Nothing Wrong With Being a Workaholic

I've been busy so I haven't had time to catch up on my reading. But I did come across an interesting tidbit.

For those of us who like to put in a long day - here is some good news:

The Wall Street Journal reported in an article in November that according to a study from the Rouen Business School in France there is nothing wrong with being a Workaholic.

The author states that:

"...workaholism – defined by work involvement, feelings of being compelled to work and work enjoyment – can actually be constructive.

As long as the compulsion to work is self-driven, it can lead to personal feelings of accomplishment (I finished that project! I solved that accounting problem!) and benefit the organization (That project is finished ahead of schedule! Our clients think we’re great!) according to Yehuda Baruch, the management professor behind the study."

So if you enjoy what you do - and you want to boost your career prospects - ignore the nay-sayers and put in the hours.

And remember - as Samuel Goldwyn once said:

"The harder I work, the luckier I get."

Biotech's Biggest Spenders for 2011

Interesting article over at Fierce Biotech on list Biotech's Biggest Spenders in 2011.
You can view the article here.

And the article makes an interesting observation comparing the size of R&D budgets for Biotech compared to Big Pharma:

"If you add up the R&D budgets for the top 15 public biotechs in the world, you'll find a tab that runs right about $10 billion. That's not small change, by any means, but to put it in some perspective, it is interesting to note that Roche, which has the largest research budget for any biopharma on the planet, spent a bit more than that last year advancing new drugs and technology."

The Holiday Season is a great time to look for a job

I was speaking with a candidate on this past Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Even though he had just recently been laid off, he told me that he figured that with the holidays coming up, that he was just going to lay low and then start aggressively start looking for a position on Jan. 2.

I told him he was making a mistake.

While there is a myth that all hiring screeches to a halt during the Holiday Season, the holidays are in fact a great time to look for a job.
In fact, in my 20 years as a Recruiter, I have consistently had my strongest billing months in Nov. and Dec.

There are a couple of reasons for this.
1- Most people stop looking for a job during the Holiday Season. They have bought into the myth that nothing will happen so they stop looking. That lowers the number of people actively looking and therefore lessens the competition.
2- There are situations, especially at companies that operate on a calendar-year basis, where a Hiring Manager is told that if he/she does not fill his/her position by the end of the year, they may lose the position.

Don't misunderstand - there are companies that essentially 'shut-down' around the Holidays.
But there are companies that are still hiring. And there still exist enough opportunities out there that anybody who stops their job search during the Holiday Season is making a big mistake.

Pharma Firms Increase Outsourcing Spending

Interesting article over at World Trade 100...The article discusses the growing outsourcing trend in Pharmaceuticals.
The article states that:
"Outsourcing deal signings in the pharmaceutical vertical grew at a faster pace than in other verticals in 2010, surging to a ten-year high that represented 81 percent growth over 2009 as compared to the overall industry average of 13 percent..."

It goes on to mention that:
"The pharma industry is a nascent adopter of outsourcing as compared to some other industries, but multiple factors have emerged that are driving adoption, and we saw strong evidence of these dynamics coming into play last year when the market peaked," says Amneet Singh, VP, global sourcing. "The spike we saw in 2010 was largely the result of pent-up demand from the recessionary economy; however, the business drivers for outsourcing adoption remain and continue to evolve. Cost pressures, a changing pharma ecosystem, emerging markets and other market forces are continuing to drive the market. Moving forward, we expect to see an increase in sourcing of drug development and research, supply chain, data management, and analytics functions."

The amount of outsourcing that we are seeing is large...and it looks like the trend will only continue.

Rallying Pharma's Rebels - article in Forbes

Very interesting article over at the Forbes Magazine Website. You can read it here.

The article discusses the ideas of Bernard Munos who had worked in sales for 30 years at Eli Lilly.
According to the article, Bernard, "has spent the past decade studying pharmaceutical innovation. He thinks he has an answer to what ails Big Pharma: Cut research and development.

That's just part of his prescription for changing how medicines are invented. Munos says the drug industry needs to spend research money in an entirely new way. Instead of chasing improvements to blockbuster drugs that help lots of people a little bit, it should focus on true breakthroughs that help patients a lot. And rather than do the research in-house, companies should close their labs and outsource the work to tiny, nimble startups that can explore bigger, crazier ideas."

The article concludes with a list of Munos' Laws:

1. Regain the trust of physicians, regulators and payers.
2. Stop chasing blockbusters, which help lots of people a little bit,
and start chasing breakthroughs, which help patients a lot.
3. Do what works. Stop trying to manage drug discovery with Six Sigma processes.
4. Lower costs with collaborative research.
5. Mitigate risk by developing lots of potential breakthroughs, not by
trying to develop projects that seem low-risk. History says the risk
is never low.
6. Don't move anything into human trials unless it is a potential breakthrough.
7. Cut research and development.

While I don't agree with everything Mr. Munos proposes, I do think he raises some very valid points.

Drug Makers Expect Tough 2011

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, the Pharmaceutical industry is anticipating a tough year in 2011.
But our experience suggests otherwise.
Beginning in the middle of last year and continuing so far through the very early part of this year, we have seen not only a strong uptick in hiring, but attitudes overall seem to be improving in the industry.
Bottom line: The news coming out of the industry is starting to be more positive.
Hopefully the worst is behind us...........

Recruiters Rethink Online Playbook - Article in WSJ

An article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal details the decision by a number of companies to rethink how they recruit new talent.

The article opens by stating that:
"Rather than sift through mounds of online applications, they are going out to hunt for candidates themselves."

The article continues by citing the experience of SAIC:
"Inundated by online applicants, McLean, Va.-based government contractor Science Applications International Corp. plans to cut the number of job boards it uses in the coming fiscal year to six from 15 or so, says company vice president Kara Yarnot.

SAIC has asked its 125 U.S. recruiters to find candidates for analyst, engineering, and other jobs on professional social networks instead.

'It's almost a throwback to the old, dial-for-dollars method of recruiting,' says Ms. Yarnot. 'We need to reach candidates earlier, before they're being pursued by competitors.' "

It's not a surprising development. A lot of my clients have complained of being flooded with scores of resumes from unqualified candidates when they post jobs online. They feel that that job boards are generally not a good source of talent. And what is a job board but essentially an electronic version of a newspaper want ad. The simple reality is that you don't consistently find your best candidates from an ad...whether it is a newspaper or on-line advertisement. The best people are usually not actively looking.

That is not to say you can't fill a position with a great candidate whose resume you snatched off a job board. But as one of my favorite clients...a VP of R&D with a major Pharma company....used to say..."You may get lucky and fill a single position with a great candidate by simply running an ad or scouring an online job board....but you can never build a successful organization that way."

Finding good talent is a labor intensive process. It requires talking to a lot of people. It requires a lot more effort than simply following the old "Post and Pray" approach.