Greater Boston is adding thousands of jobs in the life sciences industry, many of them well-paying technician roles that don’t require a four-year degree. To help meet that demand, the workforce group Year Up United is playing an unusual coordinating role, connecting employers, training providers, and jobseekers.
The Life Sciences Career Alliance is a public-private partnership, kicked off in 2024 with $4.7M in startup funding from the City of Boston. The city backed Year Up United as a workforce intermediary, operating in partnership with MassBio, a nonprofit industry group.
Serving as connector is a new turn for Year Up United, a prominent sectoral training provider. The group isn’t offering job training itself, but helping to manage a messy and complex talent pipeline.
“Boston has a robust but fragmented life sciences training ecosystem, shaped by a diverse set of providers and government funding that encouraged rapid program growth,” says Mae Tobin-Hochstadt, the nonprofit’s senior director of solution development.
She says the region’s hiring needs across life sciences have shifted since the pandemic, with more demand for flexible roles like clinical research coordinators, quality control analysts, and patient service reps. Skills increasingly are being sought in data entry and troubleshooting. Hospitals and labs also continue to need more phlebotomists.
“Employers are overwhelmed with partnership requests,” says Tobin-Hochstadt, “while educators need consistent industry engagement and feedback on curriculum.”
Collaboration among training providers is made trickier by perceived competition for funding, students, and job placements. And graduates of those programs often don’t get enough help in finding job networks or the next step in their education.
That’s where the Life Sciences Career Alliance comes in. It reduces friction for employers by coordinating partnerships and has helped to establish trusted metrics on talent readiness and training provider quality. The alliance also works with community colleges and nonprofit training providers to prevent program duplication and to help build ties with employers.
Just as importantly, the alliance helps community college students with job placement and career advising, including one-on-one coaching, workshops, and structured access to employer networks. Meanwhile, students can access a digital hub featuring job-search and career-readiness tools, as well as peer networking.
For example, the alliance recently ran job-search workshops for phlebotomy students at Bunker Hill Community College, while providing coaching to graduates of that program.
Funding from the City of Boston unlocked important doors, says Tobin-Hochstadt. And she says the alliance model could work for other governments that are looking to invest in systems change and flexibility in filling talent-pipeline gaps.
Playing the intermediary role in Greater Boston also is a learning experience for Year Up United.
“While direct training remains central to our mission,” says Tobin-Hochstadt, “we also look for innovative ways to connect more young adults with meaningful career opportunities, especially in industries where employers, educators, and graduates all benefit from a more coordinated ecosystem.”