A requirement I see often in mid-level to senior-level positions in biotech is “PhD required.” But is it really? What is it about a PhD that would make someone more suited to doing a particular position? Is a person with a PhD and three years of industry experience really going to be a better candidate than someone with a MS and ten years of experience, or someone with a BS and twenty years of industry experience?
When is a PhD required?
For some positions, a PhD is definitely a key component of the role. For early discovery research, the person with a doctorate may be a better candidate due to the nature of the work, especially if their thesis is in an applicable area of interest. For startups and small companies looking for venture capital, many investors like to see a company with a lot of PhD initials behind the senior leadership names, so the doctorate is an asset in that situation as well. And of course a doctorate demonstrates that the person holding it was successful in researching and defending their thesis, indicating they likely have determination, research skills, project management skills, and technical writing and presentation skills.
I firmly believe academic PhD programs are necessary for advancing science, and often lead to breakthroughs and new ideas or products that can advance in the industry. Most people who do graduate work also have a far better understanding of how to use scientific papers for research, and a more detailed grasp of some of the deep principles in their specific field. However, a PhD does not confer upon the recipient perfect skills in every area needed in industry, and that’s something that seems to be forgotten quite often when it comes to hiring in industry.
When is experience better?
For a role in the lab which needs to be filled with someone who can hit the ground running, hiring a recent PhD candidate instead of a candidate with a BS and 5-6 years of industry experience is not going to be the best choice. Someone who has already been working in industry is familiar with the labwork techniques, what type of work is being performed and why, and just needs a few days to acclimate to a new company’s specific method of working. The experienced lab technicians are the backbone of a company’s workflow, and many of them arguably provide more value to a company than some of the executives!
When it comes to working with cross-functional teams or clients, a candidate with significant industry experience may be a better fit. They are more familiar with the different departments in a biotech business and they likely have a better understanding of the overall process flow during development, process transfer, and manufacturing. And if they’ve been a project lead for any length of time, they’ve likely learned some of the important soft skills in communication that can only be developed and honed with lots of practice.
Hire for the Skills, Not the Degree!
So what should a hiring manager do? Hire for the skills you want and need, not for a specific combination of degree and experience. Consider carefully what skills the role requires – basic benchwork or advanced design of experiments (DOE), project leadership or protocol execution, employee management or individual contributions, etc. – and look for candidates who can demonstrate those skills and solve the problems needed in the role, regardless of their background. Build the interview process to probe for the skills needed, regardless of whether they came from an advanced degree program or from industry experience, and don’t assume that a given skill will come from one or the other. After all, there are plenty of industry scientists with stellar project management skills despite not having a PhD, and there are plenty of academic scientists who have amazing benchwork skills despite never having seen an industry lab. And neither of these types of scientists are likely to be good people managers unless they get the proper training and support from their own supervisors along the way!
Best Practice Example
I recently was reviewing job openings at Amgen, and several of them offer a range of basic qualifications for positions, all the way down to a high school diploma! This is a fantastic way to indicate the level of experience and knowledge the position is looking for, while not discounting those who have taken different career paths than going to college for a bachelor’s or an advanced degree. Here is an example of one job opening’s basic qualifications list:
Doctorate Degree
OR Master’s Degree and 2 years experience
OR Bachelor’s Degree and 4 years experience
OR Associate’s Degree and 10 years experience
OR High School Diploma / GED and 12 years experience
If only all job openings would be so inclusive! There are of course some jobs where the PhD or the MS are absolutely required, but the majority of positions in biotech do not need them, they simply need someone with the right skills regardless of their education path.
Many important industry technical and soft skills are all learned over time, and can be learned by everyone regardless of the degrees they hold. Some of the best scientists I have worked with never even got a degree, but I would want to work with them no matter what the situation because of their breadth of knowledge and their ability to apply it. Don’t discount candidates without a PhD, unless the role truly requires it for a reason beyond optics. You might just find the best manager or bench scientist you could hope for that will be a major asset to your team and to your company!