It’s been a while since I posted and now the recession is in full swing.  Indeed, other countries are talking about the recession bottoming out and the first signs of recovery.  It certainly doesn’t look that positive for us in Ireland at the moment.

NAMA remains a bone of contention and there is no obvious clear policy for a comprehensive plan to get us out of the mess we are in.  Indeed, it looks like we are facing a winter of public service strikes.

There is some positive movement though.  The initial recession panic seems to have alleviated to some extent.  While we are still seeing some redundancies in the medical sector, the rate of job losses has decreased.

Pharmacies are still reeling from the double hit they have taken.  There is little to no movement in the Pharmacist jobs market.  Our advice to pharmacists is “If you are working stay put”.  There were pharmacy closures over the last year and profit margins have been squeezed.  Salaries for new hires have similarly been affected.  The days of six figure salaries are largely over for now.  We have gone from a situation where pharmacists were in demand and could obtain nearly any salary they desired, to one where is an oversupply of pharmacists for very few jobs indeed.  We do not expect a change in this situation for another 12 months.

Nurses are finding themselves under increasing pressure, not immune to the bitter bite of the recession either.  Staff are not being replaced, Agency nurses are finding that there are fewer shifts available and conditions are not as good as they were (I can hear the comments already).  Many nurses are looking further afield with Nursing jobs in Australia enjoying a larger than normal interest.  Given that as a rule we export a lot of our nurses in good times it is perhaps not surprising.

The pharmaceuticals industry has also undergone some restructuring.  The Pfizer Wyeth deal has not had the negative effect that many in the industry in Ireland feared. We have seen large scale job cuts in manufacturing though, with several companies announcing redundancies.

Medical Sales Reps have been having a mixed time on the jobs market.  There have been redundancies, but there are still jobs available.  The people worst hit by the recession in Medical Sales are the people who are trying to break into Medical Sales.  A sudden glut of experienced Medical Sales reps on the market has left the hopeful rookies with little hope in a market that was always a relatively difficult one to breach.

We are still importing medical professionals to Ireland for positions that we just do not have enough people in the Irish pool for.  These tend to be specialist positions across the board.

Allied Health workers may as well get a job in the local chipper for the time being.  Despite there being a desperate need for Speech and Language Therapists, Physiotherapists and Social Workers, the budgets are just not there to hire them.  We are faced with a culture of marginalisation, where special needs requirements have been firmly shelved.

Health Care Assistants are having a rough ride too, as are any professions where there are an excess of people qualified for the position.  The Fetac qualification is fast becoming an absolute necessity.  Competition is fierce and agency shifts are ever thinner on the ground.  The best route to finding a permanent position remains in building contacts in individual hospitals and nursing homes while doing agency work.

Recruitment Agencies are reporting an upturn in the numbers of jobs available.  In the Medical Recruitment Market in particular there has been clear signs of improvement.

Want an update on another sector? Leave a comment.

So, you are in the job market.  Where do you start?  You could use a recruitment agency.

Let’s face it though.  Recruitment agencies have not got the best of reputations.  Here are 5 reasons not to use a recruitment agency.

Do not use a Recruitment Agency if….

1. You have years of experience in writing CV’s or are willing to pay someone to work on your CV for you. - A recruitment agency will not only give you advice on your CV, but will make it specific for the job you are applying for.
2. You don’t like interview feedback beyond the very basics. - A recruitment consultant can ask for more detailed feedback from an interview than you can.  This can give you a head start at a second interview or tell you where you went wrong for next time you get called for an interview.
3. You don’t need any career advice. - Recruitment agencies are full of career advice.  They can tell you how to upskill and what areas you need to work on to make yourself more attractive to a prospective employer.  If you do not need any career advice, then a recruitment agency may not be for you.
4. You know the jobs market very well and have good contacts in all the companies you may wish to apply to. - Recruitment consultants livelihood depends on building good connections like this.  If yours are as good then you may be able to do without a recruitment agency.
5. You are not intending to change your job.

The list may be a little flippant, but the reality is that if you use a reputable recruitment agency they can help you find your next job. More than that they can give you valuable advice on what your career options are.  Importantly they will do this without charging you for it.

You do need to pick your recruitment agency well though.  Read through this advice on dealing with recruitment agencies before you start the job seeking process.  That is a suggestion but it probably should be a requirement for anybody who is entering the jobs market.

Coming to a blog near you!  The media today is full of bad news, so for a change we decided to give you some good news and something to look forward to. Jackie Brown Medical is expanding into the field of scientific and technical recruitment.

Despite the downturn which has had a clear and devastating affect amongst almost every sector of the Irish economy, Jackie Brown Medical has bucked this trend and experienced extensive growth amongst its clients. As a relationship based company which has won the unqualified trust of its clients by offering a consistently high quality service, Jackie Brown Medical has received numerous requests to supply R&D, scientific and  technical personnel in the past which has led to a decision to  expand its services we currently support amongst our clients.

As NRF Best Recruiter award winner for 2008, Jackie Brown Medical will provide recruitment opportunities for professionals working within the areas of R&D, Life Sciences, Medical Devices, BioPharma, Pharmaceuticals and semiconductor technology.

Working with established and prestigeous clients, Jackie Brown Medical has already developed a well deserved  reputation for professionalism and commitment amongst both clients and candidates alike and looks forward to a time beyond the downturn. In the mean  time we are here to meet your Medical, Science, Recruitment and Employment needs. Look to the future and give us a call.

For further information stay tuned and please visit our Blog/News Page

Positive or negative, what is your disposition today? Do you feel that everything is going your way or against you? In your career you will find that your attitude has a tremendous impact on how people respond to you and how you get through the working day. When we are in a positive frame of mind we find that there are not enough hours in the day.

So what determines your attitude? Many things but in terms of work it can be how we percieve it and ourselves. Is your work and what you do a career or a Job?

Chris Rock referred to his fame as a comedian as a career and not a job.  Like most people he had had many jobs previously; many of which he hated. He very quickly learned the difference between a career and a Job. The difference being that there were not enough hours in the day for him in his career as a comedian but in his previous jobs one of which was a kitchen hand working in the kitchen of a restaurent cleaning shrimp- every minute hung like eternity.

Perhaps the lesson then to be derived from this is, in order to be happy as professionals we need to look after our careers, to seek the good in what we do and to always remember to take time to look at the lighter side of what we do each day. To neglect this we risk our careers becoming just another job.

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