Irish recruiters look overseas for talent as employment soars

The employment boom that Ireland is currently enjoying has a downside in that employers are finding it difficult to get the talent they require. 

According to the Manpower Group, 81% of business owners here are experiencing problems filling roles. Even though the past few years have seen much growth in our labour force, with more women and younger workers coming on board, the growth in jobs still outweighs the number of workers available.

To counteract this reality, Denis Casey, chief operating officer of recruitment firm AA Euro Group, has seen the company spread its wings over the past eight years with fourteen offices across Europe and Ireland.

Denis, who is based in the company’s Cork office on Pouldauff Road, saw a gap in the market and is successfully filling it.

With offices in Ireland (there is a second one in Kildare), the UK, Poland, Romania, Croatia, Germany and the Netherlands, to mention just a few, the aim is to bring people into Ireland to take up jobs.

The company, set up in 2005 by Larry Ryan and Pat McCarthy, was initially oriented towards the provision of labour for the construction industry in Ireland.

“We would have been involved in most of the largest building infrastructure projects in this country and we still are,” says Denis. “In 2015, the white collar part of the business grew across Europe. I would have had a lot of European experience.

“I could see very much a tightening in relation to the talent available. | knew we had the ability to open recruitment offices in Europe and to bring trade, labour and professional workers into Ireland from those locations.”

Mr Casey says that when he came up with the idea of a European talent pool assisting the Irish market, it took a while to convince the company’s clients.

“People said they would look at a European person for the job but ideally they wanted to have an Irish person for the role. That changed about five or six years ago when it became very clear that European staff were wanted to fill roles or maybe supplementary roles. Companies here were just not finding Irish candidates.”

Ireland is a country “that is seen to be very receptive in relation to people coming here. I know there are challenges out there. Anecdotally, we hear a lot about the cost of living and accommodation. But our education system (has a good reputation) and professionals from various locations have a keen eye for things like that and are aware of what opportunities are here as well. At the start, it was a case of bringing people into Ireland. But now, we’re also moving European staff to different locations. We’re doing a lot of work in the Netherlands and Germany.”

AA Euro Group has seen a lot of Eastern European people moving to Ireland and they doing very well here, some going on to open their own businesses.

“There’s a fantastic lifestyle here. When people are looking at their families and considering their future, they don’t want to be in a location that doesn’t seem very stable, where they wouldn’t feel supported. If they’re looking at a family move to Ireland, what typically happens is that someone comes here first on their own and works in Ireland for a year to see if the place is as we say it is. From that, families would follow and essentially become Irish people.”

The newcomers generally find that integration into Irish society is easy.

“Irish people travelled abroad for many years as I did. We’d have had plenty of challenges. Now, we’re seeing people coming into Ireland that want to contribute to society. They’re treated well because we’re friendly people.”

Casey talks about trends in recruitment. “Because of the challenges facing the workforce, we’re seeing a lot of agile recruitment. When budgets get a little bit tightened, some permanent positions might be pulled back. People would consider contracting where they’d go into a project for a set period of time, say six months. The permanent positions of the past have peaked a little bit. Certainly, we’re seeing more and more people who are interested in buying into contract work. In Ireland, we’d be known for working longer hours. The best thing about contracting is that you get paid for every single hour you work.”

In terms of recognition of qualifications from other countries, Casey says: “We’re finding more and more qualifications in software, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering.”

While prospective employees are well equipped with the skills required for the jobs they’re going for, Casey says that having the right attitude is just as important.

“They have the qualifications and good English speaking skills, but the work ethic is important as well. Companies are more than happy to bring these people into Ireland. It’s working really well.”

Despite the shortage of accommodation here and the high cost-of-living, Casey says Ireland is still seen as an attractive country in which to live and work.

“Because there is a challenge, clients are assisting candidates for maybe the first six months. Once they’ve worked successfully for six months here, there’s a clear understanding that after that period of time, they’ll have access to accommodation. Many clients assist candidates in finding accommodation.” While the cost of everything from energy to food is high, Casey says “the salaries here outweigh the cost of living”.

Ever attuned to the broad base of potential candidates for jobs, Casey gives an example of a firm in Cork that his company dealt with.

“They were having serious problems developing a software development team for a project. There was a threat that the project was going to be lost to a facility in Germany. So we went to our offices in Croatia, Poland and Romania. We found the software development staff with the experience that was required. These people worked remotely as developers for our clients in Cork. The knock-on effect for the client was that the project stayed in Cork. There was further investment in the city.”

A win-win for all involved.