Lack of young talent in the pharmaceutical industry: opportunities for career changers

Lack of young talent in the pharmaceutical industry: opportunities for career changers

The pharmaceutical industry faces major challenges, especially in Austria, where there is an acute shortage of skilled workers. Despite a variety of open places in various areas such as pharmaceutical officers, laboratoryists and production employees, the search for qualified applicants is tough. The need for specialists is growing steadily, but the specific requirements make the situation complex.

An important factor is the continuous change in industry requirements. The training institutions cannot always form to the extent that the market requires. The pharmaceutical industry spaceship goes through continuous evolutionary phases, and while the tasks reproduce, the time for adapting the training programs often falls by the wayside. As a result, many companies are forced to break new ground in recruitment by not only addressing Young Professionals, but also career changers.

companies invest in the future

To meet the challenges, numerous companies in the industry have invested considerable funds in their locations. At Boehringer Ingelheim in Vienna Meidling, it is planned to create around 1150 jobs by 2027. Novartis, on the other hand, plans to create 350 new positions in Kundl and Schaftenau. In addition, Sandoz and GL Pharma have expanded their production facilities in Kundl and Lannach, which also leads to the creation of new jobs. A remarkable development is also expected from Takeda, who would like to employ around 250 researchers in the Seestadt Aspern in Vienna from 2026.

Such investments show not only the ambitions of companies, but also their endeavors to assert themselves in a competitive market. This development could help to mitigate the skilled workers in the long term, but the question remains whether the available talent pools are sufficient to meet the increasing requirements.

The situation in the pharmaceutical industry illustrates the need to continuously invest in education and qualifications in order to cover the needs of a rapidly changing market. This could also lead to increased cooperation between companies and educational institutions in order to make the training more relevant and thus to meet the requirements of the industry.