Programme
Wednesday 21 November, 7PM, Agriculture and Food Science Centre, UCD

Session 1 (7 - 7.45PM)
Michael O'Leary, Head of Human Resources, Glanbia Agribusiness

Session 2 (8.00 PM - 9.20PM)
Joanne Hurley - Business Manager - Equine Nutrition, Gain Horse Feeds
John Murray - Protein Buyer - Superquinn
Fabian Ward - Embryologist, Assisted Conception Unit, Clane Hospital.

Session 1 - Cover Letters, CVs and Interview Skills

Michael O'Leary, Head of Human Resources, Glanbia Agribusiness Click here for full presentation.
Michael became a Bachelor of Business studies from the University of Limerick back in 1997. He began working with Glanbia as a Graduate Recruitment Officer and quickly moved on to become the HR Manager for Group IT. In 2003 Michael was promoted again to become the HR Manager for Consumer Foods and in 2005 he was made the Head of Human Resources for the Agribusiness section. He has responsibility for selection, training and development, health and safety, change management, employee relations and succession planning.

Session 2 - Career Paths

The second session of the forum then went on to look at different career paths and the various routes recent agricultural science graduates had taken.

Joanne Hurley - Business Manager - Equine Nutrition, Gain Horse Feeds
Joanne graduated with an honours degree in Animal Science from UCD in 2001. After completing her degree she spent some time on a thoroughbred stud farm in Kentucky before returning to Ireland to complete a research masters in 'Animal Nutrition and Production'. Through this work and her own interests in horses she was guided toward the equine feed industry. She has just joined Gain Horse Feeds, as Business Manager, from Gowla Premium Horse Feeds where she also held the position of Business Manager for over 2 years. She gives technical support to customers and sales teams, quality control (monitoring quality, working with key members of staff on a continual basis), new product development, sponsorship and promotion, sales.

John Murray - Protein Buyer - Superquinn
John graduated in 2003 and began working immediately with Kepak as a trainee Production Manager. After spending a seven months with Kepak, John moved on to Bord Bia to become a Business Researcher. He held two other positions during his two year stint with Bord Bia and they were market Specialist for Retail Meat in Ireland and Market Specialist for Retail Meat in the UK. He began working with Superquinn in July 2007 and his role encompasses a lot of other duties including store operations, promotions planning and training over the areas of seafood, bacon & ham, poultry, partially breakfast meats. John also holds a Professional Diploma in Marketing, from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.

Fabian Ward - Embryologist, Assisted Conception Unit, Clane Hospital.
Fabian graduated in 1998 from UCD. He went straight on to do PhD in UCD entitled 'the use of ovum pick-up in association with in vitro maturation fertilisation and culture as an aid to improving reproduction in cattle'. After finishing his doctorate in 2003 Fabian went on to work for Dairygold AI station in Mallow. In 2003 he went back to study a post doctorate in UCD on predicting fertility of animals by using ultrasound and measuring FSH concentrations during the oestrus cycle. Since January 2006, Fabian has been working as an Embryologist in the Assisted Conception Unit of Clane General Hospital. He is currently taking the ACE certification (Association of Clinical Embryologists).