Singapore provides the best job opportunities for a biomedical sciences career in the Asian region, according to a survey.

RSA Singapore has revealed results from two surveys (one international and the other regional) conducted amongst the biomedical sciences industry. These findings show that the biomedical sciences industry sees talent management as a top priority for the coming year. The future also seems to be bright for new Pharmaceutical Jobs.

In addition, amongst the region, Singapore is viewed as the top destination for providing the best biomedical science career opportunities. Over 420 professionals within the biomedical sciences industry replied to these two surveys.

Singapore is attractive largely due to its strong biomedical sciences industry, good standards of living, associated safety/security and favourable tax regime. The second destination of choice was China, with many biomedical sciences executives indicating interest in pursuing a career at this location. The third top destination was Australia.

Local media reported that Singapore’s biomedical manufacturing output grew at a robust pace last year to reach $21 billion and employed 13,000 people, the Economic Development Board (EDB) said.

“Asia’s biomedical sciences industry continues to grow, despite the fact that biomedical organisations in Europe and the U.S. have experienced consolidation or downsizing. And within Asia, Singapore is the top destination of choice, due to the opportunities here,” said Laura Thomas, managing director, RSA Singapore.

Highlights of the regional survey include:

1. Respondents were positive about the outlook for the biomedical sciences industry for 2010, with all expecting salary increments. Half of those surveyed expected significant salary increments of 30-50%. This compares well to 2008-2009, where biomedical companies in Asia saw salary and headcount freezes.
2. The most important factors for determining whether an employee would join another company were 1) Career Opportunities, 2) Salary, and 3) Work-life balance.
3. If required to relocate for a job, the most important factors that make the new host country attractive were: 1) A growing biomedical sciences industry, 2) Good standards of living and environment, 3) Security and safety. As Singapore ranked well on all three factors, this naturally made it the top destination of choice.

The respondents of the international survey were mainly from the U.K., with some having offices across Europe and the U.S.A. Given the significant levels of organisational restructuring that has occurred over the past 18 months, over 90% of respondents indicated that talent management is a top strategic priority for the organisation. During this period, 60% of organisations experienced restructuring or a review, in order to improve efficiencies and in many cases downsizing was part of the review.

Those employees negatively affected by the review were selected based on: 1) feedback from managers and performance reviews; 2) lack of fit within the organisations; and 3) formal talent assessment exercise.

However, despite realising that talent management is critical, only 26% had an active strategy in place for retaining talent.

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