Jobs growth stunted by skills shortage says recruiter

Jobs growth stunted by skills shortage says recruiter

“The economic turmoil of the past week will not stop the wheels of enterprise from turning,” said Joe Robbins, director of nationwide recruitment company, CareerWise Recruitment, announcing the findings of the company’s recently-completed survey of recruitment activity in multinational companies in Ireland.

“We have not fallen off the cliff top; the world is still functioning and hopefully things will continue to pick up. Companies operating in the productive sector of the Irish economy are hiring but there are still skill shortages in key areas,” he added.

The CareerWise annual employment opportunity survey has found that there are significant skills shortages in some areas and the key message from potential employers is that people will need to be more flexible in terms of location if they want to continue in employment and develop their careers.

“We have over 120 open positions that we need to find candidates for; this compares to 76 open positions as at October 2009. We are seeking Quality and Manufacturing Engineers for top multinational companies as well as Supply Chain personnel and people with pharma and medical devices experience. The issue is finding these people with the appropriate experience that are willing to relocate.

“We have experienced a 24% increase in new positions from multinational clients in the last six months alone, driven primarily by the medical devices/pharma/life science sectors. These companies are now seeking to recruit medical devices/pharma quality and manufacturing engineers, chemists and biochemists; marketing and sales managers; supply chain buyers, planners and purchasers; ICT software developers, technical support and systems engineers; and specialist electronics engineers (hardware and software), developers, microwave and RF engineers. This very broad and highly-skilled requirement demonstrates that Ireland is still recognised as a leader in these areas.

“In surveying our key clients about their recruitment plans for 2011, we found that 55% of companies surveyed have budgets or open positions in place for recruitment in 2011; 23% thought so, but were awaiting approval of budgets; and the remaining 22% were unsure at this point. This confirms our gut instinct and what we are seeing on the ground that while there is a lack of confidence in the domestic economy, the export sector, being driven by multinational companies, continues to perform very well.”

“Key factors underpinning this confidence include: Ireland’s 12.5% corporation tax rate, which is the cornerstone of fiscal policy; the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) of Ireland’s GDP growth predictions of 2.25% for Ireland in 2011; improving competitiveness in wages, utilities, rents; and an improving road and rail network infrastructure,” added Mr Robbins.