Jobs in Pharmaceutical companies????

bebes

Hi does anyone know of any pharmaceutical companies in Dublin (or surrounding areas) that are recruiting at the moment (entry level). I've finished my PhD in Chemistry and I can't get anything....starting to think I'll have to emigrate at this rate

finisklin

Have you tried recruitment agencies, irishjobs.ie or go direct to the companies careers webpages?

bebes

Yea I've tried everything.....agencies, company websites...I've even sent in my cv to companies HR that weren't advertising jobs just on the off chance. I'm going insane!!!!

finisklin

It's a tough jobs market out there at the moment and the work that your pitching for is pretty specialised I guess?

All is not lost, identify your target companies, trawl their careers pages reguarly (daily!!!), look through your contacts/friends and someone you know along the way may have worked or know some one working there. Ask there are there any job opportunities coming up at any levels.

Keep networking as this is a vital method of finding and building contacts that may help in your career and point you to an opening somewhere. Also, there is the dublin jobs club which is a good way of networking and building more skills and being productive in your job hunt. Google it and you should find some details...

Also, are you on linkedin? This may be a good way of sussing out jobs as sometimes there are jobs advertised exclusive to the site. You can also look at prospective companies and find out details of key people through linkedin.

Also, visit mindtools.com to keep abreast of developments in management and skill enhancement to help you shine in forthcoming interviews.

Finally, stay positive and keep the head up.

bebes

Thanks very much for the help, I'll have a look at mindtools.com.....hadn't heard of that so tank a mil. )

Otis Driftwood

Hi Bebes,have you tried Abbotts?

They are growing hugely and are always recruiting staff.

j4vier

what did u do ur phd on?

bebes

nedtheshed wrote: »

Hi Bebes,have you tried Abbotts?

They are growing hugely and are always recruiting staff.

Hi thanks for the reply, yea I have tried them. I think the problem is I would be entry level. I finished my PhD last September and then got a part time lecturing position from Sep to June so my only experience is acedemia and all the jobs I've applied for require industry experience.....one of those catch 22's....how can I get experience when nobody will take me on!

bebes

j4vier wrote: »

what did u do ur phd on?

Hi, my degree was applied physics and chemistry, and then I did my PhD in organic synthesis (in particular carbohydrates). I honestly thought it wouldn't be this hard given my synthesis backround and I also have done alot of analytical but if you read the response to the previous post I think my problem is comercial experience.....
Thanks for the reply )

avalon68

bebes wrote: »

Hi, my degree was applied physics and chemistry, and then I did my PhD in organic synthesis (in particular carbohydrates). I honestly thought it wouldn't be this hard given my synthesis backround and I also have done alot of analytical but if you read the response to the previous post I think my problem is comercial experience.....
Thanks for the reply )

I think as well that a lot of the work in ireland is QC, and most people they hire dont have or need PhDs for that. I remember going to a talk given by one of the big companies (cant remember which one) and the guy actually said : If you have a degree, we really want you; if you have a masters, sure thats great; if you have a PhD we dont want you (he actually used those exact words). He said that less than 10% of the total workforce in the plant would have PhDs. You might have better luck abroad where there is more R&D than here. I know one person who started with a PhD in industry here and the starting wage was exactly the same as those with just a degree ( about 27,000 at the time), which isnt great really, but its better than nothing at the same time:)

j4vier

well regardin the experience thats a problem because its unlickly that ur gonna get qc experience now that u have a phd!
i did the opposite work in a company for a while( similar area to qc) and then went back to do a phd
it should help that at least u have organic and analytical experience , i know abbott as mentioned took a friend of mine who is an organic chemist
the problem is that there so little jobs at the moment in general, never mind high profile jobs for phds! so ur best bet would be to look abroad or else
u should consider post docs as well, qc might sound like good experience at the start but u really dont want to stay there as its a dead end job.
remember that if u really want to work in industry , u have to show them that u dont want to be an academic otherwise they might have doubts and think u ll leave them to go to uni again

bebes

avalon68 wrote: »

I think as well that a lot of the work in ireland is QC, and most people they hire dont have or need PhDs for that. I remember going to a talk given by one of the big companies (cant remember which one) and the guy actually said : If you have a degree, we really want you; if you have a masters, sure thats great; if you have a PhD we dont want you (he actually used those exact words). He said that less than 10% of the total workforce in the plant would have PhDs. You might have better luck abroad where there is more R&D than here. I know one person who started with a PhD in industry here and the starting wage was exactly the same as those with just a degree ( about 27,000 at the time), which isnt great really, but its better than nothing at the same time:)

Yea I think your right....I was warned about that sort of thing by my supervisor before I started about limiting myself by doing the PhD but at the time I didn't really think about it.....looks like she was righ after all!!!

bebes

j4vier wrote: »

well regardin the experience thats a problem because its unlickly that ur gonna get qc experience now that u have a phd!
i did the opposite work in a company for a while( similar area to qc) and then went back to do a phd
it should help that at least u have organic and analytical experience , i know abbott as mentioned took a friend of mine who is an organic chemist
the problem is that there so little jobs at the moment in general, never mind high profile jobs for phds! so ur best bet would be to look abroad or else
u should consider post docs as well, qc might sound like good experience at the start but u really dont want to stay there as its a dead end job.
remember that if u really want to work in industry , u have to show them that u dont want to be an academic otherwise they might have doubts and think u ll leave them to go to uni again

I took on the lecturing position staright after my viva thinking it would be great experience....didn't quite work out that way!
I definitely have to try try for a job in industry cos with this embargo the uni's can't take anybody on....
Anyway thanks everyone for your advise.
:O)