Careers and Jobs

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.

It looks like there is more bad news for the Insurance Sector with the announcement that Axa will shed 120 jobs at its Dublin offices. This news follows a previous announcement by Hibernian that they will shed 580 jobs moving them to Bangalore in India. We brought you rumours of this Hibernian announcement a few months back.

Axa plans to shed the 120 jobs through voluntary redundancy and there may be plenty of takers as they also plan to restructure pay scales. Basically those left in the company may have to take a pay reduction. This scenario is not uncommon in this climate as a leading Estate Agent in Ireland reported the same move recently to fight of the possibility of redundancies.

Axa has seen its turnover drop drastically over the last number of years so this latest news does not surprise many commentators. Having said this for those affected the news is always hard to take.

It also looks like Northern Ireland is not safe from the current economic conditions. Toughglass in Co Down has announced 60 compulsory redundancies.

If you have been affected by redundancy – a career coach, interview coach or CV service could help you navigate these difficult times.

Looks like we have more to talk about than the bad weather today. A friend of mine has been predicting a recession for the last 10 years. And guess what the newspapers announce it is finally here. Tell us what we didn’t know!! Official reports of a recession have been agreed by most experts but what they cannot agree on is when it will pass. Anything from 2-10 years by the sounds of things.

This news was amplified with the announcement that Hibernian Insurance will let 580 jobs go in Ireland. Irelands loss is India’s gain. The bulk of these jobs will be support and back office. It now looks like the slow down is affecting other sectors outside of manufacturing and construction.

So does the slow down in the economy offer opportunities or threats to you? I guess it is what you choose. I think I will go for the opportunities. If you feel this news offers a threat then take some action – make yourself recession proof. This could mean retraining, getting a new job, moving sector. If you need help from a career coach, an interview coach or a CV professional then get that help. If you have alternative option then start taking action.

HIBERNIAN

If newspaper reports are correct Hibernian could be moving 250 back office jobs to India. Trade Union Unite hope to grill management at a meeting this Friday.

This outsourcing initiative by Hibernian could be as a result of parent company Aviva announcing 525m in cost cuts worldwide.

It seems that both Hibernian and the Unions are denying this.

Hibernian is Ireland’s largest general insurer and employs 2200 staff in Ireland (1500 of which are represented by Unite). If the jobs do go this would represent a 10% cut in workforce.

Let’s hope that this is just speculation but the signs don’t look good. Outsourcing to low cost economies seem is a well beaten path these days in Ireland.

DOMINO’S

There is some positive jobs news in that Domino’s Pizza has announce that it will be opening 7 new stores in Ireland with the creation of 225 jobs. They currently have 34 stores in Ireland

Employees at ICT Europe can sleep sound tonight as it has become clear that jobs are safe at the Belmullet plant for now.

We informed you yesterday that there were fears of job loss in Co. Mayo BUT these have been misplaced and jobs will not be transferrred to India or Philippines. Staff have been assured of their jobs with the only downsizing in the fact that 50 staff are reduced to a 4 day working week.

Great news BUT lets not hope this is the football equivalent of the board backing the manager and telling him his job is safe.

The rumour mill in Belmullet, Co. Mayo is in overdrive with reports that ICT Europe is about to downsize its operations. This would be a cruel blow to Belmullet as ICT Europe is the biggest employer.

ICT Europe set up about 5 years ago providing outsourced customer management solutions. It currently employs 140 staff.

It has been reported that senior staff from UK and US will be at the plant today to brief staff.

Let’s hope the rumours are not true and that the Belmullet jobs are not moving to lower cost economies like India- I will keep you posted.