Do you want to work for Don Draper?

If you’re asking “who’s Don Draper?” you’ve been missing out on the latest TV (box set) phenomenon that is Mad Men. Mad Men is a fictional drama series about an ad agency during the halcyon advertising years of the sixties on New York’s iconic Madison Avenue. Following such luminaries such as The Sopranos and The Wire, Mad Men has been setting the DVD box set world alight. It has just made its much anticipated return for a fifth series on TV after a hiatus of 18 months. 

Advertising has been a labour of love for me for many years. As an 18 year old student I used to flick through Campaign (the trade magazine) dreaming of working in an agency in Charlotte Street (London’s equivalent of Madison Avenue). This was on the back of the golden age for advertising in the UK – the meteoric rise of Saatchi & Saatchi, BBH’s famous Levi’s ads, CDP’s Hamlet baldy man in a photo booth. I achieved my ambition, not in London’s Charlotte Street but in Belfast and Dublin and have continued my love for the sexiest part of the marketing mix ever since.

So you can imagine my enthusiasm when I first heard of Mad Men. Interestingly my wife is a huge fan of the programme as well, but it’s more to do with Jon Hamm who plays the lead character Don Draper, the suave, philandering, creative director of the agency. So not only did we mark the new series first episode date in our calendar, I also became a fan of the Mad Men Facebook page.

Yesterday I got a news feed on Facebook asking me if I wanted to do a job interview with Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. How could I refuse? I clicked on the link and was taken to a Mad Men microsite. Once I arrived, I found all sorts of interesting things for Mad Men nerds like myself – blogs, episode guides, interviews and behind the scenes videos (although the videos can’t be watched outside the US, tut tut). The network behind the series, AMC, are making full use of social media to attach me to the programme’s marketing communications. My interview involved seven characters from the series asking me questions in relation to their department to which I had multiple choice answers.

Anyway the long winded point behind all of this is that using a job interview as a game is a clever way to draw people into the Mad Men microsite. It proves that everyone has an interest in job interviews whether for fun or as a helpful reference. We’ve actually developed our own online interview game called the Hays Challenge which gives you a snapshot of what it’s like to be a Hays Recruitment Consultant. It’s a bit of fun but also a light hearted test to see if you’d be interested in finding the right person to transform a company.

Oh and how did I get on in my Mad Men job interview? I was told I was hired as a copywriter at SCDP!

If only…..

Brand Ireland’s biggest day

"Greening Tower of Pisa", Italy

Wearing green, drinking Guinness and giving a thought to the Emerald Isle. That’s what people will be doing all over the world on the biggest day for brand Ireland. Are there any other truly global celebratory days with a bedrock in one country? The 4th of July, Mardi Gras or Bastille Day? I don’t think so.

Three years ago Tourism Ireland, the organisation responsible for promoting the island of Ireland overseas as a leading holiday destination, came up with a fantastic marketing plan of turning global landmarks green for the day. This year we will have the ‘Greening Tower of Pisa’, London Eye, Table Mountain in South Africa, the Empire State Building in New York, the TV Tower in Berlin, the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, the Sky Tower in Aukland, the Sydney Opera House, the Cibeles fountain in Madrid, the Burgtheater (City Hall) in Vienna, the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Brussels Town Hall and even the mighty Niagara Falls in the U.S. and Canada all turning green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

This is an incredible achievement considering what a tiny nation we are. Once again it’s an indication of how we punch above our weight and the affection the world has for our people, country and culture. In fact you could say it’s symbolic of the other achievements we’ve had over the centuries that have helped built our reputation across most countries worldwide. Arts, sport, politics, commerce and religion have all propelled Irish people into the mindset of the people of many nations. So why shouldn’t we take advantage of it?

And while at face value it looks like ‘a bit of craic’ for the day, there are more strategic objectives around celebrating being Irish. Tourism Ireland’s is probably the most obvious, enticing as many people to take a trip to the 32 counties and help bolster a major factor in our economic recovery. There will be many temporary jobs created around St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, even a few by ourselves! But it’s the long term prospects for the hospitality and retail industry that are so reliant on this feel-good Irish story.

Sixteen Irish government ministers will be schmoozing with dignitaries across the world telling them ‘now is the time to invest in Ireland’s recovery’. Australia, New Zealand, China, Italy, France, the Benelux and Nordic countries, Canada and many of the United States will be hearing about our road to recuperation. They’ll be encouraged to join the incredible amount of FDI that has been coming into the country recently, creating thousands of jobs.

But where is the specific skilled labour to fill those jobs, I hear you cry? Aside from the much publicised national initiatives such as skills conversion courses and changes to education curricula, it’s days like St. Patrick’s Day when we put ideas in our ex-pats’ heads to tempt them back to the old country and ply their skills in a soberer Ireland after the excesses of Celtic Tigerism. Not only that, but think of the many incredibly talented foreign individuals who can choose to live anywhere and start thinking about Ireland on the back of these celebrations?

Oh yes, it’s a clever strategy and one for which we can thank our forefathers for laying the groundwork. Promoting Brand Ireland around St. Patrick’s Day will no doubt have short and longer term effects on our economy. But how about this for a shot in the arm of our finances? Get the 80 million Irish diaspora and their friends to pay an Irish Tax on St. Patrick’s Day as thanks for what we’ve given them. Now wouldn’t that be a boost to the economy?

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!!

Stephen Flanagan
Marketing Manager

HAYS Recruiting experts worldwide

T: +353 1 897 2481
E: stephen.flanagan@hays.com

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It's always darkest before the dawn

In recent weeks contrasts within the Irish economy have continued to emerge. At a glance you could surmise that we continue to be amongst the basket-cases of Europe. Gloomy growth forecasts from trusted sources such as the ESRI predict the economy will grow by 0.9% next year, a downgrade from a previous prediction of 2.3%.

The unemployment rate refuses to abate. In fact the media is getting so tired of the figures they are becoming more creative. Recent reports claimed the number of women out of work for more than a year has soared by a fifth. Official figures show overall unemployment remains at 14.2% in February. We have seen record numbers attend emigration jobs fares such as the Working Abroad Expo across Ireland. Moody’s predict Ireland will face tough challenges regaining market access in 2013 - which might well lead to yet another trip to the Troika. The European crisis roars on and although early media indications suggest a yes vote, the implications of a failure to ratify the upcoming referendum on the Fiscal Treaty suggests a rather worrying few years for our economic prosperity.

With all of this in mind, I think of a line from Florence and the Machines’ song “Shake it out” - It's always darkest before the dawn. We’re bombarded with the depressing news headlines listed above but I get a sense of contradiction when you consider the following recent headline stories. Abbott invests €85 million to expand Irish plant, Allergan invests €350 million, Sanofi unveils €150 million to expand Irish plant, Merck opens €100 million R&D Centre, Pfizer to spend €200 million and so on and so on. Now, consider that this is just in one sector which confirms Ireland as the world's biggest net exporter of pharmaceuticals. We can also look at other stand out sectors in terms of current output and future expectations. The funds industry for example – now employing over 11,000 people in the administration of €1.8 trillion of assets. PepsiCo, Lilly, Microsoft and Paypal are all more amazing stories of 2012, which is just over two months old!

And the best news is that it’s not just the capital reaping the benefits - Sligo, Cork, Westport, Waterford, Carlow and Dundalk are the locations welcoming this major investment, which will also lead to knock-on jobs throughout their local communities. In my neck of the woods, Galway and Limerick are seeing the fruits of a strong multinational market, coupled with inward investment and commitment by large organisations to the region. Galway is now firmly established as the medical devices capital of Ireland, with companies like Medtronics and Boston Scientific acting as the pillar to many other organisations in the same sector. They take full advantage of the availability of skilled labour in a range of technical areas including R&D, design and manufacturing. Limerick and the mid-west is probably best served from the financial services sector which includes of course, the funds industry. Northern Trust continues to expand in the region and GE has an ever-growing presence as well as a substantial aircraft leasing industry in the Shannon Free Zone.

There are many challenges ahead, of that there is no doubt. But we cannot control the European issue and it’s too late to ‘un-guarantee’ the banks. While these and related issues are not going to go away anytime soon we should focus our attention on the positives and the potential it brings - the aggressive investments, the government focus on entrepreneurialism and the solid industry infrastructure that is now emerging across the country. If we all keep our focus on that, the dawn must surely be very close by.

Bobby O'Connor
Business Director
HAYS Recruiting experts worldwide

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