Why become a Locum Pharmacist with Excel Recruitment

Posted on | by Editorial Team

Think working as a locum Pharmacist isn’t for you? From 1 or 2 days of cover to longer-term bookings, locum work is as diverse a career as our pharmacists and clients are. Being a locum pharmacist means whatever you want it to mean for you and your life. Still not convinced? Our Pharmacy consultant Barbara Kelly tells us just why a Locum career with Excel Recruitment should be your next step….

Weekly pay
The major difference in locuming with Excel compared to with others? Weekly pay. Our vast experience providing temporary staff in all sectors means we manage the logistics and admin of getting you paid for your hard work seamlessly. Rather than waiting and having to keep track of all your hours over the month yourself, with Excel you get paid for your shifts the following week.
Control

Being a locum gives you back control over your career and working life. In Excel, you work with our consultants, letting them know where and when you want to work, what you enjoy – and what you don’t. All while letting them take care of the details to get you working. Rates and working hours are agreed before you start any shifts, which means you choose the pharmacies that suit you best, can plan your work around other life commitments or take last-minute shifts, only if and when they suit.

Flexibility

As we said earlier, as an Excel locum pharmacist you choose what your work life and your schedule look like. Work patterns can vary as much or as little as you want, and most importantly is this is never set in stone. Want to work full-time this month and then only weekends next month? Have a young family or studying for a masters or PhD? As long as you communicate what you’re looking for with your consultant, you can work as much as you want, in whatever schedule suits your personal/ home life and take as many holidays as you wish!

Knowledge

A common misconception about locum work is that there is no time to grow your knowledge. The opposite is true. The knowledge and experience you gain as a locum is something you can’t get anywhere else. Working as a locum means, you can work in such a wide variety of different location and be exposed to different environments, customer profiles, ailments, team environments and management styles. Experiencing such a variety can come in really handy experience when making future career choices and it also allows you to better network and make connections. Above all, stepping outside what you’re used to, lets you become a more rounded and ultimately, better pharmacist.

If you have any Pharmacy recruitment requirements or are a Pharmacy professional considering a new job, get in touch with Barbara today at barbara@excelrecruitment.com or call 01-8148747. View our live Pharmacist jobs here

 

Keeping Your Goals on Track

Posted on | by Editorial Team

Setting realistic objectives and keeping your goals on track throughout your career is vital to achieving meaningful progress in any industry. CEO of Excel Recruitment Barry Whelan discusses…

If you have a career, you should have a career goal. Career goals are a great way to keep you focused and on track to achieve your full potential and personal ambitions.

So what is a career goal?

Career goals are the set of steps along the career ladder of your chosen profession that take you through the journey of your career. Like any journey, there is a start, a finish and stops along the way. Career goals are simply markers that keep you focused and make sure that you are going in the right direction and if not, help identify the issue and how to get back on track. Every employee or jobseeker should define their career goals clearly. It helps you pinpoint effective action plans and to keep focused on the direction of your career.

How to set career goals

Career goal setting is an easy process. Think of them as a set of targets best split between short-term targets and long-term. Take for example, that you decided at the age of 18 that you want to be the sales manager of a large company. Your career goal is set, now you need to follow the steps to get to that position. Your targets can then be focused on: you may need a strong Leaving Cert, then to complete a good business degree before joining the workforce in a junior sales role, whilst supplementing your education with a post-grad which may then help facilitate a move to a larger sales organisation in a role that allows for progression to the level you are looking to reach.

These are short-term and long-term career goals. The teenager’s long term goal is to become the manager of a company. To get there, he needs to achieve his short-term goals, which include passing his school and college exams, gaining experience by working for a related company and boosting his experience and skills through further studies. Short-term goals are those that can be achieved within six months to three years. It may take three to five years or more to achieve long-term goals. Defining your career goals is just half the battle. You must then do the work to accomplish the goals you have set. If you don’t map out your goals properly, it will be harder to achieve them. When setting career goals, try this twist on ‘SMART’ goal setting! Instead of the usual: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound, today we are opting for:

Specific

What does career success mean to you? What is it that you want to achieve? Do you want to be a CEO or to achieve financial freedom or do you want a job that affords you the best possible work/ life balance? Everyone is different. Be specific.

Measurable

Time-bind your career goals. This is the best way to keep them on track. For instance, if it takes four years to complete your degree, four years is your goal. Once you can attain the short-term goals within the set timeframe, you are on the right path to achieving your ultimate goal.

Avoid negativity

A goal must be something that an individual wants rather than something they want to avoid. Don’t focus on leaving a particular job or position within the next five years. Instead, aim for where you want to be and plan what you can do to get there.

Realistic

While a career goal should be a challenge, it must also be something you can achieve.

Tie actions to each goal

For each set goal, a person needs to take certain measures to achieve it. List each goal and the different activities that are needed to achieve that goal to make achieving it easier.

Temp Workers

Hiring a Temp for Office, Admin or Finance jobs: Why bother?

Posted on | by Editorial Team

Divisional Manager Ciara Connolly who oversees our accounting, finance and office support divisions addresses some of misconceptions businesses may have about hiring a temp.

Obviously, as a recruitment agency specialising in temporary recruitment, we love temps. But as our temp division has grown across office support, accounting and finance alongside healthcare, catering and industrial, we have encountered many businesses who initially can’t see how temps can benefit their business. Well, I’m here to tell you how!

Business peaks and pits

Every business experiences peaks in demand or the need to cover absences, now more than ever! With higher numbers of staff having to quarantine due to contracting Covid or being a close contact, employers are left with the headache of how to quickly fill such short-term gaps. Outside of filling absences, with the wider market so difficult to predict, it makes sense for a business to utilise short-term hirings for busy periods and short term projects. With no-one knowing quite what the next few weeks/months look like in terms of restrictions, engaging with a temp workforce is ideal. It gives employers the freedom to scale staff levels up and down as requirements shift in the current global climate.

React quickly

98% of all temporary bookings are filled within a 24-hour turnaround, making it an ideal in the present climate as restrictions change quickly and staff may be unavailable at short notice. But with Excel, you don’t just get staff quickly, you get qualified staff quickly. Whether its accounts or administration staff with strong excel or sage experience or temporary workers already set up to work from home if your office is currently closed, tell us what you need and when you need it. The rest is up to us to deliver. And we do.

Honeymoon period

Having the ability to pick up the phone and get qualified, professional staff at short notice in fantastic for any business but temp staffing also works as a longterm hiring tool. By using temps, it allows you to identify talented staff that fit well within your company culture without undertaking a lengthy recruitment drive. Temp working allows employers and candidates alike to see if there is a good fit before committing to a permanent role.

Here at Excel Recruitment, we are a leading provider of flexible temporary staff. Contact Ciara Connolly, Divisional Manager on 045 397142 or email ciara@excelrecruitment.com to discuss your temporary staffing needs in administration, accounting, finance and customer support.

Agency workers prop up healthcare system, only to be forgotten at vaccine time

Posted on | by Editorial Team

To begin by stating the obvious: COVID is still with us and in the words of the WHO’s David Nabarro; “This pandemic is nowhere near finished”. That being said, the promise of further vaccine arrivals over the coming months has provided hope of a more stable ‘new normal’. The focus of the conversation is now turning to how we compensate our front line workers for what they have gone through over the past twelve months and the challenges that they will continue to face for the foreseeable future.

But what was noticeably missing from any of the conversations has been the role of agency care assistants, nurses and doctors. When the vaccine rollout began at the start of the year, no-one, including the HSE, could give agency staff a definitive answer as to where and when they could access their vaccines. Private care homes presumed the HSE would oversee it, the HSE possibly presumed the private care homes would oversee it and all the while the staff, the very people who have been on the frontlines of tackling COVID and protecting our most vulnerable citizens since the beginning, were left in limbo. This is despite several attempts by our management to engage directly with the HSE on this matter.

Unfortunately, this is nothing new nor is the negative press so often associated with agency front line workers. Healthcare professionals often choose the agency route to pick up some extra work but most find temporary shifts because it suits their lifestyle as they are unable to commit to a permanent job and schedule due to family or other commitments. But they have the same professional requirements, dedication and compassion and are regulated in the same way.

Recently, in a briefing for the Cabinet Committee on Covid-19, the HSE warned it may be unable to provide any more public health service staff to private nursing homes if they’re hit by new outbreaks of coronavirus. But this isn’t how healthcare units have been managing in real-time. In truth, it is no exaggeration to say agency staff have played a vital role in maintaining the entire country’s healthcare system both private and public since last March.

Agency support staff were often those called into facilities during the darkest periods of outbreaks, covering the provider’s own staff who were out due to being a close contact or having contracted the virus themselves. We are incredibly humbled by the agency nurses and carers who have willingly put themselves into difficult situations and moving on to do the same in a new nursing home once the outbreak had abated and permanent staff had returned to work. There have been so many frontline workers who have pulled us through the pandemic and the contribution of agency healthcare staff across many disciplines cannot be overlooked.

Ask yourself this question how many more lives would have been lost and how could our health system have coped without the tens of thousands of agency healthcare workers and recruiters that have worked tirelessly since this pandemic started?

Recruiter

Excel launch new Finance & Office division led by Ciara Connolly

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Excel Recruitment is delighted to welcome Ciara Connolly to the Excel team as Divisional Manager leading our new specialised Accountancy, Finance and Office Support recruitment division.

Who is Ciara Connolly?

Ciara is a fantastic addition to our team, boasting over 10 years’ experience recruiting at all levels in her chosen specialisms. Ciara is highly skilled in account management with vast experience in managing high volume temporary, permanent and specialist recruitment projects across a large number of public and private sector clients. She has a proven track record in sourcing and placing hard-to-find candidates from Accounts Assistants to Executive level.

So why a specialised division? And why now?

Excel Recruitment has a rich history of recruiting accounting, finance and office support talent of all levels for our clients since our beginning. 2020 despite its difficulties, or maybe because of them, saw these needs continue while also creating new needs for more elasticity within our clients’ workforce. The world’s on-going uncertainties mean our clients need more flexibility to scale staffing up and down as required and now more than ever need to be able to rely on efficient, knowledgeable and effective recruitment partners.

That is what Excel has always provided. Our new Finance & Office division just takes it one step further.

CEO Barry Whelan says “The move to a defined specialist division will allow our team to concentrate specifically on accounting, finance and office support cross any industry. It gives us greater focus and scope to recruit permanent roles along with providing contract and even temporary personnel solutions. The team are empowered with even greater search and selection capabilities allowing them to ‘Place Great People with Great Companies’

Ciara brings a credible and deep understanding and insight to her clients and candidates alike. Are you are a client looking to hire on either a temporary or permanent basis? Are you a candidate looking for your next dream role? Contact Ciara today on ciara@excelrecruitment.com or call Ciara 045 397142 or our Dublin office on (01) 871 7676.

SuperValu Blanchardstown’s Jamie Caffrey named National Grocery Retail Manager of the Year 2020

Posted on | by Editorial Team

Now in their 15th year, the ShelfLife Grocery Management Awards once again recognised individual management excellence in the grocery sector and honoured the talent in each department that make up our supermarkets and convenience stores.

While the standard of entrants was as high as ever, this year’s ceremony marked a break from tradition due to COVID-19. Broadcast virtually live from the RDS, the audience tuned in to watch MC, RTE’s Karina Buckley, announce the winners of the ShelfLife Grocery Management Awards. After a year like no other, the nation’s gratitude to our retailers was expressed by Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, who said “I wanted to congratulate you on your achievement but I also wanted to thank you…. I want you to know when we thank the frontline heroes throughout 2020, that includes the people working in grocery, that includes the people working in our petrol stations, in our convenience stores, in our supermarkets. The people who got up every morning and looked after us.”

The night’s biggest award, Supreme Champion for 2020 was awarded to Jamie Caffrey of SuperValu Blanchardstown with the judges praising Caffrey and her achievements, “Our winner has spent the last 18 months making the store more customer-friendly, more profitable and a more enjoyable place to work.” Excel Recruitment’s own Nikki Murran summed up Jamie as “a trailblazer in the world of grocery retail,” having started in the retail trade at only 16 and at only 23, having already been promoted to store manager.

Excel Recruitment is proud to be involved with the GMAs since the award’s beginning. We would like to thank everyone who entered the awards in what has been a strange and challenging year and say a huge congratulations to all 15 deserving winners.

Delicatessen / Food to Go Manager of the Year

Linda O’Sullivan,
Eurospar Cobh,
Co. Cork

Cash & Carry Manager of the Year

Tom Ryan,
Value Centre,
Hebron Road,
Co. Kilkenny

Off-Licence Manager

Shane McNulty,
SuperValu Ballinteer,
Dublin 16

Protein/Provisions Manager

Jason Mc Donagh,
SuperValu Lucan,
Co. Dublin

HR Manager of the Year

Carley Dennan,
SuperValu,
Blackrock,
Co. Dublin

Brand Marketing Team

Premier Lotteries

Small C-Store Manager of the Year

Rebecca Murphy,
Herlihy’s Centra Grand Parade,
Co.Cork

Medium C-Store Manager of the Year

Alan O’Donnell,
Daybreak Cahir,
Co. Tipperary

Large C-Store Manager of the Year

Briege O’Kane,
Top Oil Newhall,
Naas,
Co. Kildare

Small Forecourt Manager of the Year

David Martin,
Mace,
Glanmire,
Co. Cork

Large Forecourt Manager of the Year
Ian Leahy

Maxol Ballincollig,
Co. Cork

Supermarket Manager of the Year (Small)

Tanya McGarry,
Charlesland,
Greystones,
Co. Wicklow

Supermarket Manager of the Year (Mid-Large)

Doug Thompson,
SuperValu
Sundrive,
Dublin 6

Retail Team of the Year

Londis St. James Hospital, Dublin 8

Supreme Champion

Jamie Caffrey,
SuperValu,
Blanchardstown,
Dublin

Grocery Management Awards 2020 Shortlist

Posted on | by Editorial Team

We are excited to reveal the shortlisted nominees for the 2020 Shelflife Grocery Management Awards!

The ShelfLife Grocery Management Awards 2020 are now in their 15th year and Excel Recruitment is proud to have been involved since the beginning. Despite the uncertainty of this year, the team have adapted the judging process and ceremony to continue honouring the Irish grocery retail sector, in a year where the sector’s importance has been highlighted to everyone. As usual, the standard of entries was exceptionally high, showcasing the talent, creativity and diligence within grocery retail management.

This year’s Grocery Management Awards gala ceremony takes place on 10 December and will be broadcast live from the RDS in Dublin. Check out the list of shortlisted nominees below.

 

Retail Team of the Year 2020

Sponsored by BRANDHUB

XL Shop at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9
Daybreak Dungarvan, Co. Waterford
Herlihys Centra, Fermoy, Co. Cork
SuperValu Castletroy, Limerick
Londis James Hospital, Dublin 8
SuperValu Walkinstown, Dublin 12
SuperValu Blackrock, Co. Dublin
SuperValu Northside, Dublin 17

Delicatessen/Food to Go Manager

Helen Taylor, Daybreak Dungarvan, Co. Waterford
Eoin Crosbie, Crosbie’s Daybreak Irishtown, Athlone, Co Westmeath
Annah Yesayan, Herlihy’s Centra, Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork City
Zlata Vacova, Herlihy’s Centra Grand Parade, Cork City
Jason Plazo, Griffins Londis Grafton Street, Dublin 2
Tina Delaney, Daybreak, Portlaoise, Co. Laois
Aiden Sheahan, Corrib Oil Tralee, Co. Kerry
Claire Dineen, Daybreak Clerihan, Co. Tipperary
Lestor Valencia, Griffin’s Londis Carmnhall Rd., Sandyford, Dublin 18
Tomislav Dobrijevic, Griffins Londis, Parkwest, Dublin 12
Joe Canning, SuperValu Sundrive, Dublin 6
Linda O’Sullivan, Eurospar Cobh, Co. Cork
Aoife O Hara, Herlihy’s Patricks Street, Fermoy, Co. Cork

Cash & Carry Manager

Sponsored by BAT

Winner announced at the show

Off-Licence Manager of the Year

Sponsored by Bibendum Ireland

Shane McNulty, SuperValu Ballinteer, Dublin 16
Denise Cummins, Herlihy’s Centra, Patrick’s Street, Fermoy, Cork
Robert Mooney, SuperValu Sutton Cross, Dublin 13

Protein/Provisions Manager of the Year

Sponsored by EIQA

Dominic Kelleher, Herlihy’s Centra, Fermoy, Cork
Jason Mc Donagh, SuperValu Lucan, Co. Dublin
Alan Curley, SuperValu Sutton Cross, Dublin 13

HR Manager of the Year

Sponsored by Excel Recruitment

Louise Kelly, Asia Market, Ballymount, Dublin 12
Carley Dennan, SuperValu, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
Jessica Maher, SuperValu, Lucan, Co. Dublin
Susan Doherty, Kelly’s Centra, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
Nichola Deere, Castletroy, Dublin Road, Co. Limerick
Janine McCormack, SuperValu, Sundrive, Dublin 12

C-Store Manager of the Year (Large)

Sponsored by PepsiCo

Sean Hennessy, Corrib Oil Tralee, Co. Kerry
Nick Ye, Londis DCU Glasnevin, Dublin 9
Martin Rodgers, Kelly’s Centra, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
Briege O’Kane, Top Oil Newhall, Naas, Co. Kildare

C-Store Manager of the Year (Mid-Size)

Colum Browne, XL Clogheen, Co. Tipperary
Aivars Mezapuke, Spar Caple St, Dublin 1
Alan O’Donnell, Daybreak Cahir, Co. Tipperary
Grainne Keating, Scully’s XL Daingean, Co. Offaly
Dean Hand, Daybreak Clerihan, Co. Tipperary
Simon McCarthy, Londis Fonthill, Dublin 22
Ger Kelly, Delaneys Mace Tuam Road, Co. Galway
Deirdre Stoneham, Londis Top Oil, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford

C-Store Manager of the Year (Small)

Eoin Crosbie, Daybreak Rustic Castlerea, Co. Roscommon
Raj Kodali, Herlihy’s Centra Patrick Street, Cork
Martina Webb, Londis St James Hospital, Dublin 8
Lucia Fitzpatrick, Spar Rathangan, Co. Kildare
Tony Geelan, Geelan’s XL, Waddington, Cleariestown, Co.Wexford
Rebecca Murphy, Herlihy’s Centra Grand Parade, Co.Cork
Jane Mooney, Smyth’s Daybreak, Williamstown, Co. Galway
Abdullah Saghir, Griffin’s Londis, 49 Grafton Street, Dublin 2
Imran Ishfaq, Griffin’s Londis, 14/15 Lower O’Connell Street, Dublin 2
Christopher Lane, Hanrahan’s Londis, The Faythe, Wexford town, Co. Wexford
Liam O’Brien, Kernan’s XL, Drumboy, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal

Forecourt Manager of the Year (Large)

Sponsored by Seattle’s Best

Denise Farrell, Mace Headford, Co. Galway
Brian Joyce, The Galway Plaza, Athenry, Co. Galway
Ian Leahy, Herlihy’s Maxol Service Station, Ballincollig Co. Cork

Forecourt Manager of the Year (Small)

Sponsored by Seattle’s Best

Pedro Gamelas, Daybreak Castletownbere, Co. Cork
Kevin Forde, Daybreak Dungarvan, Co. Waterford
Daniel Gherca, Daybreak Ballinalack, Co. Westmeath
Matthew Monaghan, XL Salthill, Co. Galway
David Martin, Mace, Glanmire, Co. Cork
Ela Oczachowska, Brackens Gala, Stradbally, Co. Laois

Supermarket Manager of the Year (Mid-Large)

Sponsored by Johnston Shopfitters

Chris O’ Driscoll, SuperValu Castletroy, Co. Limerick
Doug Thompson, SuperValu Sundrive, Dublin 6
Edgaras Stanius, SuperValu Walkinstown, Dublin 12
Jamie Caffrey, SuperValu, Blanchardstown, Dublin
David Howell – SuperValu Lucan, Co. Dublin

Supermarket Manager of the Year (Small)

Sponsored by Bank of Ireland

James Brennan, SuperValu Ranelagh, Dublin 6
Jonathan Mooney, Eurospar Dungarvan, Co. Waterford
Tanya McGarry, Charlesland, Greystones, Co. Wicklow
Tommy Murphy, Burkes Eurospar, Kinvara, Co. Galway
Shane Jones, Eurospar, Cobh, Co. Cork
Fintan Battles, Liddy’s Eurospar, Ennis, Co. Clare
Simon Champ, Herlihy’s, Fermoy, Co. Cork

Brand Marketing Team

Sponsored by BWG Foods

Premiere Lotteries
JTI/Logic
Fulfil
Heineken
Coca-Cola HBC Ireland

 

How, and why, to think long-term when hiring during post lockdown uncertainty

Posted on | by Editorial Team

As a country, we continue to balance the fight against COVID-19 with the fight to rebound against its effects on the economy. Businesses are also moving from focusing on operating safely to focusing on their longer-term goals; while still operating in an uncertain and constantly changing landscape. This leads many managers to question their strategies for hiring during post lockdown uncertainty.

What this means in recruitment terms, is that hiring someone new at any level is now a more important decision than ever. Even for business with bright long-term futures, the uncertainty that’s affecting the entire world has understandably hindered everyone’s ability to plan anything, from holidays to houses to new hires. Below are a few tips to ensure you maximise the effectiveness of your recruitment efforts for the long-term, even as things continue to change.

Take stock

Now more than ever it is crucial to be clear on the needs and goals of your business, and who you may need to hire to achieve these. Taking a step back and actively assessing your current team’s strengths and weaknesses can allow you to identify potential gaps in talent or assess whether it may be a simpler issue of retraining, motivating or even promoting your current team. By refocusing on the long-term vision for the business, as well as current needs rather than just making the quickest/ cheapest/ most convenient hire, you are less likely to make a potentially costly mistake.

Quality over quantity

An unfortunate fact of this pandemic is that more people from a wide range of industries are now looking for work. Many are looking for a change of sector, either temporarily until things return to normal or permanently. Open vacancies, including those that were headaches to fill just a few months ago, are now seeing a huge spike in applications. While this sounds great, shifting through unqualified or unsuitable candidates can be time-consuming, particularly if you’re not looking with a focused eye. While it is important to stay open-minded to transferable skills and experience, by building the profile of your ideal hire before you start recruiting, you’re less likely to waste on unsuitable CVs or make a snap decision on who to hire for the sake of speeding up the process.

Candidate experience

While we are no longer operating in the candidate’s market we were just a few short months ago, it is important to remember that to have high calibre staff, you must first attract a pool of high calibre candidates. While there are now more active jobseekers generally, grocery retail is still a competitive and thriving employment market and you want to ensure you’re attracting the best applicants possible.

Budgets are tighter and employers want to avoid having to offer candidates more and more money to entice them to move. But salary isn’t the be-all and end-all for candidates either. Factors such as commute, work/life balance, company culture and career progression are all still priorities to candidates regardless of COVID-19 and should be highlighted throughout the recruitment process.

Remember the soft skills

Although there is a lot to be positive about as the country returns to normal, there is still uncertainty around the economy with government guidelines being revised and reassessed as needed. As frontline workers during the entirety of lockdown, those working in the grocery industry know more than anyone how crucial it is to be able to react and pivot quickly, while simultaneously remaining welcoming and friendly to customers. Resilience, adaptability flexibility and positivity are qualities in your team and potential new staff that cannot be underestimated as we continue to learn how to operate in post lockdown life.

Purchasing, Procurement and Retail Buying Careers

Posted on | by Editorial Team

Our Recruitment Consultant Sarah recruits across Retail Head Office and Supply Chain and always gets questions from jobseekers about careers in Buying. In this video, she breaks down the difference between Buying, Purchasing and Procurement and the skills employers look for when recruiting each.