As a Life Science recruiter or hiring manager, knowing exactly what your target audience of jobseekers are looking for in their next role is essential in order to attract and engage top talent.
To further understand what is important to jobseekers using PharmiWeb.Jobs, we recently ran a LinkedIn poll asking the question “What is the most important factor when you’re looking for a new job?” Our poll received 374 responses from jobseekers across the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Europe, and produced the following results:
In this article, we take a closer look at these results and provide practical solutions for you to implement to continue to engage life science talent, whether you’re a big pharma organisation or a small biotech start-up…
Better Career Opportunities
Jobseekers want a company that provides ample opportunity for learning and development and career progression. After the pandemic placed many employees in a ‘career lockdown’, workers are seemingly wanting to make up for lost time, chasing roles with progression opportunities to get their careers back on track.
Providing better career opportunities is more than amping up promotions, pay rises, and relocation opportunities. Providing good career development opportunities can also mean:
Increase in Salary
As the cost of living continues to rise across the globe, finding a role with a higher salary is becoming increasingly important to jobseekers. Research by Totaljobs has found that in the UK:
For organisations with restricted budgets, going ahead and increasing everyone’s salary isn’t so easy. However, there are other things you can do to support your employees with the rising cost of living:
For more ideas, take a look at this report by Totaljobs written to help employers navigate the cost of living crisis.
More Flexible Working
Hybrid and remote working in the life science industry is here to stay, and is now something most workers are not only wanting – but also expecting – from their employers. However, workers are also looking for flexibility in how they work as well as where they work. Those with schedule flexibility feel 3.2x better about their work-life balance and 6.6x better about their work-related stress than those who don’t.
As more and more Life Science companies begin to offer more permanent flexible working options, you can’t afford to miss out on top talent through not offering some degree of flexibility where you can. Not only does flexible working help improve work-life balance,e but putting trust in your employees to complete their work following their own schedule will make them feel valued, trusted, and appreciated, and this can help your overall employee satisfaction and retention.
Better Benefits Packages
Similarly to salary, an excellent benefits package can make all the difference when it comes to a candidate choosing one role over another. Even if you’re a smaller organisation with tight budgets, there are things you can offer your employees that won’t cost you the earth.
If your budget is on the larger side, you could include things such as:
If your budget is on the smaller side, you could still consider benefits such as:
Tailor your benefits towards what your workers are actually looking for, using employee feedback to gain an insight into how you can better support them.