Is a career change into pharma still a good idea in 2025?

Ireland’s pharma and medical device manufacturing industries have been booming for years now. They currently employ over 77,000 people across the country.

With numbers like that there’s a decent chance you know someone already working in the industry. If you do, you’ll know that these jobs pay extremely well, come with a host of perks and are stable.

Perhaps you’ve been hearing about these jobs and wishing you could have one too but feel like you’ve missed the boat or left it too late.

Let’s take a closer look at whether a career change into pharma is still a good idea in 2025…

In May 2025, Michael Kavanagh, manufacturing manager at Amgen, was asked by Silicon Republic about crucial skills. He specifically called out a move away from candidates needing industry experience and towards finding candidates with the right mindset…

“In the past, we focused heavily on experience, particularly in aseptic manufacturing. That still matters, but now I’m putting more weight on whether someone is genuinely interested in the work, willing to learn, is coachable and able to follow procedures carefully.

We live by standard operating procedures, so being compliant, having a safety mindset and being willing to speak up when something isn’t right to ensure quality is crucial. Some of our best people came in from different backgrounds but had the right mindset.”

Amgen employs almost 700 people at their manufacturing site in Dublin.

This was similar to what MSD’s Stephen Burke, interim leader of the MSD Ireland recruitment team, told the publication in August 2024 when asked about meeting the evolving demands for skills in the pharma industry…

“We always take an inclusive approach to talent attraction to ensure that we are attracting a diverse pool of professionals across many different disciplines with varied backgrounds at all stages of their career… This includes career opportunities for people coming from traditional pharma backgrounds as well as for anyone coming from beyond pharma, who may not have direct experience but have transferable skills and a passion for making a difference for people and patients.”

MSD employs approximately 3,000 people in six manufacturing sites across five counties (Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Meath and Tipperary).

At the time of writing this article, on a random weekday in June 2025, we took a snapshot look at our dedicated pharma jobs board to see what entry level jobs were available across Ireland.

We found at least a dozen manufacturing jobs where previous experience in the pharma industry wasn’t a necessity.

These opportunities were from locations across the country including in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

Here are a couple of examples…

You’ll notice these examples don’t make any mention of previous industry experience.

And here are a few more examples…

It’s easy to think that these ones require previous pharma experience but phrases like “desirable”, “an advantage” and “ideal” show that employers are absolutely willing to consider candidates without it.

And that’s just to fill the roles that are vacant today. What about the future?…

In addition to the jobs there currently are in Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing companies across Ireland, between January 2023 to December 2024 companies announced the creation of 6,000 more jobs.

A further 1100 new jobs have been announced by the industry so far in 2025.

With companies already willing to accept applications from candidates without previous experience, the creation of so many more jobs will likely only strengthen that approach.

But is there anything you can do to move the odds further in your favour?

When we previously attended the NIBRT “Careers in Biopharma” Event, employers told us that they were looking for candidates with a passion to work in the industry and some initiative to gain the necessary skills.

Companies told us that candidates without experience face a much better chance of impressing them if they enrol in some sort of pharma-based education programme.

We know from our student success rate that people who’ve taken our courses are of interest to employers but it was great to hear it from employers too.

A candidate that has taken that first step themselves shows real drive and motivation to succeed.

So what’s the quickest way you can make this change?

We firmly believe that the quickest way to successfully make a career change into pharma is with our Conversion Course into Pharmaceutical Manufacturing.

This is a 10-week part-time course that is fully online. You are in complete control of your schedule and can study at a time and place that suits you.

The 2 module programme will teach you all you need to get your first job in the industry…

Module 1 – Manufacturing Safe Medicines and Medical Devices (GMP) (Weeks 1-6)

After you complete this module:

• You’ll be able to talk to employers with confidence about the systems and processes used in pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing and about the rules and regulations that you need to follow.
• You’ll have enough technical knowledge to work in this environment.
• You’ll be able to write reports and reference materials in a manner consistent with the professional norms of this industry.

Module 2 – Advanced Job Hunting For the Pharma Industry (Weeks 7-10)

After you complete this module:

• You’ll know about your local BioPharma/MedTech manufacturing industry and where the jobs are.
• You’ll know which jobs you’d be perfect for and where to find them.
• You’ll be able to assess your own skill set and know how to sell that to employers.
• You’ll know what employers expect from your application and job interview.
• You’ll be able to follow a step-by-step process to find, apply and successfully interview for your first job in this industry.

If we take a look at those previous job adverts, not only would you be meeting their minimum requirements, you start to find yourself meeting some of those “desirable” and “preferable” criteria.

Over 2,000 people from all walks of life have retrained with us and entered this industry.

Past students include:

• Homemakers
• Self-Employed
• Early School Leavers – you don’t need a Leaving Cert or A Levels if you have work experience
• Working Parents – including those with young kids
• Restaurants/Hospitality – Chef, Cook, Restaurant Manager
• Healthcare – Nurse, Healthcare Assistant, Caregiver, etc.
• Manufacturing – Production Operator, Assembler, Packaging, etc.
• Meat Processing – Operator, Butcher, etc.
• Defense Force – Army, Navy, Air Corps
• Construction – Electrician, Carpenter/Joiner, Foreman, General Operative
• Warehouse – All Warehouse Workers
• Sales/Business – Retail Sales, Pharma Sales, Business, etc.
• Other – Farmers, Designers, Beauty/Hair Stylist, etc

You can join them today!

Because, in 2025, a career change into pharma is still a great idea.

For more information, and to sign up and secure 1 of only 5 places on our next course, click on this link to visit the Conversion Course into Pharmaceutical Manufacturing page.