For years now, I see a rising demand for products and services of organisations active in the Life Sciences industry. This is of course an interesting development but it also has a more difficult side to it. Especially in Denmark. As recruitment Consultant, I see that there is an increase in difficulties for organisations to attract talent and specialists within the industry.

Constant growth

The life sciences industry in Denmark is already a fairly large industry. And I see that the industry keeps on growing. Together with Skåne, the Southern part of Sweden, Denmark is part of the so called Medicon Valley. This international hub is home to many life sciences organisations backed up by life sciences universities and a research infrastructure. Most companies are located either in Copenhagen or Greater Copenhagen. This goes from R&D centres to QA/QC but also manufacturing and warehouses. In 2018, the Danish government established a new growth plan to support the Life Sciences industry in the country. This enabled Denmark to strengthen their position in the industry even more.

International organisations

The ‘hub-function’ of Copenhagen and Skåne makes it really attractive for international organisations to locate in Denmark. Thereby, the before mentioned growth plan strengthens the already strong Life Sciences environment in Denmark. This contributes to make Denmark an even more attractive business environment for foreign organisations. Right now organisations such as Novo Nordisk, Novozymes, Chr. Hansen and Leo Pharma are already located in the valley. However, the valley is not only attractive for the bigger organisations, there are a lot of start-ups and scale-ups located as well. This brings a lot of variety in the valley which also means that there are jobs which fit multiple specialistic profiles. This even increases the demand of employees with a niche focus in the Life Sciences industry.

Close connected

The labour market in the Nordics has several elements which have an overlap with the Dutch market. Both are, for instance, very competitive, which obviously has its pros and cons. At both markets work and personal ethics, as well as culture in general are close connected to each other. The Dutch as well as the Danish are quite directly in their communication. For both countries, the work-life balance is an important element in the work environment.

Specialistic functions

However, in the Nordics there are not that many recruitment organisations which solely focus on the life sciences industry. The market consists for the most part out of more general recruitment agencies. It is common to have up to five specialisations as recruitment agency. This can be beneficial at sometimes but also makes it difficult to find candidates. Especially for hard to fill specialistic functions such as in the life sciences industry.

Specialistic approach

I see that in the Dutch and Belgic market, a really specialistic approach works. There are some more general recruitment agencies but to fill the really niche functions, a specialistic recruitment agency is key. I see that with the focus of QTC Recruitment and their tailor made service they can offer 100% delivery with a rebate period of nine months. This enables them to fill almost every specialistic position of their clients.

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