Positive growth trend continues in Ireland’s professional jobs market
Mar/100
The latest Premier Group Irish Employment Monitor covering February 10 figures was published this morning.
This month’s highlights include:
- In February 10, new professional job vacancies increased by 34% compared to February 09
- Month on month, the number of new job vacancies rose by 7%
- This is the fourth consecutive month of increase in the number of new jobs available for professionals
- In February compared to January, the number of new professionals beginning a new job search increased by 19%
- There were 58% more professionals beginning a job search in February 10 compared to the same month last year
The full release can be viewed on our website:http://www.verkom.ie/Irish-employment-monitor-February-2010
In addition, the Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor covering February 10 has also been published.
- New financial services job vacancies in February 10 rose by 13% month-on-month
- Compared to the same month last year, job numbers were up 67% in February 10, a similar uplift to that seen in January 10 vs. January 09
- The number of professionals entering the jobs market in February 10 increased by 29% on January 10 and also rose by 29% compared to February 09
- The average City salary stood at ₤51,560 – a 2% month-on-month increase
- For those considering changing jobs in 2010, career development rather than remuneration was identified as the key reason (57%)
The full release can be viewed on
http://www.morganmckinley.co.uk/Employment-Monitor-February-2010
Most Sought-After Skills on the Web Market
Feb/100
Recently there has been a continued growth of online web agencies. This growth has stemmed from major companies outsourcing their web development and advertising campaigns to specialist firms. These companies are advancing at a rapid pace and are now sourcing the best and most highly skilled developers on the market. Currently there is a shortage of expertise to match this demand. What does this mean for developers and designers? Are there opportunities in the web market? The answer is Yes!! The best way to take advantage of these opportunities is through up-skilling!
Cakephp and flex are the hottest web skills on the market. Flex is an open source program for developers and maintains open source web applications while Cakephp is a framework that offers an extensible architecture for developing, maintaining, and deploying applications. It reduces development costs and helps developers write less code which is a valuable tool for online agencies.
The growth of online agencies will continue and this is a competitive market with high demand for specialised web developers and designers!
Ireland’s hiring market ends 2009 on a positive note
Jan/100
Monitoring the pulse of the Irish professional jobs market
Highlights
- During December 09, the number of new job vacancies in Ireland increased by 3% compared to November 09
- The year-on-year monthly comparison of new jobs showed an increase of 23% – the first rise since February 08
- The number of professionals beginning a new job search in December 09 declined by 30% compared to November 09
- The year-on-year monthly comparison showed the first increase registered throughout 2009, a small but significant rise in new candidates of 0.27%
Irish professional jobs market shows monthly and yearly improvement
The Irish professional jobs market saw a second consecutive increase in new jobs compared to the previous month with a rise of 3% from 4,432 in November 09 to 4,587 in December 09. A year-on-year monthly increase was also registered for the first time since February 08; the 4,587 new jobs in December 09 showing significant improvement from the 3,743 new positions in December 08. Bucking the usual trend for a decline in job vacancies over the Christmas period, these figures indicate that businesses in Ireland are starting to show signs of renewed confidence.
Seasonal factors did appear to have an impact on the number of new professionals looking for jobs in December. Compared to November 09, there were 30% fewer individuals looking for jobs across Ireland in December 09 with a decrease from 10,830 to 7,560. Compared to December 08, there was a small increase from 7,540 to 7,560 – which also suggests a cautious return to confidence in the hiring market amongst job hunters.
Brian Murphy, Managing Director of Premier Group in Ireland comments:
“Traditionally the number of new professional jobs in the month of December is lower than other months, so we were pleased to see that the number of job vacancies in December 09 held up so well and even showed a small increase on the November figures. As the year comes to a close many employers put hiring on hold until January so the increase was a very welcome and hopefully positive sign that 2010 may herald better times for professionals seeking new opportunities in Ireland”.
“The increase from December 08 to December 09 brought to an end a sequence of 21 consecutive months of year-on-year monthly declines in new job numbers. The last increase was registered in February 2008. The December figures provide further hope that the bottom of the market has been reached and we can look forward to the new decade with significantly more confidence than that with which we entered 2009″.
“The number of professionals entering the jobs market in December 09 showed a significant decrease on the November figure. However this decrease is consistent with the pattern from previous years and is reflective of the holiday period at the end of December and the
reluctance of many professionals to become active in the market when they perceive that activity will be less robust as Christmas comes closer. We expect these figures to normalise when the January 2010 Irish Employment Monitor figures are released”.
Chart: New jobs v. new candidates
About the Premier Group Irish Employment Monitor
The Premier Group Irish Employment Monitor measures the pulse of the Irish professional jobs market by tracking the number of new jobvacancies and new candidates within the Republic of Ireland each month. The first Premier Group Irish Employment Monitor was launched in May 2009 with data from April 2008 onwards.
Statistical methodology
Monthly new jobs and new candidates
Monthly new jobs and new candidate figures are based on Premier Group’s own monthly records of new permanent job vacancies and new candidates registering with the firm for permanent employment. Statistics for the full market are derived using Premier Group’s own market share.
Job classification
Job vacancies are professional level roles within the following sectors and functions; Banking & Financial Services, Commerce & Industry Finance, Insurance, Public Practice & Tax, Legal, HR, IT, Life Sciences, Engineering, Process & Manufacturing, Professional Services, Sales & Marketing, Customer Service, Secretarial & Office Support.
Geography
The data is based on new job vacancies and new candidates registered with Premier Group’s network of Irish offices in Cork, Dublin, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford.
About Premier Group
Premier Group is Ireland’s leading recruitment consultancy with offices in Cork, Dublin, Kilkenny, Limerick, and Waterford. Internationally, the Group operates from 24 offices across eight countries. Subsidiary brands within Premier Group in Ireland include
Accreate Executive Search & Interim, Brunel, la crème, Premier, and Verkom. Morgan McKinley and iQ selection also form part of the Premier Group outside of Ireland.
Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor
Premier Group currently publishes a similar monitor in London under its subsidiary brand name, Morgan McKinley. The highly regarded Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor was launched in 2004 and reports on the new roles, candidates and salaries within the financial services jobs market in London each month. Visit www.morganmckinley.co.uk for details.
Government planning PAYE crackdown on contract workers
Jan/100
Some of you may have read the recent article in the Sunday Business Post regarding proposed changes for contractors payment of PAYE. We would not be concerned at this stage that any proposed changes would have any affect on our current IT contractors. Those acting legitimately through a LTD company are unlikely to be affected.
The proposal is designed to ensure that contractors who are de facto employees cannot avoid PAYE by being paid through limited companies they establish.
The proposed changes are currently only in draft form and we will be keeping all of our contractors updated as we obtain additional information through the revenue in the coming months.
Changes were made in the UK a couple of years ago which had significant ramifications for IT contractors however we don’t anticipate the same level or amendments to legislation here.
http://www.sbpost.ie/news/government-planning-paye-crackdown-on-contract-workers-46695.html – Article from the Sunday Business Post
Contractors, how do you think this legislation could affect you? Do you think this legislation change will change the face of the IT Contract market in Ireland?
Positive outlook in the Support & Infrastructure Market
Dec/090
There has been a definite increase in job orders in recent times in the Dublin & Cork market, especially from October onwards. This upturn in registered jobs has been significantly noticed in the support and infrastructure market. This market collapsed at the end of 2008 as clients halved their infrastructure professionals on site and made a move towards outsourcing their IT support function. From a consultancy perspective, large contracts were cut and infrastructure projects were put on hold as clients budgets were squeezed forcing redundancies throughout the sector.
After a tough year of restructuring across all areas of businesses there has been a slight shift towards re-hiring in this market. Consultancies are slowly but surely bulking up their professional services team with high-end skills such as Virtualisation, Storage and Network Security. This will ensure that they are positioned correctly in the marketplace to secure any major upcoming contracts as IT budgets are slowly increased. From an internal prospective, IT support functions are growing again. Companies have begun to increase their operational staff, and as this happens it is being mirrored by the support functions.
Although it is a minimal growth, it is still a positive at the end of a very “taxing” year.
Verkom Language Open Day
Jul/090
Language Open Day WEDNESDAY AUGUST 12TH 2009
Premier Group is hosting an Open day and Evening on Wednesday the 12TH of August from 12.00 – 7.00pm in our offices: Level 4, 6 Lapps Quay Cork City Centre
We currently have a variety of vacancies for bi-lingual and multi-lingual candidates. If you speak one or more of the following languages and have a minimum of 1 years experience in the below areas, we would love to meet you on Wednesday 12th. All you need to do is e-mail your updated cv to permjobs@verkom.ie and come to our offices between 12:00pm and 7:00pm.
Please note you need to have permission to work in the EU without a working visa.
Skills/Experience in any of the following areas:
Customer Services
Sales/Telesales
Administration
Technical Support
Accounts Payable/Receivable
General Ledger Accountant
Credit Control/Collections
Language Requirements:
French
Flemish
Dutch
German
Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
Norwegian
Danish
Swedish
Turkish
Greek
Danish
Working in Cork:
Cork is Ireland’s second city with a population in the city of 100,000. It is a university city with a multi-cultural population, popular with professionals relocating from across Europe and the Middle East.
Cork is home to a high volume of multi-national companies and is very attractive to job seekers looking to develop their career. This, along with a vibrant nightlife, its proximity to the coastline, flights to Europe and its cosmopolitan life-style makes Cork an ideal city for re-locaters.
Has the recession affected the IT market?
Jul/090
Recession, Recession, Recession… Has the IT market Boomed, Crashed or stayed Consistent throughout the last 12 months in Ireland?
Two of the most common questions we are asked at the moment is “How do you feel the recession has affected IT? Are there more IT candidates looking for work now compared with this time last year?”
We decided to publish our statistics based on the Verkom website and the volume of candidates who have sent in their CVs to us from July 2008 to July 2009. This may help answer some of the common questions being asked. 
Firstly, you will be interested to know that within the last 12 months there has been a consistent amount of applications coming through our Verkom website. Typically during the middle of December applications slow down and early in the New Year we tend to see more applications year on year which was the same for early 2009.
What does this mean?
This means that, unlike other industries, the level of IT professionals applying for work has not dramatically increased during this downturn
However, the amount of IT jobs available has decreased between 30 – 35% compared with this time last year. We have seen that this decrease has mostly been in senior-end IT jobs like Project Management, Program Management, IT Management and senior Business Analysis. As a result, senior-end candidates have reduced their salary expectations both in the permanent and contracting market.
Other areas of IT have remained stable. The area of IT Development has remained consistent and skilled developers can command similar salaries to this time last year.
Overall, the IT market has not been hit as hard as other industries like construction and electronic manufacturing so be glad you’re working in IT! The good news is that there are still opportunities out there and companies are still hiring.