The Biotechnology industry is multidisciplinary, encompassing diverse business sectors and offering both scientific and non-scientific career pathways. Thus, biotech careers are open to a wide range of education backgrounds, workforce training and skill sets. You no longer need to hold a Ph.D. or be a research scientist to start or advance your Biotech career.

Biotechnology is a fast-growing industry with unparalleled projected growth that generates high-quality jobs that will contribute to post-pandemic recovery. The Bioscience industry wages now measure nearly twice the overall U.S. average.The average Biotechnology industry market size is expected to increase 3.7% in 2021, while the US Biotechnology Employment Growth is expected to increase 2.2 % in 2021. You can explore additional economic aspects of the biotech industry such as employment statistics, wage statistics, market size and number of business in the USA:  https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/employment/biotechnology-united-states/

TheCOVID pandemic put a spotlight on the Biotech industry as it raced to provide global solutions to end the pandemic through the discovery, development, and manufacturing of vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests. The pandemic also highlighted the importance of investing in science, technology, talent development, and a skilled workforce to build and maintain the infrastructure that drives innovation and production. Creating a skilled workforce is paramount to addressing the challenges we face.

Biotech Career Information and Exploration:

There are many ways to learn about biotech careers and explore the ones that interest you. This guide will help you gain insight into the biotech industry and workforce through a comprehensive platform that provides an overview of the multidisciplinary biotech job areas and related careers: https://biotech-careers.org/job-areas

You will find helpful information on each biotech job area and related jobs. For any job area and related jobs that spark your interest, you will be able to explore the minimum versus preferred education and training required; job duties and responsibilities; and projected starting salaries. You can even meet a professional in your career of interest, get a glimpse of their workplace and learn about their daily duties through a video interview with an expert. You can access these career videos directly in alphabetic order through: https://biotech-careers.org/videos

In addition, you will be able to view companies that work in the job area that interests you as well as related areas, jobs, and alumni profiles. These profiles feature interviews with students and alumni to learn about their careers and a typical day on the job. You can access the profiles directly in alphabetic order through: https://biotech-careers.org/alumni-profiles

Furthermore, you can explore Biotech entry-level technician jobs as featured in these 33 examples: https://biotech-careers.org/careers#jobs

Some biotech careers are faster growing than others. This link features a list of the fastest growing biotech careers https://biotility.research.ufl.edu/student-training/#careers and this job board features small biotech startup companies: https://workinbiotech.com/

Foreach fast-growing biotech career, you will find a job description and link to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, where you can explore diverse career aspects: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/genetic-counselors.htm

This includes job description, median pay, entry level education, work experience in related occupations, number of jobs and outlook, employment change in the last decade, work environment and education pathways that can lead to this career.

If you already have a career of interest in mind, you can gain insight into it and find posted related jobs using this link and your geographic location: https://careers.massbio.org/careerinsights/. Here you can explore the education, skills and abilities required, as well as the job outlook, wages and career videos.

Biotech Education Pathways:

There are a multitude of education programs that prepare students for the biotech workforce. Bio-Link programs offer a variety of degrees and certificates that prepare students for the biotechnology workforce and biomedical research institutions. Some of these programs are designed for recent high school graduates, while others require a Bachelor's degree.

Learn more about certificates, one-year degrees, 2-year degrees (with transfer or direct employment options), Bachelor and Masters degrees: https://www.bio-link.org/home2/degrees-and-certificates

You can refer to this data base that organizes degrees and certificates by biotech discipline or business area: https://www.bio-link.org/degrees-and-certificates/stats or look up academic institutions by degrees, certificates and the biotech disciplines they cover: https://www.bio-link.org/programs/degrees-by-program

This College Navigator lists academic institutions that offer biotech education programs in alphabetic order: https://www.bio-link.org/programs/college-navigator

Biotech Companies and Business Areas:

This comprehensive employer database will allow you to explore biotech companies by US state or any country in the world using an interactive map or a data table that organizes companies in alphabetic order by state or country: https://www.biotech-careers.org/biotech-companies

The states with the highest number of Biotech businesses are CA, MA, TX. 

You can further filter biotech companies by business area including COVID-19; and then select the ones that offer internships and hire community college graduates. You will find a multitude of business areas, and you can select any biotech company of interest to view job openings directly on its website. The powerful search criteria and sets of keywords provided by this rich database describe technologies, products, and biological applications that will help you better understand the biotechnology industry. 

For more detailed guidelines on using this database, visit this blog

‍