Careers and Jobs

Great news for the Connaught region with Thermo King announcing the creation of 19 new jobs. Thermo King designs and manufactures transport refrigeration equipment and currently employ 600 staff at its Galway city plant. Thermo King has been operating in Galway since 1976 so it is a well established employer in the region.

This new initiative will see Thermo King design and manufacture greener products for the EMEA markets. These environmentally friendly products will also be more cost efficient.

If you want to find information on these jobs why not view the website www.thermoking.com.

If I remember Celestica announced about 100 new jobs in Galway at the end of 2007 so this has been a positive period for Galway in the jobs front.

Careers and Jobs keep you informed about all new job announcements and loss in Ireland across all regions. The site also contains a vast amount of Career and Jobs advice to help you to find and secure a job in Ireland. We also recommend tools and services that can help you including recruitment agencies, online job boards, career coaches, CV services and interview coaches. Please view the rest of the site and recommend it to your friends.

There is much more to CV writing than simply listing everything you can about your work experience, education, skills and hobbies. It requires a focused approach putting more emphasis on the recruiter than you. 95% of all CV’s fail because they lack focus.

CV Format & CV Layout TIPS

You must avoid using the first person pronoun – Start sentences with action verbs or power verbs instead of first person pronoun. Examples of power verbs include; managed, developed, created and organised.

Keep your sentences short - CV’s need short, crisp statements and don’t get carried away. Remember that statements do not have to be complete sentences.

Use plain English – Don’t believe the urban myth that bigger words create a bigger impression. I saw a cover letter the other day with the word “sterling” and not used in the currency context.

Use bullet points – Bullet points make it easier for the reader. Paragraphs can be daunting. There are pro’s and con’s for both but my research with clients concludes that bullet points come out on top.

General to Specific – Organise you information that it flows from general to specific points.

This CV advice was provided by Measurability. Measurability writes CV’s for jobseekers at all levels of the organisation and across industry sector. Measurability write CV’s for clients nationwide Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan, Dublin, Meath, Louth, Kildare, Wexford, Wicklow, Carlow, Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Clare, Waterford, Galway, Sligo, Roscommon, Mayo, Leitrim, Kilkenny, Longford (and the other county I cannot seem to get – ha ha)

Following on from the post yesterday I have done a bit more research on how to find retail jobs in Ireland.

There are a few key agencies who recruit for retail jobs – Eden Recruitment, RightFit 4 Retail, Excel Recruitment, Star Retail. You can also get access to loads of jobs on the jobboards including EmployIreland and retailjobs365.

Remember my advice on the previous post. Visit shopping center websites as many of them see to advertise all open vacancies on their sites. I think this is a great idea BUT also a great resource if you seeking work in Retail in Ireland.

I pointed out Dundrum & Blanchardstown Shopping centres BUT there are many similar centres around Ireland. The Jervis Centre in D1 does not list jobs but it does list all the shops and contact details – missed opportunity I guess as these shops are probably paying elsewhere to find staff.

We post a variety of career and job advice on this site. We post about new job creation in Ireland but we also post the negative jobs news. Negative job news has been dominating the media in Ireland as there have been quite a few redundancies over the last 12-18 months. I have worked with many employees affected by redundancy and you would be surprised at the mixed reactions. The fact remains that redundancy can affect an individuals confidence and self esteem. If you have been affected by redundancy you can seek support of your own back BUT quite often companies will put supports in place. This is normally called “outplacement”.

How does outplacement help employees?

Basically outplacement consultants help employees to navigate the difficult waters post redundancy. Organisations normally offer staff outplacement support to help them transition into new employment, education or training.

Typically outplacement will be in 1-1 or workshop format. The agenda will cover areas such as support to move on from redundancy, career direction, career assessments, cv design, job search strategies, interview coaching and preparation.

There are many providers of outplacement services in Ireland. Ideally your company will organise this BUT if your company is not providing support you can seek this support yourself.

If you are an employer and require more information about supporting your staff.

This post is for the benefit of employers thinking of introducing psychometric assessment into recruitment processes. Having said this jobseekers can see why clients use assessments.

What are the benefits of psychometric testing or objective assessment?

Psychometric Testing enables more informed hiring decisions by providing additional information about an applicant
- Testing has been proven to work better than just an interview. Stand alone interviews put too much emphasis on the ability of the interviewer (they may not be an interview specialist or even trained).
- Testing provides you with objective information enabling objective and defensible decisions

Psychometric Testing will improve the efficiency of a recruitment process
- Help you identify unsuitable applicants early on in the recruitment process which means that you spend less time and money and resources on them
- Help you identify and measure the key competencies required for the job. This will help you get a closer fit and enable the hiring manager to be more productive and effective

Psychometric Testing allows you to investigate beyond just the hard skills
- Testing enables you to assess an individual’s potential rather than just hard skills.
- Testing provides information about the way someone goes about daily duties which is just as important as their hard skills
Psychometric Testing prepares you for beyond recruitment and selection
- Testing provides information about the candidate in terms of likely strengths and weaknesses. This means you can manage and develop new hires effectively.

Psychometric Testing portrays a good company image
- If you uses testing you will be viewed as a fair organisation and progressive if you use online testing.

If you are an employer and you want more information about psychometric testing – contact Measurability. Measurability provide assessment services to organisations nationwide (Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Sligo & Galway) in a variety of industry sectors.

One of the first questions I am asked when discussing CV services is “where are you based?”

The first question I would ask – “What do you charge?” OR “What is your experience?” not “where are you based? as I know that this is not important.

Looking for a CV service in Ireland

For those interested in a CV service in Ireland don’t limit yourself by geography. It does not matter where the CV service provider is based. The important thing is that you get an “IMPACT CV”. Phone and email communications is all that is needed. In fact I think that face to face meetings for CV design just adds time to the process and we all know what increased time means – increased cost. If you are based in Kerry you can still get your CV designed in Dublin and visa versa.

Looking for Career Coaching or Interview Coaching services in Ireland

Now if you are looking for Career Coaching or Interview Coaching then location is more important. To be honest I hate coaching over the phone and if I cannot meet a client I will pass them on to a partner in the region. So if you are based in Kerry then search for Career/Interview Coaches in the region. I might compile a list in a later post.

There are many providers in Ireland for CV, Interview Coaching & Career Coaching. It is important to shop around. Remember price should be a factor BUT not your key motivation. Check out the background, experience and views. I know some great people BUT I will only tell you about them if I cannot help you myself.

Need a CV Service in Ireland.

If you want an Interview Coach in Leinster (Louth, Meath, Dublin, Kildare, North Wicklow)

If you want a Career Coach in Leinster (Dublin, Louth, Meath, Kildare, North Wicklow)

If you want Career Assessments & Career Tests in Ireland.

I had an interesting conversation with a jobseeker this evening (yes I take work calls on a Saturday). Anyway this person was quite worried about the economy and job security. They said they would love a job with the Council or the Civil Service.

I am sure that many employees in Ireland are having similar thoughts.

There have been many redundancies in Ireland and some sectors are a bit dodgy at the minute. The question remains should you hunt out a safe number or follow a path you will offer fulfillment.

It is different horses for different courses. Personally those environments would not suit me but they will suit others.

I told this caller where to find other possiilites in the public setor and related so I guess I will post the list just in case anyone else is interested.

If you have any views on the above dilemma please post.

p.s – there are educational institutions on the list – not too sure if the would be classed public sector but they would be related.

Seven companies in Limerick and five companies in Galway are to create more than 200 jobs in the regions.

The seven companies in Limerick currently employ 42 and will create an additional 115 over the next 3 years. The firms include; You Book In, Crescent Diagnostics, Broker Episensor, Kneat Solutions, Stokes Bio and Biotechnology Solutions.

The five firms in Galway currently employ 21 and will add another 55 new jobs to this figure. The companies in Galway include; Chipright, TradeCert, Digital Services, Gaelstorm Software Solutions and Embricon.

The Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheal Martin did not do his figure before this announcement as 115 + 55 = 170. But we will let him off as he has other things on his mind!!