Investing in the workforce at AMLo Biosciences
Dr Marie Labus, AMLo Biosciences CEO, explains how an innovative approach to recruitment, with an emphasis on growing talent and upskilling the workforce, has been the key to success for the Newcastle-based life sciences company.
What is AMLo Biosciences?
AMLo Biosciences is a Newcastle University spin-out which has developed a revolutionary prognostic test for early AJCC Stage I and Stage II melanoma to better identify patients’ true risk of disease progression.
The company was founded in 2017 by a team with an internationally-acclaimed track record in the oncology field, spanning the identification of translational biomarkers, drug discovery and development.
In the past few years, projects associated with the development of our melanoma prognostic test have attracted nearly £1.5 million in research funding and £4.9 million in equity funding.
AMLo is proud to be a female-led company. Our leadership team comprises Chief Executive Officer Dr Marie Labus, our Chief Scientific Officer Professor Penny Lovat, and our Marketing Director Jane Meaney.
We have backgrounds that might be considered unconventional. We’re proud to have overcome challenges and as a female-led company, we are showing the next generation that not every career progression follows a conventional path and would like to be able to inspire the next generation of women in STEM.
What workforce challenges did you encounter as a business?
Recruiting specialist staff in the North East is challenging, for example in the areas of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs, Biostatistics and IVD Development. We typically receive a number of applications when we advertise for these posts, mostly from people outside the region, but it is difficult to get a commitment to relocate to the North East or to retain staff once they are here as there is a lot of competition for jobs from similar companies in the region.
What approach did you take to overcome these challenges?
We have aimed to recruit people already in the North East, recruiting staff with less experience but a desire to learn and develop and have invested in training to upskill them while in post.
We have also taken advantage of the Technical Apprenticeship scheme to recruit a technical apprentice. We have made a conscious effort to draft job descriptions, placing less emphasis on formal qualifications and more on transferable or soft skills. This has increased the pool of potential recruits. We also offer blended/flexible working, a staff share scheme and extensive external training opportunities for staff, which also result in formal qualifications.
How has your recruitment strategy benefitted the business?
By recruiting locally and offering continuous professional development opportunities for staff, we have excellent staff retention. By employing staff with a range of transferable skills, it has also allowed us to evolve job roles as the business required without employing new staff. This has also allowed existing staff to explore different roles within the company, increase their job experience and continue to grow their skill sets.
What advice would you give to other employers looking to build a recruitment strategy with an emphasis on upskilling the workforce?
It is important that we invest in our talent to build the skilled workforce our life sciences cluster needs to grow and thrive in the North East region.
It is possible to grow your own talent with the correct infrastructure, planning and training. This also avoids having to ‘unteach’ more experienced staff.