Want to work in the biopharma sector? You might know the kind of job you’ll have, but do you know what your working life will be like?
Anyone looking to work in pharma will have a strong understanding of the work they will be doing.
While the specifics might differ from one company to another, scientific principles and expectations for certain roles will remain largely the same.
However, choosing to work for a particular company is about so much more than the actual role you will be doing.
Candidates want to know about the company culture when choosing where to work. They want to know what their working experience will actually be like. But, with so much regulation around the biopharma industry, it’s not always easy to find out.
To help peel back that curtain, Siliconrepublic.com headed down to biopharma giant Amgen at its facility in Dún Laoghaire to find out from some of its employees what it’s like to work there.
While Amgen has more than 20,000 employees worldwide, its Dún Laoghaire facility, which opened in 2015, is home to approximately 500 workers, and serving patients is the main focus.
While many in the biopharma industry will know about Amgen and what it does, we wanted to find out a little more from the people themselves.
Sarah Oxley is a quality control specialist at Amgen Dún Laoghaire. She said what makes Amgen’s culture different is its focus on its staff and community as well as its patients.
The company looks after its staff by providing the tools to enable to them to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
“These include flexible working hours and also programmes to maintain both physical and mental wellbeing,” said Oxley, citing fitness facilities and assistance programmes as just two examples.
HR manager Mark Fitzgibbon said Amgen’s success is dependent on its employees and how successful they are.
For those interested in working at Amgen, Fitzgibbon mentioned certain traits that the company’s recruitment team looks for.
“[They look for] individuals who like to work in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment,” he said.
