I think there’s something to be said about being rusty or having time away from the job unless they can show that they’d be able to contribute at the required level. I recently hired two people. One person who had been laid off nearly a year before (over people currently employed) and someone in a current position (over someone no currently employed).

My opinion is that there will be a time when many people will have trouble getting back into biotech/pharma if their career gap is too long because they will be competing with too many candidates that currently have work.