Careers and Jobs

Over 160 employees will lose jobs after 5 firms confirmed layoffs yesterday. The West of Ireland suffered the most with the news including Shannon, Limerick and Kerry.

CLARE – Agilisys Contact Services

Agilisys Contact Services announced it is to close its centre in Shannon transferring operations to the UK. The company has been based in Shannon for four years and had 71 employees.The company hopes that some of the affected employees will relocate to the UK.

LIMERICK – Irish Dresden

Dromcollogher (Co. Limerick) firm Irish Dresden has stopped manufacturing with the loss of 15 jobs. The company manufactured delicate porcelain mementos with pieces in the White House. Decline in global sales was cited as the reason for the closure.

KERRY – BeoCare & Beru Electronics

In Kerry – healthcare company BeoCare is expected to close and Beru Electronics is seeking redundancies. This is expected to result in 40 jobs lost.

DUBLIN – New Oceans Limited

Print and design company New Oceans Ltd has closed with the loss of 36 jobs. The collapse of the business and closure is linked to a significant fall in trade in recent months.

BIG FISH JOBS

One politician mentioned that there were signs of “green shoots” the other day. Possibly a bit early to be saying that BUT this is great news. New jobs for Cork!!

Cork City will get up to 100 new jobs with the announcement by US online games company, Big Fish Games. These jobs will be created over the next three years. (They always seem to be created over three years)

Big Fish Games is a US company based in Seattle and it employs about 350 staff developing and publishing what the industry call ‘casual’ games for mobile devices and computers. Casual because they don’t need skill. (it sounds like my niche).

IDA Ireland seems to be behind the scheme so good work again guys and gals. Big Fish Games plans to open its European Headquarters at Mahon in Cork City, and to employ up to 100 people there in the next three years.

By all reports recruitment for these jobs has started!!!

Customer support and games testing recruitment is understood to have already started. Website below.

Do you need a CV Writing Service or Interview Coaching to support you application?

Big Fish Games Website

17,000 more workers joined the register in March, bringing the total figure to 371,000. These latest figures from the CStO show that 20,000 people signed on Live Register in March. This brings the seasonally adjusted total to 372,800 – a record high. More men than women joined the Live Register last month, with 13,600 males and 6,000 females signing on. Brian Cowen predicted that total number on the register could reach 450,000 by the end of the year. We seem to be getting there alot quicker than even he would have though.

There was also more negative jobs news for the munster region with jobs news from Flextronics. Employees at the company in Cork have voted to accept 130 voluntary redundancies as part of global restructuring plans. 150 employees will remain at the company. The company cut 118 jobs last November at its facility in Limerick.

Nationwide UK has created 20 new jobs in the IFSC with the opening of their Irish operation last month. The company is the world’s biggest building society with assets quoted of £200 billion sterling. Watch this space as the building society is said to potentially explore expanding into other areas of banking. This could signal more new jobs in the IFSC.

I wonder did Mr Cowen include this announcement in latest unemployment figures – I would be confident he did as the new was grim.

There are new jobs on the way for Carlow due to the creation of 3 new start-ups in the region. Carlow County Enterprise Board assisted with the establishment of all three new companies.

Homefix Property Solutions is a 24-hour emergency service and it will create 50 of the new jobs

Danelle Recycling is a recycling company which will recycle more unusual products and it will create 2 new jobs.

Gael Energy will specialise in solar panels for domestic and commercial use. This company is at an early development stage but is expected to create up to 30 jobs in the future.

Integrated Communications Limited (ICL) announced that 25 new jobs are on the horizon for the company after it was contracted by UPC to introduce faster broadband speeds in the county. The new jobs will be created for cable technicians, civil engineers and project planners.

Celestica Ireland employs 380 at its manufacturing plant in Galway. Celectica is a canadian electronics firm which previously had operations in Dublin. Over the last week working hours have been cut for workers in the plant however a general meeting is due to take place to dicuss the future of the plant. Celestica has been struggling with the economic climate and recently closed a plant in the US with the loss of over 500 jobs.

Financial IT company First Derivatives will create 140 jobs in Newry where they already employ 130 staff. The company indicated that most of the jobs will be filled by locals (what about all the southern shoppers). The majority of the new jobs are consultancy with some management. First Derivatives provides consultancy and software services for financial institutions who want to analyse their exposure to debt.

Service & IT Software company ICS Computing will create 50 new jobs in Belfast at its headquarters. The new job creation is as a result of a new contract with NHS. ICS currently employs over 250 people at its Belfast office.

Other news impacting the north was that ASDA will create 7,000 new jobs which will surely mean more employed in Northern Ireland.

Dell have announced that they will cut about 1,900 jobs in Ireland as it plans to move its manufacturing function to Poland and a facility in Lodz. The jobs will be lost starting April with the transfer of manufacturing expected to be complete in 12 months time.

Dell announced a 3bn global cost cutting programme in 2008 and although it was expected that Ireland operations would have job casualties it was hoped otherwise. The positive new I guess is that 1,100 jobs were save in that these staff will continue to manage EMEA manufacturing, logistics and supply. Dell’s 1,500 employees in Cherrywood remain unaffected by the recent announcement.

The company statement read “We are proud of our 18-year tenure as a major manufacturer in Ireland. This is a difficult decision, but the right one for Dell to become even more competitive, and deliver greater value to customers in the region.”

Although the news is not a real surprise, as there have been job fears for months, it is still a terrible blow for the employees coming so close into the new year.

Vodafone Ireland announced last week that it was to cut 10 percent of its workforce. The mobile telecoms operator is looking to cut 150 jobs through redundancy from its 1,500 employees. This company hopes to achieve the redundancy figures through a voluntary redundancy programme. Vodafone are now entering a month long consultation period so there are very few details about which functions will suffer from the redundancies. The mobile company has 2.23 million subscribers to the network in Ireland.

Careers and Jobs keeping you up to date on all the latest Irish jobs news. For those affected by job loss you can find some useful information to support sourcing new employment in Ireland. Alternatively visit sister site – CVs and Interviews.

I am regularly asked what would be a safe bet for Careers & Jobs during a recession. Personally I believe you should find what you want to do and you will be successful no matter what the economic conditions are. But if I was pushed for a job or career I would probably say hairdresser or undertaker. You see people die and hair grows no matter what the economic climate. To expand on other careers I have summarised finding from another site below. The below post outlines a number of other possible careers or jobs during a recession.

Healthcare – People will always get sick and will need care and support.

Energy & Utilities – Consumers may try to cut back but can never stop using energy or utilities.

Education – School stops for nothing.

International Focused Business – Globally when one country is facing into tough times another is on the upward cycle.

Police – If anything we need more of them in Ireland

Funerals & Undertakers – As outline above.

Accounting – When we hit hard time we look for ways to cut costs and accountants can help.

Public Sector – Normally more secure than the private sector although there are changes on the
horizon in Ireland.

Pharmaceuticals – Recessions do not impact the demand for drugs.

Military – perhaps wars and disorder are more of a possibility during tough times

Hairdressers – As stated above out hair will keep growing during a recession

Debt Collection – Perhaps not the most loved career but certainly in demand.

Trades – Plumbers – We will all need heating and water and if you are like me you will definitely need a professional when they pack in.

Interim Management or Consulting – Organisations are often attracted to short-term solutions during tough times.

Legal Profession – some specialist areas of law will thrive during a recession.

Food – We all need to eat even during tough economic conditions.

Health & Beauty – I would question this as I know this sector can be classified as luxury and would normally be one of the first things to go during a recession.

Luxury Items – We are talking about the mega rich here. Item related to their radar probably won’t take too much of a dent during a recession.

Interview Ireland