By Donagh Fitzgerald and Claire Wilson. Last Updated: November 2024 Ireland has a world-renowned reputation for pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing. It currently hosts 9 of the world's top 10 Pharmaceutical companies and 18 of the top 25 MedTech companies based on annual sales and revenue. However, [...]
What We Learned from Analysing 100 Entry Level Pharma Job Ads
We checked 100 ads for entry level jobs in the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Industry.
Job Hunting When You Don’t Yet Have Your Qualification in Your Hand
Does this sound familiar - you have done your part, completed all your studies, handed in all your assignments, finished all your exams, BUT you don’t yet have your qualification in your hand to prove it to employers when job hunting? There isn’t anything you can do to get your qualifictaion quicker - it’s out of your hands. So what can you do so that you can wrestle back some control on the situation?
How to Convince Your Employer to Pay for Your Education
Are you thinking about going to university or taking a course to get a professional qualification? Trying to balance your commitments between work and home life is never easy. However, one of the biggest challenges can be figuring out how you are going to pay for the programme. But a great way to help with this is to convince your employer to help fund the cost of your tuition. Keep reading to figure out what steps you need to take and how to pitch your boss or manager or company.
How to Write a CV – Part 8: Formatting
If you’ve worked through these articles in order, you’ve seen how a CV builds section by section. We’ve thought about the content that should go in every section so that you’re doing the best job possible at selling yourself to potential employers. We’ve also talked a little about layout options for each section.
How to Write a CV – Part 7: References
As soon as you start your job hunt you’ll need to consider who you can use as references. You’ll typically need 2 people, at least one should be a previous employer (and usually you’ll need to include your last employer). Former employers are legally obligated to give basic reference details for their employees but if you’re using someone who wasn’t a former employer, you should check ahead of time that they are willing to be a reference for you. Then you have to decide if/how you’re presenting this information on your CV.. If you choose to include it, the references section should be a brief section on your CV.
How to Write a CV – Part 6: Skills, Hobbies & Interests
The purpose of this Section: To give an employer an insight into how you spend your personal time and the type of person you are. You might historically have viewed this section as a tick-box exercise that you only include because you “should”. But this section can actually be really useful in convincing someone you’ve got relevant skills for the role. This can be particularly helpful if you can demonstrate a skill listed on the job advert that you’ve not been able to demonstrate within another section of your CV
How to Write a CV – Part 5: Employment History
Purpose of this section: To give an employer a full but concise overview of your employment history, highlighting relevant experience and skills. The “Employment History” section of your CV should be far more than dates and a list of the duties of your job. By adding in specific achievements, tangible details and transferable skills, your previous employment section can be a highly persuasive section of your CV, even if you’re making a mid-career change.
How to Write a CV – Part 4: Education & Other Courses
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 Purpose of this Section: To give an employer a useful overview of your academic history The Basics of this Section This should be a quick and easy section for an employer to read and [...]
How to Write a CV – Part 3: Personal Profile
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 The Purpose of this Section: To give a succinct overview of yourself that grabs the attention of the reader by highlighting the key things about you that make you suitable for this role. Personal Profile… Personal [...]
How to Write a CV – Part 2: Personal Details
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 The Purpose of this Section: To ensure that an employer can reach you by their preferred method of communication if they want to follow up on your application. The personal details should be the easiest [...]
How to Write a CV – Part 1: The Clues Hidden in Every Job Advert
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 If you’ve been viewing job adverts as a basic description of a role’s duties and responsibilities, and the education and employment background they want from a candidate - you’ve been reading them wrong. A simple change in mindset will revolutionise [...]
How to Write a CV – Your Ultimate Guide
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 Everybody thinks they know how to write a CV. The problem is, what they typically mean is… “I wrote a CV a while back and it did me fine then, I can update that and send it out for any [...]
CV Masterclass: Selling Your Employment History When Changing Industry
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 The “Employment History” section of your CV should be far more than dates and a list of the duties of your job. By adding in specific achievements, tangible details and transferable skills, your previous employment section can be a highly [...]
How do I get a job in the pharmaceutical or medical device industry with no experience?
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 How Do I Get a Job in Pharma With No Industry Experience? Contents You need to aim for the right jobs Know what the job advert is REALLY telling you When to pick up the phone Tips [...]
Working In Ireland’s BioPharma/MedTech Industry? Now’s the Time to Negotiate
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 Ireland’s BioPharma/MedTech manufacturing industry is extremely strong right now. Arguably, the strongest it has ever been. All the signs of continued growth are extremely positive, just check out the graph above showing steadily rising job vacancy numbers since 2015. With the [...]
Applying for jobs but it’s just “not working”? Here are 10 possible reasons why
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 Image: cnbc 10 Reasons Why Your Job Hunt Might Not Be Working Jump to section Big companies take their time There were lots of candidates / someone better qualified You aren’t applying [...]
5 Key Takeaways from NIBRT’s “Careers in Biopharma” Event
By: Gerard Creaner and Claire Wilson. Logo: NIBRT We attended NIBRT’s annual Careers in Biopharma event in Dublin early this year with over 15 top pharmaceutical companies and 500+ prospective employees This is the number 1 pharma careers fair in Ireland. The day consisted of presentations [...]
What Types of Jobs and Careers are there in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Industry
By: Donagh Fitzgerald and Claire Wilson. Last Updated: July 2024 Image: Cambridge Clinical Laboratories There are a huge variety of job roles available from laboratory-based research and development, clinical trials, regulatory affairs, drug safety, manufacturing, engineering, quality assurance, quality control, and validation all the way [...]
7 Job Hunting Mistakes People Make When Changing Careers
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 One Of The Biggest Challenges With Career Change Job Hunting... ... is that everyone thinks they already know what they're doing. Because who doesn't know how to write a CV, right? Firstly, everyone thinks they know how to write [...]
What Challenges Will I Face Finding A Job?
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 One concern we often hear from people considering a move into pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturing is not knowing how difficult will it be to get a job. Of course answering that is very difficult since it will depend on [...]
What Practical Help Will You Give Me To Find A Job?
“Will I definitely get a job?” is one of the most common questions we get asked. First up, let us be clear, we won’t find you a job, an internship or a work placement. What we WILL do is give you all the training you need to be job ready. And we [...]
How Long Will a Successful Career Change to Pharma Manufacturing Take?
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 Before we take a closer look at exactly how long a career change into pharmaceutical manufacturing will take you, you might want to check out our article on the minimum requirements needed to make this change, to see if you [...]
What Types of Careers are there in the Pharmaceutical Industry?
By: Claire Wilson and Donagh Fitzgerald. Last Updated: July 2024 There are a huge variety of careers available in the pharmaceutical industry from laboratory-based research and development, clinical trials, regulatory affairs, manufacturing, engineering, quality assurance, quality control, validation all the way through to marketing, sales and distribution. [...]
Pharmaceutical Job Application Checklist & Tracking Template
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 If you’re looking to make a career change into pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturing, the thought of starting your job hunt may be a little overwhelming. When you don’t know an industry, every step of the job hunting process [...]
2022’s Top 20 LinkedIn Groups for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Professionals
By: Claire Wilson and Donagh Fitzgerald. Last Updated: April 2022 Image: Promo Republic There are over 2 million LinkedIn groups - are you using them to your advantage in your pharmaceutical manufacturing career? Most people know about the benefits of LinkedIn - the social network for [...]
How to Find a Job in Pharma Manufacturing – Infographic
Finding a Job in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Medical Device Manufacturing – (with Giant Infographic) Even with the current strength of the pharma and medical device industries, finding a job can still be a long process. We see lots of really accomplished people struggling to get traction in [...]
7 Deadly Sins of Pharmaceutical Job Applications
By: Claire Wilson. Last Updated: March 2023 For the last 14 years, here at GetReskilled, we have been helping people from a wide range of backgrounds make mid-career changes into the pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing industries. With over a decade of experience in the industry, [...]
List of 180 Pharmaceutical & Med Device Companies in Ireland
By: Donagh Fitzgerald B.Prod Eng and Claire Wilson BSc. Last Updated: January 2024 Image: Boehringer Ingelheim Check out this pharmaceutical and medical device company career page directory to help you with your job hunt. Jump to section Multinational Companies (92) Indigenous [...]
5 Reasons you Should Re-Skill into the Pharma and Med Device Industries
By: Donagh Fitzgerald and Claire Wilson. Last Updated: April 2022 Image: Boehringer Ingelheim There are a host of reasons why re-skilling into pharma and med device industries is a good idea, today we're giving you our top five. We’ve got a lot of exciting information to share [...]