Careers and Jobs

100 new retail jobs across Ireland

Maxi Zoo will create 100 new jobs across the country as part of a major Eur10.0m expansion. The company is part of German Fressnapf group and began operating in Ireland when it opened its Ballincollig store in 2006.

The pet supplies firm is planning to open 20 new stores in this country over the next four to five years. The company currently has operations in Cork, Limerick and Longford. The first stores are due to open in Dublin and Kildare in November.

Careers & Jobs for all the latest jobs news and advice in Ireland. Read about SITA & Clare Sprng Water Jobs …. Read about 120 McAfee jobs in Cork ….

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INTEL CUT 300 JOBS IN LEIXLIP

Intel has announced that they will be cutting 300 jobs at Leixlip in the form of compulsory redundancy. The company cited fall in demand for products as the key factor in the decision. This is a sever blow for the workers and poor timing for the government who are creating a pr mission on “smart economy” in Ireland

EXEMPLAR SMART NETWORK TO CREATE 350 JOBS

Examplar Smart Network will create 350 new jobs in Ireland. The high tech computer firm is designing a next generation communications grid. This news is part of the government plans to create 30,000 new jobs in a “smart economy” within the next decade.

370 JOBS AXED AT ELEMENT SIX IN SHANNON

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR HALIFAX IN IRELAND?

The papers yesterday announced negative jobs news for north and south. Glanbia announced that it will be cutting 50 jobs at HQ in West Dublin. Meanwhile in Belfast 40 Jobs will be cut by financial company ClearCo. These lastest announcements come at the end of a grey week for jobs news. Although the previous post announce 190 new jobs for Newry & Belfast with First Derivatives & ICS Computing many jobs were lost. Here is a quick summary below.

GE Healthcare announced 50 job cuts in Cork.

Powerscreen announced 90 job cuts in Tyrone

County Council announced 48 redundancies in Kildare.

Microsoft announced 17 job cuts in Dublin

Finally the biggest news of the week was that Ulster Bank announce 750 job cuts across Ireland. There will be 200 cut in Northern Ireland and 550 across the south.

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

More bad news on the jobs front hot on the heels of a negative budget. Wyeth Medica in Kildare has announced that it will be reducing its workforce. In Waterford there was also bad news with Waterford Crystal seeking 280 redundancies. These developments follow a negative buget for most households. For more info on the 2008 budget.

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?

Career Coaching

I have noticed a few recruitment agencies advertising Career Coaching services online. Unlike previous years these now seems to be a formal service offerings and not just lip service to attract job hunters. For many jobseekers it may seem quite normal for a recruitment agency to offer career coaching BUT beware.

There may be genuine intent from these recruitment companies but the nature of their core business and revenue could impact any career advice. Recruitment Agencies are all about putting bums on seats. A colleague once described agencies as “glorified dating agencies”. I worked in recruitment and I believe recruitment agencies have a key role to play in the job market placing jobseekers in jobs. There could be a conflict of interest though when offering career coaching services. Ask yourself if the career coaching service is leading you down a path prompted by potential placement revenue.

If you are a jobseeker seeking career advice thread carefully. You could get an excellent career coaching service from a recruitment agency but remember there is the risk of conflict of interest.

Support through Career Coaching and a Career Coach

I just posted about a new site careersportal which offers career support for second and third level students. It is designed to help them find the right career path. So what about those of us who didn’t have good career advice and fell into the wrong careers? There is help there for you too. I will outline where you can get career support in Ireland.

Career Coaching – How can it benefit?

Career Coaching has many benefits for job-seekers. Here is a list of some of the benefits you can get from a career coach:

• Clarification of your current job/career situation
• Identify your needs
• Self discovery
• Development of new perspectives
• Conquer job uncertainty and fears
• Identify career passion
• Identify strengths
• Improve decision-making
• Hemp avoid similar mistakes
• Overcome career hurdles
• Initiate momentum and maintain focus
• Clarify direction and solutions
• Increase positive thinking
• Improve performance and results
• And of course – RESULTS!!

Career Coach – A definition

A career coach is a professional who provides jobseekers with expert career advice, career guidance, and career support. A career coach takes the role of observer and listener. A career coach looks at the now and supports goal development, plans, and action. A career coach is dedicated to providing the tools for career success.

If you need a Career Coach or are interested in finding out more about Career Coaching why not contact a leading Career Coach now. Measurability offer expert career coaching to clients across Leinster – Dublin, Meath, Louth, Kildare & Wicklow. Paul is a leading Career Coach in Ireland regularly commenting on a variety of recruitment sites and he is a career expert with Irish Independent and Sunday Tribune.

If you don’t want to pay for expert career coaching advice there are other options you can explore aside from a career coach. This post outlines some of these options

I guess to purpose of this post is to highlight that interviews can be more complex and varied than you may think. For this reason it is essential that you prepare properly and that you get as much information about the interview process as possible. This information combined with preparation will help improve your confidence and your performance which will increase your interview to job offer ratio.

Different types of Interviews – There are a wide variety of possible interview scenarios that you can face when notified that you have been called for interview. Some of these types of interview include:

Traditional Interviews
Competency / Behavioural Interviews
Panel Interviews
Phone Interviews

Different types of Assessments – To confuse things more many organisations are combining interviews with objective assessments in the form of psychometric testing and assessment. Some of these include:

Personality Questionnaires
Ability Tests
Aptitude Tests
Skills Tests
Assessment Centres

Different types of interviewer and interviewer styles – Finally you can face different types of interviewers who use a different style. It will help you to understand these different styles but more importantly have a strategy to cope with the different styles. Six of the possible interview styles include:

Absentee Interviewer
Inquisitor Interviewer
Buddy Interviewer
Laser Beam Interviewer
Shotgun Interviewer
Silver Bullet Interviewer

In later posts we will provide information on the above interviews, assessments, interviewer styles and more importantly how you can prepare. If you would like more information about the different types of interviewers visit this post.

Need help with competency based interviews ?

Need an Executive Coach?

There is much information online about how to prepare for interviews. Particular focus is on how to handle difficult interview questions or how to handle competency interviews. There isn’t much focus on phone interviews and how to prepare. Below is some information on phone interview preparation and advice.

What is a phone interview?

It is what it says on the tin. A phone interview is a screening interview carried out over the phone. Organisations will normally use this screening method when there are geography issues with recruiter and applicant or in situations where there are high volumes of applications and this acts as an initial sifting tool.

Are they easy or hard?

It depends on the individual. Personally I prefer face to face interviews but there are many applicants who prefer the phone interview as they feel more relaxed. Communication your message over the phone is more difficult as body langage is removed from the equation

How to prepare for a phone interview?

Your preparation should be similar to that of a face to face interview. Put in as much effort as I have know phone interviews to be as detailed and as long as a face to face interview. They are normally less detailed though with the client focusing on the key selection criteria. Prepare the normal topics – identify what the clients is looking for, identify how you meet these needs with appropriate examples, know your CV, know about the employer and industry and be clear why you want the job.

Phone interview tips

1. Ensure that you are in a location where you will not be disturbed.

2. Have your CV in front of you during the interview.

3. SMILE before you pick up the phone!!

The above information was provided by an Irish Career Coach & Interview Coach servicing clients in across Leinster (Meath, Dublin, Louth, Wicklow & Kildare)