The landscape has been changing over the past six to nine months. The headlines have been reporting layoffs in biotech and elsewhere in the life sciences and tech industries as the IPO market has started to slow down, so one might assume this means it is becoming much easier to recruit industry executives now. However, that’s NOT the case. Remember that 2020-22 were booming years in the life sciences, powered by the almost insatiable quest to discover diagnostic tools, treatments, and vaccines to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and were further fueled by an incredible amount of investor dollars that flowed into the sector. About midway through last year, things began normalizing a bit. Yes, many companies have been paring down and investors have become more discerning in 2023, but healthcare and the life sciences remain red hot because of all the amazing breakthroughs in medical science, AI, and clinical research.

So, companies are still hiring. In fact, Slone Partners placed more C-suite executives in 2022 than any year in our history! Finding talented candidates went from being incredibly difficult to just plain hard. Great executives still have all the opportunities they could possibly want and are still in the driver’s seat. It remains a candidate’s market and there are still many opportunities for highly talented and accomplished executives, particularly in the VC and private equity-backed space. These companies are still fighting for the same executives with similar experience and profiles as they compete for the investor dollars needed to reach the next stage.