Make the move to medical engineering today

The sustained growth of the medical engineering sector in Ireland during the last twenty years has been nothing short of phenomenal.

While all major industries in Ireland suffered major setbacks due to the severity of the economic recession since 2008, the medical device sector continued to flourish against the odds.

Today, more than 25,000 people are employed in the medical engineering sector countrywide, making Ireland the largest employer for medtech professionals in Europe per capita.

Some 15 of the world’s top 25 medical device companies have strategic locations in Ireland, resulting in the country being Europe’s leading location for the manufacture of medical technologies and a globally recognised centre of excellence.

Similarly, 19 of the world’s 20 top pharma companies are based in Ireland, with in excess of 50,000 skilled professionals working in the sector.
The sustained growth of these sectors has led many engineers specialists to make the move to medical engineering. The good news is that medical and pharmaceutical industries are increasingly looking for potential employees outside of their markets.

Now is a great time to consider joining the Medical Device sector if you have experience within other regulated industries. There are many transferrable skills which make Engineers with Automotive, Electronic, Aerospace, Food and Electronics really desirable to the Medical Device sector. These include but are not limited to Process Improvement, Problem Solving( Eg: DMAIC), Troubleshooting, Validation and Lean Six Sigma .

Moving across sectors is a great way of broadening your horizons, gaining valuable experience, exposing yourself to new challenges, and increasing your employability, all while working on exciting new projects.

There are many more reasons influencing this shift. From a job satisfaction perspective, the skilled professionals in medical and pharmaceutical sectors are responsible for producing of a plethora of devices designed to improve the standard of life of their users.

Examples include but are not limited to devices such as pacemakers, defibrillators, artificial organs, limb prosthetics, hearing implants, MRI machines, ultrasound equipment and x-ray imaging devices.

There is, therefore, a huge humanistic draw to the profession, whereby medical engineers can literally say that they work they undertake both improves and saves lives.

Exports of medical devices and diagnostic products now represent eight per cent of Ireland’s total merchandise exports. The continued work of IDA Ireland is ensuring that more and more of these companies are choosing to invest in Ireland.

Added to all of this, pharmaceutical and medical device companies are consistently ranked among the best employers in the country, with a reputation for treating their employees well, offering excellent salaries and benefits, and providing a rewarding environment to work in.

For more information on the job opportunities in medical engineering, contact Hero Recruitment Galway on (091) 730022; Cork on (021) 2066287; Dublin on (01) 6190279. Visit www.hero.ie or find Hero Recruitment on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.