At the end of the recruitment process, there is the inevitable offer. Do companies ‘lowball’ (ie offer less to see what they can get away with) candidates in a tough economy? Are all offers final? Is negotiation, or haggling, part and parcel of the process?

This is an area where working with a recruiter is a huge advantage. One of MANY, of course!! It’s great to have an intermediary to speak on your behalf and talk directly to the company about the specifics of an offer. In our experience, the majority of offers which are tabled are fair. A good recruiter will find out what your exact package is and where your expectations lie, as they are sending your CV to the company. We do this with all candidates, in order to remove any ambiguity which may exist when candidates get to this final stage of the process.

However, some companies will try to offer less in order to grab a bargain as it were. Some almost expect a haggle! They can view this as a sign of what kind of candidate they are dealing with: if a candidate can’t negotiate now then how will they perform in high-pressure situations with stakeholder / suppliers / buyers etc?

Care is needed in this process, however. Candidates can’t seem overly hungry or greedy, so balance is key. The specifics of the contract must be examined and questioned if there are any issues. This also demonstrates that the candidate is detailed-orientated and careful. Any approaches made regarding salary must be considered and well thought-out. Larger companies tend to have tight salary bands, outside of which there may be no negotiation. A bit like Arsenal FC a few years ago! Smaller companies may have more flexibility, but may also be more cost conscious.

Know what you’re worth, and if you need to haggle to get there, haggle!

- Brian (brian.c at lifescience.ie)

As huge fans and heavy users of LinkedIn, we utilise it’s various features a lot. One of these is groups. We have, in fact, createwd a number of our own groups, in areas we felt were underserviced on the site. Here they are, feel free to join in to anything you feel is suitable of of interest:

Medical Affairs Ireland Network Specific group for Medical Advisors, Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs), Scientific Advisors and people seeking to enter this exciting area. A PhD / MSc or Medical qualification is required in most instances.

Connected Health Ireland for (Healthcare) IT professionals and IT people interested in the H.I.T. / Connected Health area. One we feel is poised for growth in coming years.

MedicalDevice.ie Network – for the thriving Medical Device Industry in Ireland

Formulation Scientists Ireland

As it happens we are seeking 2 people to join the Life Science team internally. Feel free to contact us if you are interested or know someone who might be. We offer a vibrant, exciting work environment and genuinely challenging, yet rewarding, work:

Snr IT Recruitment Consultant
Graduate Recruitment Consultant – Science / Pharma

- Brian (brian.c at lifescience.ie)

On a side note, ca. 12% of the jobs we advertise contain detailed information on the salary range on offer.

“The need for good staff has never being more important and companies are going to greater lengths to minimise the risks in any potential new hires, longer interview processes, psychometric testing, presentations, roles plays etc are becoming more and more common in the interview processes. Likewise employees are increasingly more concerned with company stability, culture and future growth plans.
It’s an old adage that price is what you pay and value is what you get. Employers in the current market place are very aware of the need to get the right individual on board not just in terms of skills and experience but also in terms of attitude and fit. To this end a lot of companies don’t want to be boxed in by setting salary bands that will either be dismissed by people that are at a higher salary level and like wise not to prevent applications for people with the right skillet but with less experience.”
-James Cassidy, Medical Device Principal Consultant, Life Science Recruitment

My own way of looking at it is both form the client and candidate perspective:

Client (ie company) – sometimes they have very strict salary bands in place, sometimes they don’t. It can save a lot of time, if the former is the case, to advertise the salary. This is generally done at the junior level to ensure no time is wasted in the recruitment process. Where higher potential salaries exist, employers generally keep their cards closer to their chest and thus tend not to advertise salaries. It can be frustrating from a candidate point-of0view, but is something which is unlikely to change.

Candidates (ie job seeker) – this boils down to the experience the person has. If they are sought after, they are in a stronger position to negotiate. In this instance, again it can save time if they inform the company of any salary expectations that they have, so that this isn’t a big issue later on in the recruitment process. It also means both parties are on the same wavelength from the start. If a candidate has a skillset which is widely available, then they are on the backfoot in terms of ability to demand salaries, and they must act accordingly. It is an employer driven market in many (or even most) areas, but in particular niches, there a skill shortages. IT being the most obvious example, but in many areas of Life Science and Pharmaceutical too (Clinical Reseasrch, Regulatory Affairs, QA to name but a few). In these cases, salaries are generally not advertised in order to encourage as many people as possible to apply.

- Brian Christensen (brian dot c @ lifescience.ie)

For the Irish market, however, it may be useful to point out that these CVs don’t serve their purpose well. They are too rigid, aren’t attractive and don’t serve any real importance. A well formatted, clear and concise CV will get you noticed a lot faster than a Europass CV.

We have some templates on our site here which are better starting points.

- Brian (brian dot c@lifescience.ie)

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There are a number of tools which can make your CV stand out in an ever-crowded job seeker marketplace:

QR Codes
A QR (quick response) code is a 2d barcode which can be read by smartphones (e.g with Neoreader App) that automatically brigs the user to an intended site. It can be easier than manually inputting urls into Safari on an iPhone, for example. The link should be to at least a Linkedin page, or an about.me page to make it more interesting. Something which summarises your experience and gives some off-CV information, showing that you are more than just 2 pages of paper.

Here is a handy link for generating a QR code.

Pictures
Hmmm, we’re not so sure on this one. For commercial or sales roles they can be useful. We don’t want to be drawn into a discussion on “does attractiveness help you get an interview” here, so we’ll leave this up to the users discretion. They seem to be more the norm in the States, but we are seeing them more and more on Irish CVs.
If you are using a pic on your, make it very professional (and recent).

Graphic Heavy CVs
Some design-savvy individuals like to produce CVs which draw heavy on graphics and designs. Some summerise experience like a graphic timeline, some generate skills idea-bubbles or anything in-between. Generally these are a No, unless the hiring managers responsible for the role for would appreciate it. Examples of this include website desgn, programming and IT engineering.

Looking forward to your comments or if there are any other CV tidbits you’d like us to give our thoughts on, let us know

- Brian

This month there seems to be a huge focus on the Commercial side of things according to recent jobs.

Sales Agent – previous experience selling instrumentation essential

Territory Sales Specialist – seeking a histologist / histopathologist for this one.

I’m also seeking an IT Engineer with CCNA, MCP certification with web and Linux experience – Product Support and Implementation Engineer

Stephen is looking for an EHS-Engineer for his Pharmaceutical client in Dublin

And also a  Production Support Engineer for an electronics company in Dublin

James has some very specific Medical Device roles as usual. There is also a B2B Sales Manager position in the pipeline for an American company. B2B experience in Medical Devices is key.

Production supervisor for a multinational in Galway

Quality Engineer for a start up in Athlone

Operations Engineer in a start up in Galway

Outside of the office we’re looking forward to the heat wave which is due to hit at the end of the week. 24 degrees – YE S PLEASE! It’s also the start of festival season, some good events planned around Dublin city so get out there and enjoy them. Although there’s no more football of much significance for the Summer, that performance by Barcelona on Saturday will live long in the memory. A great report from the Guardian is here

- Brian

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“I am happy and excited to join the team at Lifescience principally as a managing consultant in the Engineering and Contract engineering arena. I have 15 years experience working in the engineering field in Europe and the US. I have also 4 years experience recruiting for the engineering sector in Ireland. My educational background is in Business Administration qualified through the Dublin Institute of Technology.  My feet are under the desk here in Lifescience and will be throwing myself headlong into the business and wilol be looking for good, solid and experienced engineers.”

You can link up with Stephen on LinkedIn here

Here’s a breakdown of what we’re working on:

I’m currently busy with a number of Sales role:
Sales & Service Specialist. A global healthcare company want someone with high-end business experience from a clinical environment. Previous sales experience essential.

Reg & QA Exec. Small Dublin-based start-up. Huge potential, experience in QA, and Reg with knowledge of GCP, GLP, GMP and ISO 9001 essential

We’ve got a couple of exclusive Telehealth roles for the experienced IT professional. Previous healthcare experience preferred. Based in Dublin:
Snr Enterprise Architect
Systems / Business Analyst
there’s also a PHP Developer for a great north Dublin-based company, this is an urgent fill. Salary max €40k.

Within Medical Devices, James is on the lookout for:
6 month validation contract in Midlands, Snr PD Engineer for a start up in Galway. There is also a Snr QA Engineer, strong design assurance needed for both roles.

Finally Eamonn is searching for a Health Economist, a Renal Nurse and an Orthopaedic Sales Specialist

Jamie and Gab are working on some exciting new sites, recent launches include the client-focussed ScienceRecruitmentAgency.ie and the re-launch of the new LifeScience.ie site. We’re very happy with how they look, we hope you like them!

Outside of these walls, we’re looking forward to a Spring and Summer of sport. Jamie and James have started playing matches as the weather is better (never ask if they win is a rule of thumb) and I’m running the Barcelona marathon on Sunday 6th March. Also in the process of organising a Malin to Mizen relay over the May BH weekend. In aid of Crumlin childrens hospital. Like the FB page here!

-Brian (brian.c at lifescience.ie)

Endurance Corner, a great blog aimed towards endurance athletes, wrote a great piece on “Big Jobs“. Gordo says that the only way you can really achieve anything worthwhile in your career is by working very hard and focusing on the task in hand.
That post was inspired by a great piece by James Michener, the US author. Written in 1962, it focuses on achievement / hard work and how education should never stop.

So what does all this mean in the context of recruitment?
The people we place in jobs often behave in a similar very way. Although it’s only gives a snapshot of what people are like in general, we find that people who excel at interview are the ones who prepare best, who put genuine effort into research companies and people and who convey a genuine enthusiasm at interview. They’re the ones who communicate a lot with us (sometimes over-communicate!) and call us up straight after interviews. They pressure us to work for them, and in turn we convey their urgency to the Client. If there is any way you can attend an interview when asked to then do – they’re SCARCE and shouldn’t be taken for granted!
We can allude to numerous examples of this during our day-to-day: There was a candidate who showed great enthusiasm to attend an interview on the other side of the country during the Big Freeze. The Client told him not to risk it, but he eventually he got the job when they met as the Client could see the opportunity meant so much to him. I can allude to countless other examples whereby a Client’s attitude towards a candidate has been coloured by their enthusiasm and general vibe during the whole interview process.

Be proactive and enthusiastic when speaking to us and companies, it will rub off on the people you speak to who will then associate you with positivity.
If a company wants you to do a presentation with only 24 hours notice – do it. If you do a great job the time constraints will impress them even more. On the other hand, you could easily be exposed to a situation like this in the day – to – day run of business so it’s a good test from the Client’s viewpoint.

As always we’d like to hear thoughts you have on this – Brian (brian dot c at lifescience dot ie)

This is a super tool which we’ve started using in here. As you’ll know, we are huge fans of LinkedIn. For people with a slightly larger online footprint (blog, facebook, contact details etc.) there is a super new site called http://About.me. Recently launched, if you register now you should be able to get a good username. It’s a 1 page site which will allow you to write a profile of yourself, picture, and various links – in one handuy location.

On a CV it can save a lot of room, theoretically you could just provide this page instead of email / address / LinkedIn profile etc. As an added bonus to users, there is an analytics tool, so you can see page views by date.

My own page is here, and our IT-guru-in-chief Gab’s is here

What do you think of the site? Let us know if you sign up!

-Brian