How optimistic are we about 2011?

Last October, we did a Tough Choices survey that found some 70% of companies in Ireland had changed their employees’ pay and conditions or were planning to do so due to the recession. This year, we wondered if that remained the same. How optimistic are we truly, as employees or employers, about 2011?

We’ve turned our tough choices survey on its head and we’re now looking to take the current workplace temperature in our Workplace Optimism Survey. This is a great opportunity for employers and employees alike to benchmark themselves against those in their sector, as results will be available per sector and company size.

Click on the relevant links to take part. There are two versions of the survey – one for employees (even if you aren’t employed!) and one for employers. (this survey is now closed)

We look forward to analysing the results and bring them to you early next month. Keep an eye out on hays.ie for them!

Retraining and Up-skilling in the Construction Sector

Construction professionals are obviously keen to up-skill as exemplified by the 54% of respondents, in a recent Hays survey, answering that they would work for free in order to make themselves more attractive to prospective employers. A similar number criticised the training available to them through organisations such as FÁS as inadequate in an environment where competition for jobs is fierce. So to improve their employment prospects the perception is that you need to be studying at Degree or Masters level - but this is simply not feasible for an unemployed Engineer who is trying to support a family on social welfare entitlements. A staggering 78% felt that they cannot re-train due to financial restrictions.

What does this say about the system in place? We have a large chunk of social welfare recipients who are already highly qualified and skilled but cannot find work in their field. They are willing to change career path and to retrain but all that's available to them are mediocre courses that the majority of them have no faith in. I will avoid joining the chorus of FÁS bashers and just say that the content and strength of these courses is clearly inadequate and needs to be over-hauled. Of course all this would be less necessary if there was some commitment to capital investment thereby creating the type of jobs these people are qualified for. These professionals would then become contributors to the exchequer and investment in infrastructure would go a long way to improving the competitiveness of the overall economy.

Read more>>>
Construction Retraining Survey Results – hays.ie
Buliders would ‘work for free’ to secure job – independent.ie

London’s calling for accountants again!

Back in March we had a large amount of accountancy jobs with our large banking clients in London. Subsequently, we organised two career events, which were a great success and led to a number of Irish qualified accountants with financial services experience moving to lucrative jobs in the city of London. We asked a few of the people we placed what they thought of their experience of moving to London. Read the case studies of Vincent Holohan, Romeo Macari, John Dalton and Caoimhin Young to find out more.

Based on that success and a request from our banking customers, we are hosting another two events on the 13th October in the Clarion Hotel and the 14th in the Conrad Hotel. We are looking for a wide range of qualified accountants and we are very confident we can get Irish accountants with experience in the financial services sector jobs very quickly. If you’d like more information go to www.hays.ie/londonscalling.