For all IT blogs and updates please see our new blog www.talkrec.ie
Nov/100
Following the rebrand of Premier, Verkom and Brunel to Morgan McKinley in Ireland, we now have one combined blog, www.talkrec.ie .
For updates on IT jobs please see our new recruitment blog, Talking recruitment !
Games Games Games
Oct/100
Ireland’s largest gaming exhibition will be running in the Citywest Events Centre in Dublin from October 29 to October 31. GAMER Expo 2010 will showcase all of the latest titles to hit the stand and will cater for all types of Gamers, from the casually wii-er to the hardcore “Call of Duty” Gamer. Suppliers include Ubisoft, Playseats, Genius and Warner Bros. Interactive. The exhibition will provide war arenas for mutli-playing gaming and stages and rooms for tournaments.
Gaming has taken off massively in Ireland over the past 10 years which has had a knock on effect on the I.T. industry also. There is a skills shortage in Ireland for Gaming developers with 3D and OpenGL skills. If you are interested in hearing about more Gaming opportunities please check out or website for the job the spec or contact Fiona Richardson on 01 4321 555 or frichardson@morganmckinley.ie
http://www.morganmckinley.ie/job/894076/gaming-developer-dublin
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/digital-life/item/18306-gamer-expo-2010-set-for/
From October 6th, Verkom will be called Morgan McKinley. We are the same people, the same Irish company delivering the same excellent service.
Sep/100
Why are we changing our name?
We began trading in Cork over 20 years ago and have since built five specialist recruitment brands in Ireland: Premier in Finance, Verkom in IT, Brunel in Technical, La Crème in Office Support and more recently, Accreate in Executive Search.
In parallel, for the past seven years, we have been expanding our services overseas in the UK, Europe, the middle-east, Asia and Australia. We currently trade as Morgan McKinley in eight other countries.
So we have decided to take the significant step of rebranding Premier, Verkom and Brunel as Morgan McKinley here at home.
Announcing a new specialised recruitment website
Make sure to check out our new look website on the 6th of October for Accountancy & Finance, Financial Services, Technical & IT jobs in Ireland www.morganmckinley.ie
Interested in finding out more?
Contact your local office to talk to one of our specialist consultants or call 1850 840 000 or talktous@morganmckinley.co.uk
The Education System – Failing to prepare people to secure positions in the real world?
Aug/100
In a week which saw record number of students applying for third-level college places, the importance being placed on further education is obvious. As a recruitment consultant who has been working in the Dublin market for the past 10 years I have however noticed a distinct lack of emphasis on actually preparing individuals on how to go about securing real jobs.
I have encountered people who have spend considerable time, effort and money in ensuring they have excellent education qualifications and certifications and yet have spent minimal time on how to present these credentials to prospective employers.
CV presentation and interview preparation are vital areas to focus on in order to give people the best chance of getting a job in the real world, there is no point in having all the qualifications/skills/abilities in the world if you can not actually “sell yourself” at an interview.
I would recommend that every secondary school and college student be given courses covering these topics and no this is not just a suggestion to give recruitment consultants more career opportunities! I would consider this preparation a vital part of educating young people to reach their maximum potential in this extremely competitive world.
Angela Redmond – Senior Consultant – Verkom
What Companies want – Now and Then
Aug/100
Having recruited for Software Developers for various companies in Dublin over the past decade I have noticed a big change in most clients’ priorities over the past 18 months.
Traditionally clients were much more concerned with candidate’s work experience; what technologies they used, what they had achieved, industry background etc.
Now while track record is still important, qualifications are also crucial. Educational background is emphasised, with many companies looking for 2.1 Degrees or above and some will only consider applicants who have Masters! Certifications are important to have, one of the most desirable is the Sun Certified Programmer for Java.
Membership of professional bodies and specific interest groups are also extremely desirable.
The reasons behind this new focus are varied but fundamentally I believe are because clients are looking for extra reassurances that the person they hire can really do the job as especially in this current environment they cannot afford to take a chance and there is also the perception that they can be extra “fussy”. There is an increasing requirement for IT professionals to be able to multi task, so they may need to be able to do full life cycle development, have leader ships skills and be comfortable in client facing situations.
While this may prove good news for the various providers of further education it has put many strong developers who have excellent track records at some what of a disadvantage when pursuing new career opportunities.
Like most things in life I would recommend clients have a more balanced approach and not to rule applicants out purely based on lack of academic achievement.
Angela Redmond: Senior Recruitment Consultant: Verkom Dublin
Tablets to become biggest computing category??
Jun/100
Before Computex the worlds second-biggest IT trade fair kicked off earlier this month, the hype about which tablet personal computer would challenge the ipad was in full swing!
Jen-hsun Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, the specialist graphics company that is also a big supplier of chips for tablet PCs kicked things off by making the prediction that within five years “tablets will be the world’s biggest computing category”. Huang said tablets could even surpass netbooks and notebook PCs in terms of volume.
This a very bold claim given that Gartner expects only 12 million tablet-like devices to be sold this year and even the most optimistic of predictions say tablets would only take up 50-60 million of the 700 million PCs sold worldwide by 2014. It was also a dig at Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini who earlier said that tablets would not “eat the netbooks and notebooks lunch”
And Huang isn’t the only one thinking along these lines. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that personal computers running rival Microsoft’s Windows operating system are in a permanent decline and that only a fraction of current users will still rely on them in the future.
In a rare onstage interview at the D: All Things Digital conference, Mr Jobs compared the fate of the PC to trucks in agrarian America. The dominant vehicle when farming was the way most people earned a living, they were vastly outnumbered by cars when the country became more urbanised.
The same thing will happen with PCs, where “one out of every x” people will continue to use them, he told the Dow Jones event hosts. The shift “is going to make us nervous”, speaking of multiple generations used to the machines.
And with Apple selling over 3 million ipads in the first 80 days of release Mr.Jobs and Huang may very well be proved right
Social Media: Return On Investment
May/100
Social Media ROI (Return on Investment)
- Social Media = Positive ROI
- Over 300,000 businesses have a presence on facebook.
Gary Vaynerchuk grew his family business from $4 million to $50 million using social media.
Vaynerchuk found:
- $15,000 in Direct Mail = 200 new customers.
- $7,500 in Billboards = 300 new customers.
- $0 on Twitter = 1,800 new customers.
Wetpaint/Altimeter found companies widely engaged in social media surpass their peers in both revenues and profits.
- Company sales with highest levels of social media = +18%
- Company sales with least social activity = -6%
Lenovo = 20% reduction in call centre activity as customers go to community website.
BK Whopper Sacrifice facebook application:
- Estimated Investment < $50,000.
- Estimated Return: > $400,000 in press/media value.
- 32 million free media impressions.
- That’s like reaching the combined population of 19 US States.
Blendtec quintupled sales with “Will It Blend?” YouTube Videos.
Dell sold $3 million worth of computers on Twitter.
- Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive POI.
25% of Ford’s marketing spend is on Digital/Social Media.
- “You can’t just say it. You have to get the people to say it to each other.” – James Farley, CMO Ford
- 37% of Generation Y was aware of the Ford Fiesta via social media before its launch in the US.
- They are the only US auto company that didn’t take a government loan.
Naked Pizza set a one day sales record using social media.
- 68% of sales from Twitter.
- 85% of new customers from Twitter.
VW goes 100% Mobile for launch of GTI
Social media is only for B2C = false.
- Tweets for a Cause sent out a tweet from Atlanta to encourage support of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
- Retweets from @marshable, @G_Man, @zaibatsu and others caused Atlanta Chapter site to receive 11,000 visitors in 24 hours.
InTUIT introduced “Live Community” into their TurboTax products 2 years ago.
- Unit sales up by over 30% each year.
Software company Genius.com reports 24% of social media leads convert to sales opportunities.
President Barack Obama
- 5 million fans on social media.
- 5.4 million clicked on an “I voted for Obama Facebook button”.
- 3 million online donors = $500 million.
- 92% of donations were in increments of less than $100.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre
- 9.5% increase in registrations using social media.
Web host provider Moon Fruit:
- $15K social media investment
- Website Traffic up over 300%
- Sales up 20%
eBay found participants in online communities spend 54% more money.
Customer support cost = $12 via the contact centre vs. 25 cents via self service.
“Why are we trying to measure social media like a traditional channel anyway?
- Social media touches every facet of business and is more an extension of good business ethics – Erik Qualman”
- “You can’t buy attention anymore. Having a huge budget doesn’t mean anything in social media …
- The old media paradigm was PAY to PLAY.
- Now you get back what you authentically put in. You’ve got to be willing to PLAY to PLAY.” – Alex Bogusky, C–Chairman, CP&B.
- Think of Twitter as the canary in the coal mine – Morgan Johnston (JetBlue Airways)
71% plan to increase investments in social media by an average of 40%, because:
- Low Cost Marketing
- Getting Traction
- We HAVE to do it.
MacDonalds:
- “Our head of social media is the customer”.
What is the cost of doing nothing?
Find Out More: http://www.enoov.com/ytplinternet.html
Is Social Media a fad or the biggest shift since the industrial revolution?
May/100
- In 2010 Gen Y outnumbers Baby Boomers, 96% of them have joined a social network.
- Social Media is the #1 activity on the Web.
- 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media.
Years to reach million users:
- Radio (38 years)
- TV (13yrs)
- Internet (4 years)
- iPod (3 years)
- Facebook (100 million users in less than 9 months)
- iPod Application Downloads (1 billion in 9 months)
Some Interesting Facts:
- If Facebook were a country, it would be the world’s 4th largest country after China, India & the USA.
- Over 300 million use China’s QZone (QZONE.QQ.COM)
- 2009 US Dept. of Education study in 2009 revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction.
- 1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum.
- 80% of companies are using LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees.
- The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year old females.
- Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire population of Ireland, Norway & Panama.
- 80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices. People update anywhere, anytime. Imagine what that means for bad customer experiences?
- Generation Y & Z consider e-mail passé.
- In 2009, Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen.
- What happens in Vegas, stays on facebook, twitter, orkut, bebo, flickr, digg, myspace, YouTube, etc.
- YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world.
- YouTube hosts over 100 million videos.
- Wikipedia has over 13 million articles. Studies show it’s more accurate than Encyclopaedia Britannica. 78% of these articles are non-English.
- If you were paid $1 for every time an article was posted on Wikipedia, you would earn $156.23 per hour.
- There are over 200 million blogs. 54% of bloggers post content or tweet daily.
- 25% search results for the World’s Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content.
- 34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands. Do you like what they are saying about your brand?
- People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services than how Google ranks them.
- 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Only 14% trust advertisements.
- Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI.
- 90% of people that can TiVo ads do.
- Hulu has grown from 63 million total streams to 373 million in April 2009.
- 70% of 18-34 year olds have watched TV on the web. Only 33% have ever viewed a show on DVR/TiVo.
- 25% of Americans in the past month said they watched a short video on their phone.
- 35% of book sales on Amazon are for the Kindle.
- 24 of the 25 largest newspapers are experiencing record declines in circulation.
- We no longer search for the news, the news finds us.
- In the near future, we will no longer search for products and services; they will find us via social media.
- Social Media isn’t a fad; it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.
- More than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook daily. It’s a people-driven economy.
- Successful companies in social media listen first and sell second.
- Successful companies in social media act more like party planners, aggregators and content providers than traditional advertisers.
- Welcome to the world of socialnomics.
You can find out more at http://www.enoov.com/ytplinternet.html
IT Certifications: Are they held in high regard?
Apr/100
SearchDataCenter.com have conducted a survey on IT certifications which is quite an interesting read!
According to this survey, regard for IT certifications has taken a nosedive with 80% of respondents saying that IT certifications had no impact on their hiring, promotion or salary. According to research from Foote Partners LLC, and IT job research firm, the pay for noncertified IT skills now averages more than pay for IT certifications.
According to David Foote, CEO of Foote partners, exceptions have been a selection of security, networking, systems and database certifications, plus a few in the architecture and project management areas that are showing solid pay growth numbers.
One of the main exceptions is in the area of Virtualization. “People that were smart in 2004 saw virtualization coming. Today everybody wants employees with three to four years of virtualization experience,” Foote said. “Certifications can be valuable, but you’ve got to combine them with a judgment of the market. What’s going to be important in three to five years?”. To read this article in more detail go to www.searchdatacenter.com
Here at Verkom we still see a demand for IT certifications in roles coming in. Certifications that continue to be in demand are CCNA, MCSE, ISEB, ITIL, CISSP, Prince 2 and one that is becoming more and more popular is VCP. These certifications are still held in high regard by clients we work with across Ireland.
What do you think?
Innovation: The Way Forward
Mar/100
A recent government report released earlier this month, Innovation Task force Report, has led to a major emphasis on innovation in the Irish economy. The Report is an important element of the Government’s Plan, Building Ireland’s Smart Economy, for dealing with the challenges facing the Irish economy in a changed world. The Report sets out some key recommendations and steps to allow Ireland to be transformed into a Global Innovation Hub. Can innovation provide a solution to our troubled economy? Can technology provide the best solution?
Innovation can come from anywhere, anyone and at any time. It’s a case of moulding an idea and enabling people to take that idea and give them a platform to drive and develop it. Technology may provide the best answer. There has been continued growth in video based platforms online. One such area that could develop within this growth is working remotely. The idea of working remotely is familiar concept, but the development of video conferencing, web cams and Webex can allow for new opportunities for both employers and employees. For employers it’s an adaptation of workforce practices, trust, and enablement in the employees you are hiring and modifying the way we think successful workers work. It offers numerous opportunities for the Irish work force to export their knowledge globally. Historically, Ireland has been known as a hotbed for educational excellence, this excellence could be exported via technology, via TelePresence, or Webex to countries that struggle to attract the right level of quality that Ireland possesses.
The government report also highlights the need for investment in national infrastructure. This is a key factor in the development of video based solutions. Investment in infrastructure and the support of the private sector and service providers will assist access to workforce throughout Ireland.
Innovation can provide the next step in the road to recovery for the Irish economy. The next bright idea could provide a pathway to a smart Irish economy.
http://evertb.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/report_of_the_innovation_taskforce.pdf