US pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) brings good news to Singapore, beyond the Ribena and Panadol (yes, they are the ones bringing you your familiar consumer health care products, vaccines and prescription medicine).

On 26 January 2008, during Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s visit to its Jurong plant, GSK announced that it will invest another $100 million in its Singapore operations from now till 2013. All job seekers in the Pharmaceutical Industry should be thrilled to hear another of GSK’s plan to increase headcount at its manufacturing plants to 730 by 2010, from the current 650.

GSK’s first pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Singapore dates back to 1972. Since then, the working relationship has strengthened over the years. Now spanning the entire value chain of activities, including drug discovery, clinical research, manufacturing and regional headquarters, GSK’s 2 manufacturing facilities at Quality Road (Jurong Ind. Park) and Tuas has been labeled to constitute two of the company’s core global manufacturing centres to bring new products into the market. It is projected that the fresh $100 million investment will improve the capability and flexibility of a production building at the Jurong Plant.

“In Singapore we pretty much do everything - we have commercial, we have clinical trials, we do research, we do manufacturing. There are probably only three countries in the world where we do a bit of everything - America, Britain and Singapore. So Singapore is really one of the key countries,” says Andrew Witty, CEO, GSK.

With GSK’s high level of confidence in Singapore and the announcement of a 10-year strategic roadmap last August, it is no wonder that Mr Christopher Dobson, vice-president and managing director for GSK’s global manufacturing and supply division in Singapore, said that GSK has no plans of retrenching workers this year and the number of manufacturing employees at GSK Singapore is expected to rise over the next two years.

However, the catch is, Mr Dobson added that “GSK has been controlling recruitment very carefully” especially since production is expected to fall in 2010 and 2011.

With companies “controlling recruitment very carefully”, the job market pie is smaller, fresh graduates definitely would have to work harder to get a share. It certainly calls for action; an active attitude to make plans your career. It is never too late to start, begin by going for networking sessions, recruitment consultations and conferences.

Image: Flickr/Pill Capsule