The place my gf works for now is pretty obviously losing its stability, mostly due to some poor managing on their part. In any case, she has a biotech/genetics background (biochem degree), and has had several jobs including ncsu and duke labs.

problem is, she has been looking for awhile and not seen much (obviously due to econ). is there anything out there she can look into besides the big name companies (pfizer/glaxo/etc), like a small/medium stable company? I know she could do contract to hire through some place like adecco/manpower/kelly scientfic too i suppose. anyone have success with those?

11/11/2008 3:37:04 PM

y exclude the more global, stable companies?

11/11/2008 3:41:47 PM

because she is always checking those websites, and with places like those you usually get a lot farther if you know someone already there. obviously if someone is working there it would be great to have a contact, but i can already tell you most people looking for stability are not moving towards glaxo. at least the bio people i know.

i figured that a smaller business might be something she wouldn't know about, but if it's stable then she would probably be more than willing to look into it.

11/11/2008 3:47:58 PM

My gf just got a job at a place, just graduated in may, and has been looking since. no one is hiring right now...

I know she got hers with a contract company with a bigger company.

11/11/2008 3:51:47 PM

stability no longer exists

11/11/2008 3:52:19 PM

^hah yeah i know, right? i figured i would look for best bets though, I've already told her to look through adecco like my other friend did. He ended up with a good company that's fighting to keep him.
All I can say is at least I work in computers, the last time the team I work with was laid off(i had been working for 4 days) we had 10 offers with other companies to pick up our whole team within a week.

11/11/2008 4:00:55 PM

She could check the NCBC website. It has a list of all of the companies that are in North Carolina, and it also has some position listings.

11/11/2008 5:53:48 PM

^ Thanks, I don't know that she's looked there yet.

11/11/2008 6:14:45 PM

http://www.ncbiotech.org

11/11/2008 6:22:54 PM

Syngenta biotech in RTP is expanding

11/11/2008 8:23:12 PM

Very cool, thanks. I know that she has looked at syngenta before, but i dont know the last time. I'll tell her to keep her eyes open. Thanks to both ^, ^^

11/11/2008 8:45:46 PM

Though she is looking outside of the big Biotechs, Merck will be hiring in the area soon I would think due to their nice expansion in Durham that's some what in operation/being built up. As for hiring, most biotechs right now are in a freeze not just because of the economy but also due to their budgeting for the year probably being done.

After the new year more jobs should open up due to the budgets for the year being known. I know for undergraduates (I'm a Chemical Engineer, not biochem, but same applies I believe) biotech's wait until the spring on most cases to hire new employees due to knowing their budgets for the year, so that could be ultimately one of the causes for a harder time to find a job in them, so just stick it out for the next 2 months and hopefully things will open up again.

Good luck with the hunt though!

11/11/2008 9:46:11 PM

That's true it does apply here. One of the things that my friend's contact at Adecco said is that thre are many new jobs listed, but they are mostly fishing to see what's out there for later. I figured most large companies would have been on a freeze for some time, but in a few cases, the lesser known ones take that chance to use what flexibility they have and develop their base more.

I think the big quesiton right now is whether she will have a job for the next few months, simply because of how their company seems to be heading in a downhill trend. In any case though I told her if she had to then just go for contract positions. If she went through a good contract company they would usually have a couple of things lined up anyway so she wouldn't be out long between jobs. I'm hoping that's worst case scenerio though.

11/12/2008 9:15:42 AM

A lot of the companies who have jobs posted are doing that to fulfill a requirement, that's all. Most of those positions are already filled and they are interviewing for the hell of it.

11/12/2008 12:43:07 PM

nah...thats not it

11/12/2008 12:47:45 PM

That is partly true. I know for some places if you already have someone in mind for the job you still have to post the position for a certain amount of time to allow for some competition.

The way I understand it is that those jobs would usually be based on funding and would not really happen as much in private business, which would have somewhat constant income, as it would in goverment funded programs (NIHS, NCSU, Duke, etc.).

11/12/2008 2:29:15 PM

I guess you want to stay in raleigh, but there is a place down in Winston Salem that is doing some pretty bad ass stuff right now, no idea if they would be hiring though. http://www.tengion.com/

My company is working on the new Merck Facility in Treyburn, and also, a quite large Novartis building in Holly springs, so maybe it won't be too long before something pops up.

11/12/2008 2:37:39 PM

the only rule regarding that that i know of is that you have if a position opens up and you have an internal candidate then you have to interview outside applicants as well

but there is definitely a position available, its not "already filled"

[Edited on November 12, 2008 at 2:57 PM. Reason : d]

11/12/2008 2:57:33 PM

Yeah novartis is one she's looked at before. hopefull they would pop up with something as holly springs would be much closer than ch-hill where she is working now. Winston Salem would be one hell of a drive, I dont think either of us really wants to leave this area.

You are right bighit, the problem is that the internal candidate is going on the basis of "it's not what you know it's who you know" and they are just doing the outside interview to fill out procedure. I think thats how seotaji meant it. basically unless einstein himself walks through the door this internal guy is getting the job.

11/12/2008 3:45:58 PM

My friend works for Novartis and said that they are on a hiring freeze through the end of the year...

Im in the same boat, graduated in August, still looking for a biotech job

11/12/2008 6:36:17 PM

I work at Glaxo (and you already mentioned the hiring freeze there). I know that Glaxo and many of the pharma companies in the area get contractors through Commissioning Agents, Inc. (CAI).

11/12/2008 8:03:41 PM

Dumb teen: Hey, look at this! It says "Train for jobs in biotch."
Smarter teen: Fool! That word is biotech. Why you gotta be ignorant all your life?

--1 train

Overheard by: Manhattman

11/12/2008 8:38:46 PM

biogen idec has a large campus in RTP

11/12/2008 10:07:57 PM

Look around at the CRO's that are all over RTP.

PPD - Rho - Parexel - Quintiles - INC Research and so on.

11/12/2008 10:24:31 PM

The state of NC labs always seem to be in need of medical lab people and it is definetly a secure job. Unfortunately, we have a hiring freeze in place now, but hopefully it won't last too long.

11/13/2008 11:59:05 AM

I work for Parexel. I know as of recently all CROs have been taking a hit but we're def. doing better than PPD haha

A bunch of these companies are in hiring freezes though to my knowledge we're not.

11/13/2008 1:01:48 PM

^cool i dont know if shes looked into that one yet.

Yeah, the big problem shes run into after working in the labs on different campuses is that they dont really pay you worth crap compared to private industry, although you do sometimes have a little more job security as i understand it.

11/13/2008 1:17:46 PM

Duke University
UNC
NCSU

i assume you have looked at some of the bigger very stable employers?

true, they don't pay crap compared to private industry, beggers can't be choosers if she gets laid off

probably about a 20-40% pay cut depending

[Edited on November 14, 2008 at 3:15 PM. Reason : s]

11/14/2008 3:13:41 PM

Yeah, I think at this point she could only move up as far as pay, they dont give her crap.

She's worked at NCSU before, and is looking there again
She hated Duke, Bad supervisor and bad pay for the distance to travel
I think UNC would fall into that boat of needing to get paid enough to travel there.

The problem with bigger employers right now is that they arent stable. Many are cutting jobs or on freeze until at least first of the year.

11/14/2008 3:36:13 PM

perhaps time to move?

11/14/2008 6:13:54 PM