Hopps, director of marketing for MedZilla.com. "Employment in health care has remained on an upward trend, rising by 23,000." The fact that vacancies remain in health care indicates that employers continue to have open positions, and that there may not be enough potential employees to fill them.
Meanwhile, small, targeted layoffs are occurring in the health care field, mostly in Pennsylvania. The larger outplacements continue to occur in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology areas, and most of them occur because these companies are forced to end their research endeavors, likely for funding or approval reasons. The biggest job cuts for March came from Wyeth pharmaceutical, which is going through major restructuring and elected to terminate about 1,200 sales representatives in a single week. As Wyeth employs 50,000 people, that is a relatively small number, but not to those who were affected by the cuts.
Where Do You Stand?
The first quarter of 2008 showed strong positive trends in employment for the health care fields, and some growth in clinical research as well. However, the past two quarters have been tough for pharmaceutical companies and their employees, with the FDA declining to approve new technologies and medications as well as companies running into roadblocks in their research.
Though pharmaceuticals are one of the most visible fields when it comes to medical employment, biotechnology trends tend to follow those of the pharmaceutical industry. That could indicate trouble for people employed in pharmaceutical sales, one of the most popular fields in the medical arena. The best advice for those in the business is to keep track of trends, both in employment and general financial news; a simple RSS reader and a few news feeds could take care of both and deliver the information directly to the inbox. But for those who have a secure position in sales, now is not the time to change jobs without a good reason; even if sales representatives are unhappy, if their jobs are safe, it is best to sit tight for the time being.
Those in health care, on the other hand, remain in demand. And college students heading into health care -- nurses, caregivers, doctors, lab technicians, and the like -- have a good chance of getting a job once they finish their education.
Regardless of specialty or employment status, the best defense is a good offense, and according to Hopps, that means "spending a little time each day staying on top of job trends and availability, including checking MedZilla.com daily to see what new opportunities have been posted." When a job is eliminated, the person who's already got the information on what's out there is the person most likely to be employed again soon.
About MedZilla.com
Established in mid-1994, MedZilla is the original web site to serve career and hiring needs for professionals and employers in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, science and healthcare. The MedZilla jobs database contains about 7,500 open positions. The resume database currently contains over 285,000 resumes with 16,800 less than three months old. These resources have been characterized as the largest, most comprehensive databases of their kind on the web in the industries served.
Medzilla® is a Registered Trademark owned by Medzilla Inc. Copyright ©2008, MedZilla, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce and distribute this text in its entirety, and if electronically, with a link to the URL www.medzilla.com. For permission to quote from or reproduce any portion of this message, please contact Michele Hopps, Director of Marketing and Development, MedZilla, Inc. Email: mgroutage(at)medzilla.com.
###
Related Articles:
Campus Career Centers Key to Landing Post-Graduation Jobs
College career centers offer some of the best opportunities to help students learn how to improve their job search and land a post-graduation job. In particular, career-center sponsored job fairs allow students to touch base with dozens of employers at a time. Yet many students skip these events or waste their time because they don't know how to conduct themselves around recruiters. In his new book, Shawn Graham provides pointers to help college students perfect their job fair experience and enter the job market on the right foot.
Jobs In Interior Decorating
How to know if a job in interior design is right for you. Starting out, and moving up in the field. What kind of schooling may be required.
LegalShore, Parrent Smith Team Up to Provide Online Employment Law Compliance, Background Checks
LegalShore, a SaaS employment law compliance software company, and Parrent Smith Investigations, a Southern California-based private investigation firm, have entered into a teaming agreement. Under the agreement, the two companies will offer clients the option of obtaining background checks online through LegalShore's Flexpoint application.
Family Trees That Talk - Interviewing Relatives
As a means of researching family trees, interviewing relatives can be a really enjoyable experience for both parties. But, there are some important rules. As with anything worthwhile, genealogy does have guidelines that must be followed if you are at all serious about family history.
H-2b Visa Cap Creates Thousands of Unfilled Jobs for 2007
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) reported on Friday, March 23, that the second-half quota of 33,000 H-2B visas had been reached leaving thousands of jobs unfilled for the year 2007.
Resume Posting: Tips for Jobseekers
Recruiting firms, like most businesses today, must embrace technology in order to prosper. Part of modern recruiting is understanding the value and benefit of internet job boards.
Nearly 180,000 Senior IT Jobs Now Available Through RiseSmart's Human-Powered "Job Concierge" Service
"The best part," CEO Sanjay Sathe says, "is that RiseSmart members don't have to spend their time searching through all these jobs, because our RiseSmart Concierge team does it for them."
Graduate Automotive Jobs
For young professionals and graduates throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, there may have been no bigger thrill in their lives than learning to drive a car. This rite of passage is something that teenagers experience all over the world and the first car a person has can influence their perception of motor vehicles in the future. Graduates with degrees in design, engineering, advertising, and business administration often overlook the everyday automobile during their job search. Automotive companies in the United Kingdom, Europe, and beyond are always looking for talented graduates to learn the automotive process and help compete in a difficult marketplace.
Work From Home Data Entry Jobs
Working at home is certainly a dream many people have, simply sitting there, doing things at the comfort of their house and the best, getting paid for that. If you talk to some older people, you will see that this home jobs in the past, were mainly to put stamps on letters for big companies and get paid for each letter you stamp. But today, all this part is automated, so no one will pay you to do that.
Situs to Outsource Real Estate Service Jobs to Under-Employed U.S. Communities
Houston-based The Situs Companies has established Situs Outsourcing Solutions in Robbins, North Carolina to hire under-employed U.S. workers to provide outsourced commercial real estate services. Situs Managing Director Steven Bean said the pressure to utilize offshore outsourcing can be remedied by turning to smaller U.S. communities that have been challenged by the increasing pace of job losses due to changes in the global economy.
Business Opportunities And Work At Home Jobs
One thing you need in order to be successful with a work at home job and business opportunities is vision. Think of vision as seeing all the beauty of a portrait, not just portions of it. It?s like seeing the ?big picture?. Vision adds balance, control, and proportion to how you see your work at home job or any business opportunity. Focus is very important too. Think of focus as concentrating on your ?plan of action? to make the vision come true. Focus on completing the elements in a logical sequence and only move forward as each element is completed. This will help you stay the course and make your vision come true sooner.
"Instant" Gratification - Debonair Magazine Employs IM Interviewing
Debonair Magazine is now offering its readers "instant" gratification by conducting interviews via AOL's Instant Messenger software. "Catering to a young male demographic requires a publication to maintain a hip factor, as well as a social relevancy," says Creative Director John DeFeo. "The overwhelming popularity of AOL's IM software provides Debonair with the perfect tool to engage our readers while maintaining a journalistic standard."
What is Involved in Employment Background Checks?
Why am I subject to a background check? What information are they looking for? How do they obtain it? What will the consequences be for me as an employee? These questions are understandable concerns for a prospective employee, or an employee applying for promotion. Even volunteers may be subject to such checks. In today?s security-conscious society, it is no surprise that prospective employers are playing safe. But it is not merely security questions they are looking into.
Wilson Employment Networks Acquires Bancroft Staffing of Manchester
A leading Concord area staffing firm is expanding services into Manchester.
How To Find Freelance Writing Jobs Using Craigslist
Craiglist is a massive portal for online classifieds and forums varying from job opportunities, housing, goods, services, and local activities plus just about everything else. While the site is active in 450 cities around the globe, it attracts over 9 billion hits per month.