An initiative aimed at encouraging job creation for Ireland’s skilled unemployed launched last week has already received 1,177 job pledges from businesses all around the country. Of those 710 are in the Dublin region while the remaining 467 pledges are from businesses located across 19 counties, which includes 39 jobs pledged from Mayo.
On average, companies have pledged between one and five jobs, with larger companies offering more jobs, including CPL, which has pledged 200 jobs in technical support; Paddy Power, 100 jobs; Avon, 70 jobs; VersionOne software, 90 jobs; and HomeInstead, 50 jobs.
Lucy Masterson, co-founder of Hireland commented: “Just one week in and we have been really overwhelmed by the response. Hireland hopes to encourage the creation of 5,000 new job opportunities in the first half of 2012 and we are well on our way. Companies are pledging jobs on a daily basis. Hireland is about getting people back to work one job at a time and we are very encouraged by the response from businesses all over the country.”
Hireland, which launched one week ago, describes itself as “a movement of business professionals, the marketing and media industry, and students concerned about the human and economic cost of high unemployment”, whose goal is “to encourage employers to hire one of the thousands of skilled people who are currently out of work”.
Hireland is a joint initiative with UhireUS, which was announced at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in September 2011 and which aims to create a total of 1,000,000 new jobs in America.
According to Hireland, research conducted among 150 SMEs (small and medium enterprises ) at the beginning of January 2012 has shown that slightly more than half plan to hire one or more new employees this year. The research also revealed that one in five employers plan to hire school leavers (22 per cent ); two in five employers plan to hire graduates (42 per cent ); almost half (45 per cent ) plan to hire people with less than five years’ experience; 38 per cent plan to hire people with more than five years’ experience; and 35 per cent plan to hire people on the live register, or who are unemployed.
Gerard O’Neill, chairman of Amárach Research and co-founder of Hireland, stated: “The findings of the research are positive, but it is clear that there are many business owners out there who have been toying with the notion of taking on additional staff, but who don’t feel confident enough to do so. Hireland’s message is very clear. If you’re a business owner, pledge a job on www.hireland.ie A sure way of future proofing your business is to hire more people. By recruiting more people into the business, a company will experience immediate and direct benefits. One job will lead to another if Irish businesses get on board and pledge a job.”
Meanwhile, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, has warned that as part of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs beginning next week, there will be some “painful reform” involved.
Speaking at Dromoland Castle Hotel at a Shannon Development meeting last week, Minister Bruton said:
"If we are to create the jobs and growth we so badly need, we are going to have to undertake radical reform across the entire economy to make it easier for businesses to create employment. This means above all reducing costs, improving access to finance, providing better and more supports to job-creating businesses, and putting innovation at the centre of everything we do.
"This will not happen overnight. We will have to grind out the reforms one by one if we are going to achieve the Government's ambition of making Ireland the best small country in which to do business. They will be painful for some people, particularly in sheltered parts of the public and private sector, and we will need support if we are to drive them through. However if we are to build a strong economy with solid foundations this is where the hard work must start. In next month's Action Plan for Jobs we will begin a rigorous, monitored, process of driving changes across government and the economy to improve the business environment and enable the creation of the jobs we need."
Employers wishing to get involved and pledge a job should log on to www.hireland.ie
