Addressing BC’s Growing Bio Health Sector: Life Sciences BC Connects Skilled Talent for BC Life Sciences Success

A skilled talent gap is looming. Life Sciences BC is supporting and accelerating the growth of BC’s growing life sciences sector through connecting skilled talent with new opportunities through the third annual Career Connect Day presented by BioTalent Canada, taking place virtually on Friday, January 21, 2022.

“At Zymeworks, we are thrilled to partner with Life Sciences BC and BioTalent Canada to cultivate, develop and support the life sciences talent ecosystem.”

Career Connect Day presented by BioTalent Canada is an opportunity to engage hundreds of BC and international job seekers looking to grow their careers within BC. The day will highlight the opportunities of the ecosystem to begin careers as well as the opportunities for job seekers looking to re-skill or upskill.

Held in partnership with BioTalent Canada for a third year, this event has grown to BC’s largest STEM job fair and takes place at a critical time for the sector. A new report that will be unveiled at the event by BioTalent Canada will analyze BC and Western Canada’s life sciences labour market. The report emphasizes a growing talent shortage for the sector, and the essential nature of access to skilled talent for ongoing life sciences success – a sector that has seen record growth and contributed greatly to the global pandemic response.

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Career Connect Day presented by BioTalent Canada showcases the many opportunities within the BC life sciences sector, connecting innovative small, medium, and large companies to a broad diversity of both home-grown and international talent. As home to the fastest growing life sciences sector in Canada, BC exceeds Canada’s life sciences GDP growth (2018 data) and employs more than 18,000 employees (2020 data) at above-average salaries. Moreover, Vancouver was recently named the top life sciences start up ecosystem in Canada. Startup Genome ranked Vancouver 21 out of 280 global ecosystems, listing it as the only Canadian city in the top 25. This comes in addition to BC life sciences companies attracting $2 billion CAD in investment in 2020.

LSBC’s third Career Connect Day has shown significant growth since its inception, despite having to shift to a virtual format. Last year the event welcomed 696 attendees from 24 companies and 17 academic institutions, with 425 students taking part in approximately 2,000 one-on-one interactions. Continued growth in the BC life sciences supports well-paid jobs for British Columbians and delivers life-saving therapeutics, medical devices, and digital technologies.

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Wendy Hurlburt, President and CEO, Life Sciences BC

“We launched Career Connect Day three years ago to help support BC’s growing life sciences sector through connecting talent to employers and raising awareness of the number and diversity of well-paying, vibrant careers that are available. Our sector continues to flourish, contributing ground-breaking health solutions in response to the global pandemic. Now, more than ever, we need to attract and develop the talent that will drive continued sector growth and become a foundational part of BC’s new economy. And with the recent launch of Canada’s new biomanufacturing and life sciences strategy, BC can take a leadership role in both innovation and the development of top talent.”

Rob Henderson, President and CEO of BioTalent Canada

“Talent is the single most important resource for life science companies in BC and across Canada to experience sustained success,” says Rob Henderson, President and CEO of BioTalent Canada. “According to the most recent data from BioTalent Canada’s National Labour Market Intelligence report, it’s of the utmost importance that employers actively expand recruitment and retention strategies to include a more diverse talent pool in order for the industry to meet forecasted talent needs of the next decade.”

“Talent is the single most important resource for life sciences companies in British Columbia and across Canada to achieve lasting success,” said Robert Henderson, President and CEO of BioTalent Canada. “According to the most recent data from BioTalent Canada’s National Labor Market Information Report, it is critical that employers actively expand their recruitment and retention strategies to include a more diverse talent pool, so that the industry can meet the talent needs predicted for the next decade”.

Kathy O’Driscoll, Zymeworks’ Chief People Officer

“Life sciences and biotech are growth industries and the organizations that succeed in attracting and developing the most talented people with diverse backgrounds and experiences will be the ones who achieve long-term success” says Kathy O’Driscoll, Zymeworks Chief People Officer. “At Zymeworks, we are thrilled to partner with Life Sciences BC and BioTalent Canada to cultivate, develop and support the life sciences talent ecosystem.”

Gordon C. McCauley, President & CEO adMare BioInnovations

“The greatest competitive advantage of our life sciences industry is people. It is estimated however, that 65,000 additional workers will be needed to support the bio-economy by the year 2029. The enormous growth that the existing industry is driving has created a “sweet headache”, a problem of success, a skills gap that we need to address now. Through the adMare Academy, we are proud to be building such talent by training the highly-qualified personnel – from undergrads to industry executives – who will meet this demand and drive the ongoing growth of the industry.”

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