Careers and Jobs

Bit late with this news – holidays again!!

Last week Ryanair announced that it would be closing its call centre in Dublin this May with the loss of 40 jobs. The closure of the Telesales operation is part of its cost reduction programme in a bid to deal with the rising prices of oil. MO’L did try to put a positive spin on the events citing that the closure was due to the fact that 99% of Ryanair bookings were now transacted online.

Either way it is 40 staff looking for new employment in Dublin as of May. I have had more bad experiences with Ryanair than good experiences but would not wish this situation on anyone. You have to give credit to Micheal O’Leary though as I did note that he and senior executives were also forgoing pay increases.

Siemens has announced that it will be cutting 7000 jobs across the globe as it transitions as a company from hardware provider to a software/solutions provider.

There is good news for Irish worker as their jobs will be safe. Siemens employs about 1100 staff across 3 locations in Ireland Dublin, Belfast and Cork. The majority of these workers are employed in Dublin.

Siemens businesses that are represented in Ireland include; Siemens Limited, Siemens Business Services, Siemens Research Ireland, Fujitsu Siemens Computers and Osram.

Siemens reported revenue figures of 72.4 billion euro in 2007. They employ a total of 460,000 staff in 190 countries around the world. Last time I looked share prices had increased in the company.

Key events this week for Jobseekers

FAS Opportunities 2008 in Croke Park.

120 jobs lost at Sercom Solutions and 35 Jobs lost at American Power Conversion

For more information check out hrandrecruitment

Construction Jobs in Ireland

If you have been hibernating for the last year you will have missed the fact that the golden sector of Ireland has stuttered and is grinding to a halt. Negative news about the housing sector and of course layoffs and job losses. I have had numerous conversations with people inside and outside the construction sector and I have received contrasting opinions about the actual impact.

Today I was reading the Jobs & Careers section of the Irish Independent (no relation) and I could not help notice something strange about the construction jobs section. OK – it has been shrinking in size for some time BUT most of the agency advertisements were for overseas jobs and careers. Australia, New Zealand, London, Dubai and Abu Dhabi were some of the locations listed.

Micheal O’Leary was complemented about his honesty on his recent assessment of the aviation sector. Can an advert titled “downturn – what downturn” in the construction jobs section be a complemented for its honesty. Interestingly the same advert indicated it has career opportunities home and ABROAD.

Can we put a positive spin for those affected by the construction sector decline?

The above locations have a better climate, better work life balance with no M50.

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.