Pharma giant MSD has strong recruitment plans for the rest of the year, aiming to fill 200 roles across its four Irish sites.
As part of its ongoing recruitment plans, MSD is looking to fill 200 roles across its four Irish sites by the end of the year.
The pharma giant is looking to hire in the areas of engineering, quality control, environmental health safety and operations, with positions divided evenly across MSD’s manufacturing operations in Carlow, Cork, Dublin and Tipperary.
Despite Covid-19 causing massive upheaval in most industries, the pharma sector has found itself in a strong position due to demand in manufacturing and supply chain.
A report from Morgan McKinley this morning (25 June) claimed that pharma, medtech and healthcare are among the sectors performing positively throughout the crisis in terms of jobs and salaries.
MSD has announced hundreds of roles in Ireland over the last number of years through new facilities and site expansions. In 2017, the pharma company announced 330 jobs in Cork and Carlow as part of a massive €280m expansion. The following year brought 350 jobs to Dublin as MSD built its new biotech plant and the company also announced 170 roles for a new standalone manufacturing plant in Carlow.
According to The Irish Times, MSD spoke about its continuing recruitment plans in an update on the progress of the biotech plant the company is building on its site in north Dublin.
Managing director of MSD Human Health Ger Brennan said the company is “on track” with its plans for the Irish sites and will be looking for candidates from outside the pharma sector as well as inside the industry.
“Engineering, quality and operations skills and knowledge that have been honed in other industries are increasingly transferable,” he said. “We would encourage those interested in playing a significant role in responding to the world’s unmet health needs to get in touch.
“Throughout the Covid-19 crisis, MSD along with others in the pharmaceutical industry were fully focused on ensuring our essential manufacturing operations continued, so that critical medicines and vaccines were manufactured for use at home and abroad.
“This contribution will be more critical now than ever and we have a host of open roles across our operations.”
Recruiting remotely
Earlier this year, MSD’s talent acquisition lead, Marie Cullen, spoke to Siliconrepublic.com about the company’s efforts to continue recruiting remotely while Covid-19 restrictions were in place.
Although the company was already familiar with working and hiring remotely to some degree before Covid-19, Cullen said it’s important that candidate experiences “stay the same, even in the current situation”. She said MSD wants its recruitment process and experience to be as easy as possible for candidates and hiring managers alike.
“We ensure our hiring managers are set up for success in advance by coordinating closely with them regarding how the selection process will work and the various stages that need to be conducted online. It is an adjustment for everyone, but we have developed a number of creative solutions to overcome any challenges that arise.”
