IRISH COMPANIES ARE struggling to find skilled staff and are looking outside the EU for talent despite the high cost of recruiting overseas workers.
The latest Morgan McKinley employment monitor, which tracks vacancies and candidates across the country each month, showed there were 40% more professional jobs available in Ireland last month compared to the same time last year.
It also found the small- and medium-enterprise (SME) sector continued to recover after the economic crash and those local firms were now looking for more staff.
But it remained a “challenging environment” in which to recruit good workers because the best staff were being sucked up in large, multinational companies.
The SME sector, in particular, is increasingly focused on hiring outside the EU, despite the additional administrative burden this involves,” the report said.
While professional work opportunities were increasing, the number of workers looking to fill those roles was down 12% in the past year – reflecting the growing squeeze in the jobs market for the most-qualified staff.
No ‘legacy skills’
The report noted many of the jobs being created this year were new roles that didn’t cater to “legacy skills sets”.
The jobs report came as earnings figures for last year showed the average Irish worker’s pre-tax take was still going down, although those in sectors like IT and communications and finance were enjoying significant increases.
Meanwhile, job site Indeed announced it was hiring 30 staff in Dublin to support the rapid growth in recruitment among SMEs both in Ireland and across Europe after opening its regional headquarters in the city three years ago.
The company’s EMEA vice president, Gerard Murnaghan, said software jobs accounted for over half of the most in-demand roles in Ireland, based on positions advertised on the site.
As businesses of all sizes rely more and more on technology even SMEs are having to compete to seek out candidates in Ireland and overseas with specific, technical skills,” he said.
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