What do coal, fish and life science graduates all have in common? You will be shocked!
This island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish. Only a planning fool could produce a shortage of coal and fish at the same time. We currently have a shortage of coal, fish and the globes most highly talented Life Sciences graduates gaining entry level roles into the Life Sciences industry.
Are we “planning fools?” Three years ago the Prime Minister launched an industrial strategy in life sciences in that the industry agreed on £3.5 billion of investment within the UK, which was and is still expected to create over 11,000 jobs. Yet there is a startling lack of material training or development that allow life science graduates to fill many of these vacancies, as a result the shortage is starting to cripple the industry.
Figures from the national Labour Force Survey (compiled by Cogent Skills), show that in the past year there are 28% more employees aged 40-64 than 16-40 within Life Science and that recent school leavers and graduates make up only 5% of the total workforce within sector.
The clear age gap underlines the lack of a succession planning within many of these companies, as once mature employees retire they are left with a deficit and no fresh talent to meet the demand.
Consequently more than 80% of companies within the sector have posts that are affected by this skill shortage, more than 70% of companies struggle to attract applicant for these “hard to fill” vacancies.
If this crisis carries on, it is clear that the life science industry will be in grave danger, especially as there is a predicted drop in graduates over the coming years due replacement of maintenance grants to loans. Not to mention the rumours of Theresa May proposing to curb Non EU postgraduates working within the UK once their course has finished. Thereby ensuring that the pool of potential new recruitments for life science will dwindle even further.
Clinical Professionals’ CEO Yvette Cleland had this to say on the matter …
“As a Life Sciences staffing specialist we see candidates diminishing, no new blood coming through and the cost of clinical drug development escalating, we should be training our graduates and developing apprenticeship schemes to meet the demand our industry has, there is no point in such heavy government investment in new jobs without the skilled staff to fill them”
The shortage is further exacerbated by companies desiring candidates with one or two years’ experience to replace seasoned employees over those fully qualified yet new to the industry. This is clearly not a viable long term solution!
Clinical Professionals has taken the initiative to support the Life Sciences industry by developing a ground breaking and unique program…
For more information on this scheme, please contact academy@clinicalprofessionals.co.uk