Careers and Jobs

Dell Ireland has announced that it will be cutting 250 jobs at its operations in Dublin and Limerick. The company employees were told the bad news on Tuesday. Dell announced it would be cutting 250 jobs from its 4500 workforce in Ireland.

Dell operations in Cherrywood in Dublin will be hardest hit as it seems that support functions such as administration, marketing and IT have been targeted. Dell seem to be clear in stressing that no manufacturing jobs will be affected. This seems to be against the general trend in the economy with regards to manufacturing job losses.

This latest news is a serious blow to South Dublin but the economy in general as Dell is a big name employer established in Ireland for some time. Perhaps the reports I read of a US recovery are way off the mark.

Dell is seeking huge cost cutting initiatives globally so this could be the start of shrinking operations in Ireland

There has been much speculation in the last few weeks about Waterford Wedgewood in Waterford. The company has made a plea to the government for a dig out to help save the company. The plea has been for 39m loans for a 3 year period. This would provide financial support to a company expected to make 100m euro losses for the financial year to March 2008.

The company is in the process of reducing its staff by 490 and these loans would help secure the remaining 550 jobs at the factory. The question is how long Waterford Wedgewood can fight a poor exchange rate scenario. The US is a huge market for them and the weakened dollar is showing no sign of improving and if anything it could get weaker.

This situation raises the whole question of government intervention. I would not like to see anyone lose their job so would be in favour of any initiatives to prevent this. Should the government have to do this? Some wealthy people have interests in the company and they could certainly afford 39m. If the government intervenes what about other companies in the future BUT what about all those who lost their jobs in the last 12 months?

Today has seen mixed irish jobs news for Longford. One announcement saw the creation of 140 new jobs for the area BUT another announcement saw the loss of 66 jobs in the area. This means 74 net additional jobs for Longford.

The positive jobs news saw Cameron Ireland announce the creation of 140 new jobs. Cameron Ireland develops technology for oil and gas flow regulation. Cameron’s products include sub-sea chokes and actuators which are designed and manufactured in Longford. Cameron is well established in the region and has been based in Longford since 1978. It employs 220 staff so the news will see the workforce almost double.

The negative jobs news in Longford came from Kimball Electronics that said it would be closing its plant with the loss of 66 jobs. Kimball Electronics provides a variety of services including design, manufacturing and packaging. The company had been making losses in recent months and had tried to sell the facility but failed. Manufacturing will be transferred from Ireland to Poland.

Hopefully many of the employees at Kimball will be able to gain new employment at Cameron but this will depend on the jobs skills match.

Xilinx employ 400 staff at its European HQ in Ireland and 3,800 staff worldwide. These numbers will increase slightly with news of the creation of 20 new jobs in a new Global Customer Engineering Division.

This new division will enable faster delivery of products to market, cost-effectively, and with improved performance. Xilinx’s design function works with many of the top players in the electronics sector to produce programmable devices for a wide range of advanced systems.

This news ends the week on a high. Enjoy the weekend and bring on more positive announcements next week like this one with Xilinx in Ireland.

There are fears of job loss at shannon-based firm Unbrako Europe SPS International following its sale to a US firm. Workers were informed of this news on Monday when they met the new owners. SPS has been based in Shannon since 1960 so is an established employer in the region. The company operates in the manufacturing sector making socket screws and fasteners for machinery and equipment.

Other news this week that will send shivers through munster is that Dell has closed a plant in Austin with the loss of 900 jobs. Dell is a huge employer in Limerick and Dublin. Dell is currently exercising global cost cutting and plans to reduce headcount by 10%. Hopefully Limerick and Dublin miss out on the job cuts.

We will keep you posted on other job news stories and relevant career, cv and interview advice for job hunting in Ireland.

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.

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As many multinationals head for the exit door in Ireland future employment will rely more on Irish SME’s. It is interesting that most graduates rush to join an IBM or an Intel and often ignore potential opportunities with SME’s. Is this because they don’t want to join a smaller organisation OR that they do not know they exist. Well – here are 6 small companies that achieved awards at the recent SFA Awards. Think of the perks you would get at Aran Candy – they make Jelly Beans!!

The full list of winners in SFA Awards 2008:

INNOVATOR: (up to 50 employees): Easy Fix Rubber Products
MANUFACTURING: Ecocem Ireland
FOOD & DRINK: Aran Candy
SERVICES: Home Instead Senior Care
OUTSTANDING SMALL BUSINESS: Atomic Sports
BEST IN HR DEVELOPMENT AWARD: CCP Recruitment

There was some great news for the Pharmaceutical sector and the cork region today in Ireland. Cork as a region houses a very strong pharmaceutical sector with many employees BUT this will now increase.

Depuy Ireland announced that it will be setting up a new innovation centre in Cork. This center will create 20 new jobs. These jobs will be for individuals with bioengineering, materials and quality backgrounds.

Depuy Ireland currently employs about 600 staff in Cork and set up in Ireland in 1997. It currently has manufacturing and supply chain functions in the region.

These jobs are positive news for the government as they fit the “high value” jobs specification that they have been promising. The only thing is that they are not being created fast enough.

There was also great news for Dublin today where Chase Paymentech announced 100 new jobs over the next 3 years.

Microprint announced the closure of its plant in Tallaght with the loss of 130 jobs. Jacobs announced job losses of 230 in Tallaght last month so this is a double blow to the region.

On the positive side Teva Pharmaceutical announced the creation of 165 jobs at its Waterford site. They currently employ 650 in Waterford.

It seems that most manufacturing is heading for the exit door except in the Pharmaceutical sector. Having said this it has not been all roses for the sector. In 2007 Pfizer announce job cutting but a bigger blow was the postponement of the Amgen investment indefinitely.

I would still say that the Pharmaceutical sector is still one of the safe bets for jobseekers in Ireland. However who knows they way things are changing in this country.

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.