Careers and Jobs

We have been posting quite a bit recently about job loss and redundancy in Ireland. I guess this is what is making the headlines in the news. One cannot argue that we are facing a tough job market. Even “Comical Ali” could not deny this (Remember him – “What tanks?”).

There are opportunities in a difficult market. They may be more difficult to find but you have to believe they are there and put in the effort to find them. More often that not those who don’t achieve don’t believe. Remember if you believe that there are no jobs out there this will be your reality.

I have been working on quite a few projects with employees affected by redundancy in the past 12-18 months and I can tell you there have been many more positive stories than negative. Quite often many participants moved on to a better place. Some actually set up their own ventures.

It is important to understand that what worked in a buoyant market may not work in a tough market. There is much Career Guidance & Advice available. You must take this on board and change your strategies until you achieve your goals.

Take the 1st step today

Let’s look at some of the common problems faced by jobseekers.

1. Can’t find the jobs!! – You need to try out other job hunting strategies.

2. Not getting called for interview!! – You need to take a critical look at your CV & Cover Letter – CV Writing Tips– Cover Letter Tips

3. Failing at interview – Change your approach to interview preparation – Interview Tips Skills

Sun Microsystems announced on Friday that it will be cutting between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs globally which represents about 15% of its workforce. High loss has put the company under pressure to take these drastic changes. It is estimated that these job cuts would save the company about USD800m annually.

Careers & Jobs for all the latest jobs news in Ireland. Read recent stories about KOSTAL, BANTA GLOBAL & CITCO FUND SERVICES.

Careers & Jobs helping jobseekers achieve their career goals in Ireland. Read a recent post about Job Search Strategies. Help with CV’s, Cover Letters & Interviews – CV Writing Tips & Help, Cover Letters, Interview Tips Skills & Techniques and much more.

Career Coaching – Job Search Strategies from leading Career Consultant

There are many strategies to source new employment in any job Market. This article will outline some of the popular job search strategies and how to get the most out of these strategies. If you are searching for a new job then this article will help improve your efforts and results.

Online Job Boards – This is probably the most popular strategy for jobseekers to source new employment. The last decade has seen many job boards spring up as the popularity increases. The most popular job boards in Ireland include RecruitIreland, EmployIreland, IrishJobs and Monster. There are also niche job boards focusing on certain sectors including SalesJobs, AdminJobs.

How to get the best out of online job boards – Many of these sites make searching easy with job alert functions which will send you the latest relevant jobs. By all means use these tools but I recommend that you visit the site every 2/3 days anyway to do a manual search.

Newspaper Advertisements – Job advertisements in the local and national newspapers has witnessed a steady decline over the last few years with most newspapers increasing online presence with most owning the job boards. Having said this it is still important to review the national and regional papers. The most popular national newspapers include The Irish Independent on Thursday and The Irish Time on Friday.

How to get the best out of newspaper advertisements – There are no shortcuts when using newspapers and a job hunting strategy. I guess quantity is the important point here. If you are actively job hunting you need to look at the job advertisements whenever possible. Most people buy a paper each day but I would certainly recommend Irish Independent on a Thursday and Irish Times on a Friday.

Recruitment Agencies – Love them or hate them agencies play a very important function the job market placing thousands of jobseekers in new positions every year. There are approximately 400 recruitment agencies in Ireland recruiting staff across a variety of skills and industry sectors. Agencies range from the large household names to niche recruiters focusing on a particular sector or skill-set.

How to get the most out of recruitment agencies – The most important point when dealing with agencies is to identify the agencies that recruit for your skills. It can be confusing as there are 400 agencies in Ireland. Speak to friends, family or work colleagues to get recommendations. Alternatively another tip is to do a search on one of the outlined job boards and see what agencies are advertising similar jobs to those you would like. Once you have identified suitable agencies it is important to meet your recruitment consultant and build a relationship. You must also take a proactive approach and stay in touch BUT do not stalk your recruiter.

Networking – It is estimated that 50% of jobs are never advertised so if you are relying on job boards, newspapers and recruitment agencies you will not be accessing the “hidden job pool”. Networking is an excellent tool where you utilise your contacts in an effort to unearth and secure a new job.

How to get the most out of networking – Many jobseekers can find networking difficult and unnatural. It is a skill and can be learned. I recommend that you start with a familiar network such as friends, family and work colleagues as these are familiar names and faces. To extend this network you can attend work related or industry related networking opportunities. Remember

Speculative Applications – This strategy is normally at the bottom of the list because it involves the most work and feel like a waste of time. There is an element of luck but by initiating this activity you are actually creating your own luck. Speculative applications involve identify and targeting suitable companies or industry sectors that potentially require your skill-sets

How to get the most out of speculative applications – An important point with speculative applications is to start your search quite focused. Pick an ideal location and industry sector. Otherwise it can seem like a daunting task. When you approach companies try to speak with the relevant hiring manager before you email or post a CV. Remember try to target hiring or department managers directly and avoid HR.

Need a CAREER COACH or CAREER CONSULTANT? Contact Career Coach Ireland

Citco has announced that it will cut jobs in Ireland. Employee at their IFSC offices were told that jobs will be lost from next month. Citco provides administration services primarily to non-Irish funds and the company has 1,000 employees in Ireland between Dublin and Cork. We announced earlier this year that they would be creating new jobs in Cork. What a difference 6 months makes.

Citco had planned to grow its Cork city operations and allow the location to take responsibility for a wide range of additional activities. This expansion plans were supported by IDA Ireland and were to create 150 jobs over the next 3 years. This expansion is now in doubt with the job cuts announcement.

Irish operations make up more than a quarter of Citco’s overall workforce. Generally the sector, Fund Administration, accounts for 9000 jobs in Ireland.

County Cavan bucked the jobs trend this week when Pauwels Trafo Ireland announced that it will be creating 70 new jobs in Cavan Town. The 70 jobs will be “high quality jobs” and will be created over the next 2 years. These jobs come as part of a EUR12m investment to expand the manufacturing facility. Pauwels Trafo Ireland manufactures wind transformers for western European markets. The company is owned by Crompton Greaves which is one of India’s largest private sector firms. I guess this is Karma paying Ireland back for all the recent job loss to low cost economies like India.

Dublin also received good news when Microsol announced that is will be investing in R&D at its operation in Dublin. There was no mention of a figure but these are the high end announcements we want. Microsol is based in D2 and they supply state of the art control technology. Interestingly they are also owned by Crompton Greaves.

Another announcement which was not so good was the news released from Xerox. They will slash 3,000 jobs globally which could have a direct impact on jobs in Ireland.

Careers and Jobs a site dedicated to jobseekers and employers in Ireland. Job News, career coaching advice and much more.

The papers have been focusing on global financial jobs loss over the last few days with thousands more jobs lost as a result of financial sector meltdown. Back home there was also more negative job news

Hewlett Packard announced that it wants to cut 24,000 jobs globally which has increased uncertainty with its 4,000 employees in Ireland. HP employs 4,000 staff in Belfast, Dublin, Galway and Leixlip. The global job cuts will represent a 7.5% of its 178,000 global workforce. It is expected that most of these job cuts will come from EDS a recent acquisition. EDS employs 400 staff in Dublin.

250 jobs will go in Waterford with the news that buy-out talks for poultry firm Cappoquin have collapsed. This is a huge blow for the poultry industry in Ireland with the direct job loss and indirect impact on 50 producers for the firm in Munster.

Finally Tourmakeady in Co. Mayo had some bad jobs news when local firm Caideil MP Teoranta announced that it would be closing with the loss of 32 jobs.

Heed a career coach or interview coach in Ireland?

“There’s no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love. There is only a scarcity of resolve to make it happen.” – Wayne Dyer

Two of Ireland’s leading career experts will be launching a Career Workshop in October. Paul Mullan founder of Measurability & Jane Downes founder of Clearview Coaching Group will facilitate the workshop in Dublin. The final details will be released shortly.

Key focus for the workshop

- Career Direction – expert tools and advice to help provide career direction
- Action – Expert CV advice and job search strategies to help fulfill your career goals

About the Workshop Leaders

Paul Mullan is a leading Career Coach and successfully runs Measurability. He has vast experience across career coaching, assessment, HR and recruitment. Paul has helped many individuals find career direction, market themselves through impact CV’s and secure job offers through Interview Coaching. You will regularly read Paul’s Career Doctor articles in Irish Independent and expert career advice on RecruitIreland. Read Paul’s profile – Career Coach

Jane Downes is an established Coach working with individuals and companies throughout Ireland. Her company Clearview Coaching Group is an established brand. Jane is a career coaching expert for RecruitIreland and regularly comments on career matters in the national media. Read Jane’s profile.

For more information email info@measurability.ie or leave a comment

2008 Update – 132 people losing job on a daily basis

20,392 employees have been made redundant over the fist seven moths of 2008. This equates to a 36% increase on the same period last year. DETE figures released do not make happy reading for the government or workers in Ireland. More worrying was the fact that 3,914 of the redundancies came in July which is further proof that the job market is in freefall.

What surprised me was the breakdown of these figures. Much spin has been put on the fact that the construction sector has created most redundancies but 6,531 females have been laid of which was higher than I expected. 13,861 men were affected by redundancy.

So where are the redundancy black-spots?

It is no surprise that Dublin has suffered the greatest with 7,500 of the redundancies falling in this region. This was followed by Cork with 1,853 redundancies and in excess of 1,000 in Galway and Limerick. Other counties with significant redundancies included Louth with 698, Waterford with 844 and Kildare with 940. Further north Monaghan has suffer 403 redundancies so far this year.

SIEMENS CREATES 60 NEW JOBS IN CORK

Siemens has announced the creation of 60 new high-tech jobs in Cork with the news that it is expanding its IT Solutions and Services Division. These new jobs will bring the total employed in Cork to 330. Guess it seems that Ireland is an exception for the company as they are shedding over 12,000 jobs globally.

TYPETEC CREATES 15 NEW JOBS IN DUBLIN

IT managed services company Typetec has announced that it will be creating 15 new jobs in Dublin as they plan to expand their product range. Based in D12 the company currently has a headcount of 52.

ON SEMICONDUCTOR CREATES 49 NEW JOBS IN SHANNON

Shannon has witness a bad run of negative jobs announcements recently but ON Semiconductor has bucked this trend. They have announced that they will be creating 49 new jobs in Shannon. The company designs and manufactures data and power management chips and other semiconductor components.

MENTOR GRAPHICS CREATES 35 NEW JOBS IN SHANNON

Good news for Shannon part 2. Mentor Graphics has announced that it will be creating 35 new jobs at its facility in the Shannon. The firm is in the business of Electronic Design Automation developing hardware and software for wireless communications and internet network servers and other markets. Mentor Graphics currently employs 80 staff in Shannon.

If you need help to secure one of these jobs through career coaching, cv writing service or interview coaching then look no further.

Shannon and Dublin based Avocent International Ltd has announced that it will be cutting its Irish workforce by 64 as a result of restructuring. The IT company currently employs 167 staff in Ireland so staff numbers will drop to 103. The company specialises in IT infrastructure management and employs 1800 staff globally with clients including Boeing, Intel & Microsoft. Although 200 jobs will be lost globally Shannon will be the hardest hit.

These jobs will be lost to singapore with costs being cited as the main driver for the move. This latest news is another hammer blow to the region.

Affected by redundancy and need support? Visit these links for career coaching, interview coaching and cv writing service.