Tag Archives: recruitment

Follow the money!

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Medical Devices Manufacturing R&D continues to seek high caliber candidates

Medical Devices Manufacturing R&D continues to seek high caliber candidates

Follow the money! A maxim often quoted in recruitment when looking for the areas of activity where recruitment is taking place. At present it certainly appears that the medical device manufacturing industry is ploughing ahead in new Research and Investment Projects across Ireland.

Where as the beleagured construction industry is rapidly faling into decline and infrastructure is imminently due for winddown, medical devices continues to expand and grow as a major contributor to the Irish economy.

In terms of world class R&D competition, Ireland is in the top ten leagues of countries with a major R&D presence usually a prime indicator of strategic importance of where  multinational medical device manufacturers see value and where they tend to carry out serial reinvestment at multiple sites and in new products.

Boston Scientific and Abbotts  are just two examples that spring to mind and some of the most significant investors in terms of R&D and employment in Ireland Inc.

Recruiting in this area requires an active involvement in the industry and an understanding of the requirements of client companies operating in this sector. The demand for high caliber candidates continues to support a range of medical device manufacturing clients and sees an increasing continuing future demand for high end skills and services for R&D Managers, Regulatory Affairs, Manufacturing and Quality professionals amongst others. Long may it continue.

Remember to STAR in your interview

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Frame your answers by keeping STAR in mind at all times.

Frame your answers by keeping STAR in mind at all times.

Remember to STAR in your interview if you want to get the next job you are interviewed for. What does STAR mean I hear you say?  Well STAR means:-

Situation:- being able to give a sense of perspective or background to the job you were in.

 Task:- Detail the tasks you were required to undertake.

Action:- Account for what you did personally- what was your impact and contribution to the job required.

Result:- Fairly evident this, what was the result or outcome of your personal contribution/ actions.

I’ve always found that candidates who keep this in mind at interviews and can provide a structured frame around their answers, by providing specific answers much more illuminating as to their abilities. Specific responses also tend to give a clearer indication as to whether candidates are knowledgable about the subject the interviewer requires answers to. They also give a clearer indication of the candidates confidence in being able to undertake the job duties required.

Evasive or vague answers to questions create at best a blurred image of the capabilities of the candidate and a perception that they are much less knowledgeable than they may actually be.

The STAR approach provides candidates with a very helpful frame to present their abilities in a much more constructive and positive format. In the current highly competitive Irish recruitment market you have to set yourself apart from the opposition and to be seen to be the best candidate at the interview-don’t limit yourself at an interview be a STAR!

Back to school for Ireland’s Recruiters

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Back to school for Irish Recruiters

Back to school for Irish Recruiters

It is very positive news for the Recruitment Industry in Ireland as the National Recruitment Federation (NRF) encourages Ireland’s Recruiters to go back to school.

This Certificate programme had a pilot run in the Summer of 2009 and now they are running their first course for Recruiters.

The content includes  -

Code of Conduct

Client Management

Legislation

Candidate Management

Sales Strategy

Recruitment Process

It takes up minimal time to do this course and is a very positive step towards raising the bar in Irish Recruitment Standards.

Every Recruiter in the country should try to complete this course.

It adds a Quality stamp on each Recruiter and Recruitment Agency with Recruiters all Certified by the NRF

Further Investment by Pfizer in R&D

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Further Investment by Pfizer in R&D at their Cork facility confirms Ireland as being a competitive and attractive  site

Ireland still continues to attract Foreign Direct Investment

Ireland still continues to attract Foreign Direct Investment

for foreign direct investment. Over €11 Million is being invested at the Ringaskiddy Process Development Center (PDC)  plant.

This facility will be a center for research and development centering on advanced manufacturing and enhanced production techniques which will be utilsed at Pfizer plants globally. Technologies developed here will have the potential to drastically reduce associated costs for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) as a result of optimising and improving on current manufacturing systems in use.

For further news please visit our blog/ news page.

The Appliance Of Science

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Wafer Fab Technician at Work

Wafer Fab Technician at Work

The Appliance Of Science by Irish Engineers and Scientists is not to be underestimated and should be a beacon to those who have followed in their wake. More so today in a time where jobs have been outsourced to cheaper locations overseas for example from manufacturers such as Dell who have recently outsourced from Limerick to Lodz in Poland.

In the past year  alone, Ireland has  had the misfortune of seeing large numbers of  jobs outsourced to low cost economies in Eastern Europe and Asia. Undoubtedly we have not seen the end of these events and perhaps this is symptomatic of a maturing economy and a further reason to develop a more cohesive strategy of  moving toward a knowledge based economy that offers greater numbers of high end / value jobs.

To this end on a more positive note we have seen investment flowing into Ireland by a number of Multinationals who have decided to base their R&D centers here. Intel, Diageo, Pfizer, Boston Scientific and Hewlett Packhard to name a few have all announced plans to establish or expand existing research facilities which encouragingly are not focused in any one sector but are diversified into almost every high tech sector ranging from nano robotics, polymer sciences, medical devices, semiconductors, biopharma and advanced manufacturing systems.

Irish scientists have been at the fore front of scientific research following in the footsteps of Robert Boyle, the father of chemistry, George Boole, the father of computer science, Francis Beaufort, author of the Beaufort scale. There are no shortage of gifted, inteligent scientists in Ireland today and it is a compliment to our educational system that Ireland globally, is well represented across all fields of modern scientific research and development

Modern Irish Scientists and Engineers are developing and applying scientific principles to  all aspects of  Industry that will someday provide the nucleus  of high end manufacturing facilities that will anchor employment in Ireland and  provide jobs for our graduates  ensuring we do not experience the brain drain that hitherto has been experienced as a result of limited job opportunities for locally educated graduates and professionals.

For further news and information on opportunities as they develop please feel free to visit our Jobs Pages

The big interview ‘No No’

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An interview 'No No'

An interview 'No No'

Hi guys,

One of my excellent Candidates was just told yesterday he was unsuccessful in his 2nd interview.

I was very surprised as he ticked all the boxes and had performed very well in his first interview  and the feedback from it had been very positive.

I insisted on getting feedback for him and they told me he talked about his current Employer on three occasions in the interview and each time it was in a negative light.

This left them feeling they could not trust him.

Wow – lesson learnt and a very good point.

For all you job seekers out there, while this is such an Employers market, be very careful to make note of this and to never make such a simple mistake.

Job seekers are suffering

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Take the time

Take the time

Good evening

I have recently undertaken a survey on over 1000 job seekers recently in the jobs market here in Ireland to find out how they are feeling and how they are being treated by their Recruitment Agencies.

The results have been disappointing from a Recruitment Agency point of view and have shown strong signs of frustration and a lack of communication between the Recruiter and the job seeker.

The following are the main points of note made by a clear majority of today’s job seekers -

  1. They do not feel they can fully trust their Recruiter as their CV has been sent out to Companies without their knowledge or consent
  2. They are not getting full and comprehensive feedback following an unsuccessful interview
  3. They are feeling the recruiter is treating them as a number to make money out of rather then a person in a vulnerable position who needs a level of care and attention
  4. Recruiters are generally not thorough enough in their searches of suitable jobs and will e mail the odd Job Description of non relevant jobs
  5. Recruiters are not following through on the whole interview process
  6. One of the requests for change was for the Recruiter to act like they care
  7. Not unlike the sale of a car, the recruiter can be attentive in the initial stages, but once a job is offered, they do not follow up with a good luck call or a call after the first week to see how the new job is going

I have been working in the Medical Recrutiment field for over 9 years now and my background is in Nursing, I do care very much for this very vulnerable and currently even more sensitive group of people and if we cannot show this in what we do every day by trying to take that extra step, then we need to be doing a different job.

Recruiters remember, we are changing lives for people and we need to take the time and interest to do that effectively.

For further information on recruitment best practice go to -

www.nrf.ie

The National Recruitment Federation is here to help the Recruitment Industry and it’s job seekers.