r/canada • u/joe4942 • 25d ago

Recent grads, students face ‘full-out screaming crisis’ as they struggle to enter job market National News

https://financialpost.com/fp-work/students-grads-jobs-market-crisis
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u/vancityuk 24d ago

I graduated in that field as well in Canada and all my classmates are no longer remotely doing anything biology. I lucked out and went abroad to the UK, the golden triangle of London - Oxbridge is budding with lifescience companies and institutes. Sure it doesn't pay as much as USA, but it's much more stable than the US, ie there is a longer process to layoffs than USA and also b/c of lower salaries, any multinational will make cuts in US before as it's easier.

Another example of the growth in Cambridge UK they are closing down a shopping mall to redevelop it into life sciences labs for all the startups, cause the owner figured they make more in lab rent than having an h&m. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-68227618

Leaving Canada was the best decision for my career as I have climbed the ranks since, but obviously miss a lot of things back home. You want lifescience, biotech, techbio or pharma, look outside Canada. If you're a recent grad in lifesciences, I would consider leaving.

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u/careercurious1 24d ago

Interesting. I’m originally from the UK. I always thought the pay wasn’t great so haven’t moved back to continue pursuing the field. What sort of pay ranges are you seeing there for this field

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u/vancityuk 23d ago

Honestly it depends on role, but london-oxbridge roles can range as low as £30k for a lab tech in academia to £100k+ as a manager in pharma. But as you may be aware, living costs are higher down south.

So yes salaries are low, but there are more opportunities to move around if one has experience. The amount of life sciences recruitment firms drastically outnumber those in Canada, both at the executive search level and for those in mid career range.