2015 has brought around a renewed source of confidence in the Irish professional jobs market; especially in areas such as banking, IT and finance. However, there are many ways students can increase their chances of attaining employment, either on a part time basis or after completing their studies. In a study conducted by Morgan McKinley it is apparent there is a gap emerging in the professional jobs sector with a 31% increase in the number of professional jobs available when comparing the first six months of 2015 with the first six months of 2014. Conversely, there has been an 11% drop in the number of professionals seeking employment. So how can students position themselves in such a way to bridge this gap?
Areas such as cyber security, data analytics, financial technologies and multilingual operations have expanded in recent years, while developments in areas such as social media, digital marketing and mobile computing mean positions now exist for jobs which did not even exist ten years ago. Upskilling is not a new phenomenon, however actively engaging in personal development assures today’s students will be more versatile and dynamic in an ever changing working environment. It is more important than ever for professionals to reskill and become agile to a varying and demanding role. Being adaptable is second nature to most of today’s students granting young professionals an initial head start with regard to these in demand skills. While multilingual candidates are now in more demand than ever, being prepared to offer global support on a 24/7 is a further requirement in this area.
With the emigration epidemic which swept across Ireland now slowing, employers now face the challenge of attracting and recruiting highly skilled workers to propel business in the right direction. More employers are looking to overseas to fill these vacancies, especially with regard to languages. It is no longer unusual to see accountants upskilling in the area of technologies or marketing to become more commercially aware; or engineers venturing into the areas of accounting and finance, applying their industry knowledge to the area of financial services. The economic recovery is well under way but we must look to an individual basis in order to further bridge the gap.
By Jamie Fortune
