
Alongside my regular strategic consulting with our members, one of the most enjoyable initiatives I’ve had the opportunity to work on this year has been the development of the new Life Sciences Career Alliance in partnership with Year Up United and with funding from the City of Boston. Based on research and feedback from our members regarding their challenges in hiring underrepresented talent and navigating the vast array of incredible workforce training providers that exist in Greater Boston, we’re building an alliance that will play the following roles:
- Collect, organize, and share industry employment opportunities, making them more readily available for trained talent
- Articulate ROI for hiring from alternative pathways, identify roles ripe for recredentialing and placement, and provide tools to facilitate hiring, onboarding & retention of this talent pool
- Track placements & outcomes for reporting & funding purposes
- Remove barriers to employment & advancement for talent without bachelor’s degrees and from historically marginalized communities
- Help training & education organizations to ensure alignment between their curriculum and employer needs
I’m currently working with the team at Year Up United to recruit employers, build an industry advisory council, and review the piloting of a job connector system to make it easier for our members to access motivated talent for in-demand roles, improve coordination & feedback loops with training partners, and improve the retention of talent post-hire. This is all aligned with MassBio’s five-year strategic plan, Vision 2030, which includes ambitions to create hundreds more biopharma and life sciences jobs and future-proof a diverse Massachusetts life sciences talent pool.
Launch event
On October 10, Year Up United and the City of Boston hosted the Alliance’s first convening for employers, training providers and stakeholders who have been involved in the early stage of the initiative. Titled “Catalyzing Collaboration: Preparing for the Evolving Life Sciences Workforce”, this was an opportunity to help people understand what the initiative is all about and the value that each committed stakeholder brings. I also had the opportunity to lead a conversation with Chiro Sen, Senior Consultant at Harvard Business School and Francisca Williams-Oni, Senior Director at Grads of Life on how employers have created long-term partnerships to open doors for underrepresented talent, strategies for fostering talent access, inclusion, and advancement, and how industry leaders are preparing talent pipelines for emerging trends and technological shifts. I was encouraged by our industry representation at the event and we will need this engagement from all stakeholders to continue if this initiative is to be as transformative as it could be.
Job connector pilot and future roll-out
Employers are currently being invited to participate in the job connector pilot, which will run from October 2024 to January 2025. During this time a select number of candidates from the Alliance’s training providers and a small sample of employers will be worked with to understand how best to develop the job connector operating model, as well as place those candidates in roles. Taking learnings from this, in Q1 2025 we plan to roll-out the full offering to all members so stay tuned for more!
For more information and to benefit from the Life Sciences Career Alliance, contact Tom Browne.
To read more about MassBio’s Vision 2030, visit www.massbio.org/vision-2030/.