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Why Biotech Freshers, Life Science Freshers Don’t get a Job Easily?

This question keeps coming to me every now and then. A lot of people who look for jobs at Biotecnika website have this principal question in mind, Why Biotech freshers don’t get a job? or rather Why Freshers don’t get a job readily? Before I get to the crux of this question, I will try to answer you in one line if you have less time! Biotech freshers don’t get a job because they were never prepared for a job. All this while they have prepared for the university exams, Internal exams but they actually were never prepared for a job.

So it’s like you have been trying to grow an apple tree, How can you get an orange from it. According to me, this question should not be like why biotech freshers don’t get a job rather we should say, Why any fresher from any stream, in general, don’t get a job so easily?

I hope I am clear it’s not just the Biotech freshers or Life science freshers it’s everywhere in every industry that freshers think its very very difficult to get a job. Its the first time

they’re trying it so they feel that it is difficult. So here are a few key points to note before you jump for a job search in the Biotech field after completing your bachelors or masters degree.

  1. Most of the Indian students are busy preparing for their engineering entrance or medical entrance exam, busy covering the entire entrance exam syllabus & solving a lot of multiple choice questions. In this rat race of competition, some clear the exam and some do not. The ones who don’t qualify these exams take admission in Biotech. While they could never really focus on the concepts which were being taught in the class in 12th, same happens during their bachelor’s! This disillusionment leads to a lot of problems and when they have completed their masters or bachelors they find it difficult to get a job as in interviews basic conceptual questions are also asked, which they fail to answer.

2. Life science field is pretty huge. It’s highly diverse with a lot of specialization & branches. There is Life Science and under it comes Applied Life sciences. That means you have various subjects to choose from and each subject is itself a field. Let’s take mechanical Why Biotech Freshers, Life Science Freshers Don't get a Job Easily?engineering for an example. It just means mechanical engineering. If I say electrical engineering it is electrical engineering! But when I say Life science it means Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Evolution, ecology, and the list continues. Newer fields are also being added at a rapid rate based on scientific advancements & latest research. What I am trying to say here is, you need to pick up the subjects you want to specialize in your Bachelors & masters very carefully. It should be a combination of both what you like to study and its scope. From the term scope I mean, how huge is the industry, Job prospects, recent advancements etc. You might say now who does so much research & planning for studying, but my dear friend you must. Life is a chain of events and they are interrelated, if you fail to plan & prioritize from your bachelors itself, there is no way you can land up with a Job just after completing your studies.

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3. Next point on which I would like to focus on is the lack of suitable upscaling institutes. Most of the Universities & Colleges prepare their students to qualify the university exams and not beyond that. Hence the students end up just preparing for their degree exam. And that is what I iterated in the first point. You are always preparing for your university exam & worried about internal marks. So obviously you will qualify for your university exam and be a topper too, but that does not certify you to get a job. Of course getting good marks in the university exams matters but you have to make sure that simultaneously you are conquering all the concepts taught in class and become a master of it. Spare out some time, talk to your professors and explore how you can enhance your overall skills. To get a job you need to have skills which others don’t have. Be it communication skills, body language skills, or technical skills related to the job you are applying for. Thus Lack of upscaling institutes is a very important point here. More such institutes should come up which would make students job-ready right after they finish their degree course.

Why Biotech Freshers, Life Science Freshers Don't get a Job Easily?

4. Ignorance among the students. You would say that’s not true, but I have proofs. Being in the industry for the past 15 years I have experienced this. Even though students have Why Biotech Freshers, Life Science Freshers Don't get a Job Easily?access to all the skill set, they are ignorant. They are ignorant about their future, their career. They really don’t want to think beyond 4 pm when the class or lab gets over and they just rush towards the canteen or their room. In fact, many a time whenever I had a workshop or a conference after 3 pm, few students would turn up because they all would have run away! I know you must be thinking now, shouldn’t you enjoy your college life a bit? Yes, you must, I will say! But learn to plan & prioritize things first. These are the stepping stones of your career, be a little cautious & vigilant.

5. Copycat Resumes! Aaaah I am not in a mood to go to the lab today, let’s go for a movie. Notes ka kya karenge? Its ok we will copy it from the class topper, he or she will be there in the lab na! This is what happens in every class, in every college. Tell me if I am wrong! The Why Biotech Freshers, Life Science Freshers Don't get a Job Easily?class topper has got this design of resume. So let me have it the same way, definitely, I will get a job like him or her. No two humans are genetically identical you must have read it. Both of you are different, how can your resume be the same. Remember your five or seven years of education in the life sciences industry is to be summarized in just two pieces of paper. So it has to be different. There has to be some uniqueness, unique selling proposition to attract the recruiters. So please stop copying resumes. And to make your resumes distinct add skill sets & internship experiences which is my next point.

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6. Lack of Life Science internship opportunities! More Number of Internship opportunities should be provided to bachelors & masters students. This will not only give them a glimpse of the real research world out of the college campus but will also make them understand the difference in between their lab work in college and the work done on an industrial scale. Unless they know this difference they will never become job ready. Students must also be on a constant lookout for such internship opportunities bet it paid or unpaid. Loads of Internship opportunities are posted on Biotecnika website which can be taken up during your semester breaks. An internship is something like one step behind your job.

7. Most of the students either lose interest in their study by the end of the course or they switch to other fields. This all happens due to lack of guidance. I’m sure this is being plugged partially now by Biotecnika. However, to date I see a lot of students are still not on the internet, hence they are unaware of the latest advances. They don’t get proper guidance. Thus they end up taking guidance from people who haven’t themselves updated their knowledge in the past 20 years. Life science industry changes every hour. So you need to keep checking the internet, keep reading journals, you need to keep yourself updated and seek proper guidance from the experts to get ahead in your career. If you walk side by side with the latest advancements in the Biotech & Life Science field, you will be aware beforehand which field is booming, Where more jobs are there and accordingly you can plan.

8. The next point on which I want to emphasize is Networking. While you are in your bachelors you have a different set of people surrounding you and same is with your master’s degree. In both bachelors & masters, you will be interacting with your classmates, colleagues, professors but that’s not enough. The journey with them will end as soon as the course finishes. You need to start interacting with people who are already in the industry, scientists, researchers, or maybe your seniors who are working in some labs already. The moment you broaden your reach of people, you are exposed to different scenarios. References while attending interviews, always helps. So you must start building your network as soon as you are in the bachelors final year or latest by the first year of your masters.

9. Now we must understand the difference in between a B.sc/B.tech fresher, a M.sc/ M.tech Fresher and a Ph.D. fresher. A Bachelor fresher can do a lot of nonspecific lab work, but will always remain at a lower pay scale. A candidate with Master’s degree in life sciences can get into the research industry at junior research associate level and can slowly climb up the ladder and get to the lead Scientist position. If you have a certification or prior internship experience it will be a lot easier. In this case, as well you will have to start at a lower pay scale.

However, a Ph.D. candidate has an added advantage of directly getting either into Academia or the Research Industry with a good pay package. If you want to get into Academia a Post Doc will be helpful but for Industry a Ph.D. degree alone is sufficient. If Ph.D. is done from a CSIR lab, it will be even better and more valuable.

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So I hope I was able to answer all your questions regarding Why Biotech Freshers, Life Science Freshers Don’t get a Job Easily?

To summarize, A Biotech Fresher or a Life Science Fresher Does not a Job Easily because they were never prepared for a job.

Start analyzing the points mentioned above, read in between the lines. It will definitely help you land up with a high paying job. But remember you need to be consistent! You need to be persistent! You need to work hard & Smart! While applying for a job read the job description carefully and analyze what is required and prepare your CV & yourself according to it. Improve your communication skills, learn how to talk confidently during an interview. Seek guidance from experts and not from people who have not updated their knowledge in the past 20 years. All the best & Have a great day ahead!

Shekhar Suman is the Co-founder of BioTecNika Info Labs Pvt. Ltd. He is an Entrepreneur, Writer, Public Speaker, and a Motivational Coach. In his career, he has mentored more than 100,000+ students toward success in the Biopharma Industry. He heads the BioTecNika Group, which comprises BioTecNika.com, BioTecNika.org, and Rasayanika.com. An avid reader and listener who is passionate about BioSciences. Today Biotecnika is India's largest Biotech Career portal, with over 5 Million subscribers from academia & Industry. It's ranked among the top 50 websites worldwide in the Biology category.

9 COMMENTS

  1. Very well analysed and pointed out. I’m a fresher too and now realize the same. Thank you!

  2. Very very useful …….
    I really love bioteknica for fruitful informations…..

  3. Thanks for a great msg.I am also biotech fresher this msg is very useful for me.Very well analysis by you.Thank you

  4. Thank you so much for such a valuable guidance…and it is indeed very helpful for all the students seeking to venture out into this biotech world.

  5. Sorry but I feel that fresher student from other streams get job opportunities far more easily than life science freshers. I feel there is a dearth of life science job at first and then whatever job opportunities you get you are paid nothing. I have done Masters in microbiology and even being a university topper throughout my graduation and post graduation life was difficult for me … Job wise. I was offered my first job by Lupin . 14 hrs job for 8k. We are paid nothing. Although I also feel that life science students lack practical exposure but than in our country education system just demands you to be an engineering graduate to get job easily.

  6. It seems every life science students want to do research and become scientist how it is possible whole india will be a scientist. And moreover research is a very small sector which cannot absorb current human resource. Except research plenty of jobs are available in market. But no one is willing to do that.

    • Because they pay you peanuts..after 5yrs of grinding & milling in a bio lab nobody wants to be a coder out of frustration

  7. Its gud …i m n my thrd yr …just thnkng hw i wanna build up my career lyf …thse para really helps me ….we all knw aftr entrd ths field ,v r not gonna make some money v thnk as IT ppl do …v jst ended up here …lets study its all fate …v also wanna do somethng harder to get a job n money like buildng our skills …wat can v do no one s gonna hire us …its wat running in our mind …if u want a job v need to go in search of it …to all my budding biotechnologist …

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