In the second part of the Galway Advertiser series on recruitment, in conjunction with our website www.classifieds.advertiser.ie, we are profiling the three recruitment specialists whose expertise we have sought for this feature and their key personnel make predictions about the 2015 jobs market.
Collins McNicholas
The Irish company was established in 1990 by Colman Collins and Val McNicholas who were both working as HR managers at the time. The Galway branch is the head office and there are also outlets in Dublin, Cork, Sligo and Athlone. It seeks to provides clients with temporary, contract and permanent staff along with also a huge array of human resource services. Clients include SMEs, multinationals, public sector and semi-state organisations. The business has built a solid reputation in the region for providing a quality service and real understanding of what is required by companies.
Looking ahead to 2015
Regional manager Michelle Murphy says due to the continuing buoyancy of the medical devices companies in Galway she sees the demand for research and development engineers and manufacturing and processing engineers continuing. “They are being sought at all levels from junior to senior which is welcomed and certainly from speaking with companies we cannot see any change in this demand heading into 2015. The multinationals like Boston, Merit, Creganna and Medtronic are always hiring. Companies are looking at next generation products in the medical and healthcare arena. We are always seeking experienced operators/ product builders to bring new products to manufacture. They are put through assessment tests by ourselves to ensure they have the correct skill set. There are also is a huge number of jobs for experienced software development engineers and this will also continue. These types of companies are constantly expanding.”
Collins McNicholas often meets companies which would be considering Galway as a location for a start-up. Ms Murphy says that when there is a case to be made for Galway, the region’s skilled workforce is the first thing that comes to mind. “From a graduate perspective, NUIG, GMIT and the various business colleges are churning out highly qualified individuals across all the disciplines. The IDA do a great job, we need to keep pushing ‘brand Galway’ as an attractive place to do business. We always encourage company representatives to get out and about and get a feel for Galway, it’s a vibrant, cosmopolitan city. It is a place that has unique character and has not lost its homely feel.’’
Part of the company’s focus for 2015 is on attracting qualified people back to the region who may have moved abroad but are considering returning to Galway. “We want to get the word out there that there will be opportunities and if people are looking to set up home in Galway, we would be delighted to help them out as best we can.”
Cpl
[Computer Placement Ltd] was founded by current CEO Anne Heraty and Keith O'Malley back in 1989. It originally sourced staff for the IT industry. Large scale expansion means the company has become a recognised leader in specialist recruitment, staffing, managed services and outsourcing. Cpl which employs 7,400 staff, has 32 offices in nine countries, including 12 outlets in Ireland and placed over 22,000 people in jobs last year. Services include temporary staffing, permanent recruitment and managed services and outsourcing. Cpl Recruitment Galway specialises in engineering, IT, finance, business, multilingual and customer service roles in the West of Ireland.
Time to re-evaluate
Cpl operations manager Ronan O’Sullivan says he expects February/March and September/October of this year to be bumper months for recruitment. He explains that people tend to re-evaluate their careers in January, after they’ve had a bit of time off after Christmas to think about it, and in September when children return to school. ”Our only problem going into 2015- and it’s a good one to have – is that we can’t get enough of the types of candidates which we want, i.e. suitably qualified engineering and IT personnel. Galway is an easy sell to attract personnel to relocate to the area. It’s a great place to live but at the same time there is excellent career potential. For example if somebody re-locates from Europe to work in a place like Boston Scientific, they are not just limited to working there if that does not work out. There are 15 similar companies where there will be opportunities for career progression.’’
The expert says something he is seeing more and more of is a need for candidates to be proficient in a second language. “There’s a big demand for languages, especially by the multi nationals and that will never change. But companies like SAP, NetIQ, Zenimax and EA Games which run support centres always look for languages. German in particular is the big one but French, Spanish and Italian are also good ones to have.’’
Construction
Cpl Galway has decided to open a construction desk separate to its technical and engineering section due to a definite pick-up in the industry. Shane Kelly is a qualified quantity surveyor and has been drafted in to solely concentrate on this area. He says he’s excited by the challenge.
“There is going to be small amounts of building in Galway this year and a few residential start-ups are in the pipeline. The Gort/Tuam bypass is going to create huge employment in the west and it’s very welcome. It is a large-scale four year project and work on that is beginning in a matter of weeks. We’ll predominantly be recruiting engineering staff who will have responsibility for various aspects of the project. The irony of this now is that there’s a slight shortfall of suitable people to fill these roles. A lot of people who worked in these kinds of jobs have emigrated, even people I would have graduated with myself are abroad. There is a big market in the west for mechanical and electrical surveyors, but they are very light on the ground. In some cases I will have to seek candidates abroad but I prefer if people initiate contact with myself as people need to want to return to Ireland.’’
Mr Kelly says there are definitely more opportunities now for recent college graduates who have shown motivation and aptitude for working in the construction field. “Ideally what employers want is people who have had some exposure to the industry- be it just carrying out work experience during a summer in college - ie people who have shown enthusiasm for the industry. I’d always be looking out for those type of people. While the academic results are important, there are other factors that must be borne in mind as well, for example, a person must be the right fit for a certain company.’’
Hays
Hays is a world-wide operation with hundreds of offices and the company employs in excess of eight thousand staff. HAYS is well established in Ireland with offices in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. The Galway branch opened its doors in 2005 and employs around 10 staff in the region. Business director Niall Toland says that a positive indicator for 2015 is that HAYS is recruiting internally. “It is the best sign that the jobs market is healthy when we are recruiting recruiters.”
Budget effects
The message HAYS want to get across is that Ireland is open for business and Mr Toland is very hopeful there will be a further reprieve for the working population in the 2015 budget. Last year’s announcement saw the higher rate of tax reduced by a percentage point and there was also a slight reduction to the Universal Social Charge. “There are vibes that the 40 per cent tax rate will be reduced once again and possibly the USC aswell. These types of incentives have a massive impact on the working population and would be really welcomed, anything that makes it more attractive to work and puts more money into people’s pockets is a good thing. It gives workers more spending power which in turn is excellent for the wider economy. Workers have been heavily taxed for the past few years, it’s a contentious issue regarding people on social welfare and lower paid jobs, the question being, does it pay them to work? It is a difficult one to negotiate for a lot of people as there are costs associated with travelling to work but it should always pay more to work.”
Government incentives
Niall Toland is an advocate of Government employment schemes such as JobBridge. For those not familiar with JobBridge, it is a national internship scheme for the unemployed. Participants will be offered an internship of six or nine months with a host organisation. If they take up an internship they will keep their social welfare payment and receive an extra €50 per week. It is widely known this scheme has been controversial due to the advertisement of low skilled jobs as part of the initiative which has led to accusations of employers using it as a form of cheap labour. “Obviously there will always be a percentage of people who have negative experiences with these types of schemes but I would strongly encourage people to ‘keep their toe in’ the workplace as such. There are many benefits to it, people maintain skills by remaining in a learning/work environment and they will pick up new skills, employers also tend to look favourably on this type of experience, it shows good character and motivation. We have placed people in full-time roles who have come through JobBridge.’’
Collins McNicholas, Briarhill House, Briarhill Business Park. (091 ) 706 706 www.collinsmcnicholas.ie
Cpl Recruitment Galway, 3 Merchant's Rd. (091 ) 507 500, www.cpl.ie
HAYS, 3a, Commerce House, Flood St. (091 ) 513 800, www.hays.ie
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