Biomedical Engineer graduate moving to Cork this week

Rudi Montes

Hey guys.
I'm 22, I finished my Licenciatura (3 years) in Biomedical Engineering back in my home country in Portugal. I decided I wanted to move country and after studying my possibilities, and since my English was about as good as my Portuguese and Cork is a Biomedical hub, I decided to come to Ireland.
I've been here since the end of July (when I finished my degree) in a rural area to the south (it's where my father managed to find an unqualified job to get us started) and now my parents are financing my moving to Cork. I'm going to check out a couple of rooms this tuesday and I'll probably stay right away. Fortunately sharing a room isn't that expensive, but I'm incredibly nervous about a couple of things.

I've talked to a recruitment agency and I was told there would be a lot of temporary general operator jobs in Med Devices/Pharma/Electronical factories in the area. I imagine they rarely hire people permanently out of the temps (even if I distinguish myself?), but even if they don't, it'll be great to get some experience in the area, and one week of full-time work is enough to pay the month's bills, even if they pay minimum wage. This is what I keep reminding myself of to reassure myself.

What I am pretty nervous about is the long-term. Above all I don't know if my degree will be recognized or desired by companies from here. I didn't go to a top 3 school so I probably can't count on name recognition to get me a job with my degree. I'm willing to work anywhere, of course, no problems in working in a Call Center or anything like that. What I really want to is to eventually have a contract (since I imagine permanent positions are very rare), so that I can be sure of what I'll be getting for X months and can plan accordingly, which is something I can't do with temporary work.

joc5581

Hi Rudy,
Typically the Irish standard is a 4 year hons degree (3 years is an ordinary degree) but opportunities are still available- did your course include an kind of work experience? which recruitment agency were you speaking to?

Rudi Montes

Hi,
No work experience at all. It's very rare for courses to have work experience in Portugal actually, but I did go to a more practical-oriented institute instead of a more theoretical-oriented one, I got tons of lab experience and a 6-months final project as kind of a "proxy" for an internship, I guess, under the tutelage of two teachers.

I spoke to C&M recruitment in Cork. About the room situation, it turned out to be harder than I thought and I didn't find one at all. I decided to rely on Hostels for now... If I get called I can book a Hostel and go to work right away, stay the required nights in the Hostel and return home when work is over. It'll have to do until I know that I have a steady income, it's more low-risk this way (we don't have much to invest atm).

Rhys Essien

Did you send your CV in to the Tyndall Institute in Cork City?.With your qualification that would be an ideal place.You should call in there yourself and have a chat with someone face to face.

A position here they are advertising.Would this be suited to you?

http://www.tyndall.ie/vacancies/researcher-microneedle-technologies

Vitamin T

It might be worth your while also looking at companies in Galway and Limerick. IMO Galway's probably more of a biomedical hub than Cork.

Regarding your degree, you could possibly have some difficulty in getting managers or recruiters to really understand the level of the degree. Like joc5581 said it sounds like your degree is the equivalent of an Ordinary Degree in Ireland. But if you clearly state in your CV and a cover letter some of the subjects and skills you learned in college then I think you should be able to get a job as an operator or technician maybe.