The research sent investigators into 101 pharmacies in the UK to ask about a range of issues from contraception, migraine and travellers diarrhoea.  The advice varied from the giving of inappropriate medicines to missing quite serious illness and indeed saying nothing at all!

‘Which’ also checked four online chemist and found that one of them sold an illegal quantity of paracetamol, selling 160 when the maximum legal amount is 100.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society accepted it needs to improve the quality of medical sales in the UK but also commented that it was pleased with it’s progress since the last ‘which’ report in 2004, since which it has encouraged the addition of private consultation areas in many pharmacies in the UK.

Overall, the Times report on the top 100 graduate employers was surprisingly optimistic for 2009 with over t half the employers expecting their graduate recruitment schemes to remain at the same level.

In particular, rises were expected in the armed forces (12%) and the public sector (20%).  Also, graduate recruitment schemes will  be offering more money with the average salary rising to £27, 000.  The top salary reported was from Aldi, offering some £40,000 for graduates.

Is there a silver lining if you are a recruitment agency in what appears to be a very dark cloud?  Well Phil Hadley certainly thinks so, managing director of Intapeople in South Wales.

They have reported a 19% growth in their business with plans to expand their team of consultants from 27 to 40 in the next 12 months.  Handley explains that the generalist recruitment agency is suffering a reduced demand for the general workforce.  However, in hard times, demand for high skilled specialised staff is greater than ever.  Intapeople are reporting a 60% increase in demand for engineers this year.

I guess we are all lulled into the gloom by the depression hungry media, stopping many from looking further for the business that is certainly out their.  If this recruitment agency is anything to go by, perhaps recruitment agencies should be thriving helping firms find the right people to get through the economic crisis.

The medical sales industry has always been surrounded by a web of ethics.  In amongst that was the clear principle that the industry should never directly access the patient due to the ethics that would arise from this.

This is all due to change now under new EU law allowing medical sales companies to advertise prescription medicines direct to patients.  The immediate concern in the UK is that the drugs spend could soar as patients demand treatments they have only been made aware of by advertising campaigns. The concern of pharmaceuticals is that it introduces an enormous potential for the need to compete for air time with patients, which will be costly.

If there is any consolation for medical sales companies, the same change occurred 10 years ago in the USA.  Their subsequent spend on advertising was vast, billions, only to be shown in research much later to be completely in effective!  Given this, it’s possible companies may choose not to bother at all!

It’s welcome research for Bath University which will have employers clambering after it’s students to fill their graduate jobs.  The research concludes a number of factors could lead to their increased employability, such as work placement schemes in both companies and abroad.

Also, Bath has invested millions in superb sports facilities attracting many of the UKs sporting elite.  the sporting elite tend to be people who are both dedicated and committed to achieving as well as often developing superior social skills as a result of years of attracting ‘additional’ attention at the hands of their success.

Whatever the causes, it’s only likely to make the University more attractive and more competitive to would be students who will know that the graduate jobs market is getting ever tougher.

It seems that recruitment agencies have higher numbers of graduates than normal to help, as many are looking to move away from the private sector in search of security in other areas such as the charity sector.

Natasha Waas, a director of People unlimited explains that the moves aren’t as straight forward as many graduates may think.  Many incorrectly assume that their degree is a ticket to a job in a sector which they perceive as a soft touch.  However, just like any other sector, recruitment agencies and companies alike are looking for experience and a genuine match of skills and back gournd.

Consequently, recruitment agencies are having to invest time to manage the expectations of many graduates.

The company has had to sustain job cut after job cut in it’s medical sales teams in an industry which only appears to be shrinking at present.  However, a new report brings a sigh of relief to it’s medical sales teams, and indeed other sales teams in the Statin market in the UK.

The report concludes that there is no risk between the use of cholesterol lowering drugs, Statins and cancer.  In the last 5 years, many statin drugs have been ‘blockbuster drugs worth millions due to their ability to lower cholesterol and reduce the risks of heart attacks.  Had research shown that there was a link it would have been a killer blow to the medical sales industry.

It’s welcome news for graduates everywhere as they have watched graduate vacancies fall across many companies and sectors.  The banking sector has, in particular suffered a loss of their graduate recruitment schemes and, of course, in some cases the bank has gone altogether.

Tesco offer a range of graduate vacancies in HR, Legal, supply chain and products development with salaries starting at £22,500.  They have recently recruited 250 graduates who will be trained across 15 training courses.  Given that they employ some 60, 000 students they have substantial loyalty among the student population, with overall graduate vacancies falling they should have access to the very best of the talent available.

While the city was suffering the biggest blow of the year with 4000 jobs lost in the blink of an eye, graduate recruitment agencies and headhunters were setting up in nearby coffee shops to try and help workers pick up the pieces.

There was a mixture of anger and shock as workers could be seen leaving clutching belongings.  The anger stems from an apparent missed opportunity last week when senior directors turned down an opportunity to sell and save the company, allegedly holding out for more money only to fail.  There are still 1000 workers left in High Wycombe although these are expected to be lost soon as well.

The law firm has just completed research looking at 1400 employers in the UK.  The results show that three out of every four employers are freezing their internal recruitment in response to the credit crunch.  Employers simply don’t know what shape they will need to be to survive beyond the present situation, so anything other essential recruitment may simply be a wasted effort.

The trends will now surely hit recruitment agencies everywhere, who to date, appear not to have suffered the current climate in the same way as many other industries.   If these figures are consistent it will leave recruitment agencies fighting over a much smaller pool of vacancies, ultimately it will leave agencies also having to look at their own structure and consider redundancies.

The headache is multiplied for employers and recruitment agencies by the fact that employment law in respect of redundancies is more complex than ever.  Mistakes in redundancy process can prove very costly at times when additional costs will not help any recovery.