Big Data in the Garden of Eden

Posted by Vincent O'Donoghue on Friday, May 10, 2013 in Assessment, Blogging, Funny, Job Seekers, Latest, Social Media, Technology, Tips | 3 comments

I dropped our Au Pair off to the airport this morning. She is going to London for the weekend so in an effort to look after her I gave her any Sterling notes I had and my travel card for the tube, and while over-explaining how to get the train from Stansted into Central London she said those words that no 40 year old man, trying (in vain) to act cooler and younger than he is, wants to hear: “You are just like my dad”. Had I not been buckled in I would have whizzed around the car like a deflating balloon.

She can grab a taxi the next time! Ah, I jest!

The decision to employ an Au Pair to look after our kids three days a week (plus two nights babysitting – which is a godsend) was a difficult one as we were not sure how our lives would change having a constant live-in guest/employee in our house. Would it be weird having someone else involved in the cocoon of our lives? Would she think we were strange or, worse still, really boring? Either way we decided to press ahead and make “a hire”.

The Future of JobBridge Internships Lies With Employers

Posted by Holly Fawcett on Tuesday, April 30, 2013 in Assessment, Job Seekers, Latest, NRF, Video | 2 comments

At the National Recruitment Federation Annual Conference last week, we spoke with Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton TD, about the future of Job Bridge – the Irish internship scheme designed to encourage unemployed people on the live register for longer than three months to take up internships in companies and gain new skills and much-needed experience.

Minister Burton gave us a couple of minutes of her time to explain where she sees the future of Job Bridge, which from the very beginning drew criticism from the public that companies were exploiting this “free labour” and not offering worthwhile experience or long-term job prospects to interns. In fact, the day of the NRF conference, the Irish Times reported that 15 companies in Ireland had been banned from applying for Job Bridge interns because they had used the scheme unfairly. Only one company was named (Oxigen Waste Management Services), but it was reported that all 15 had replaced paid employees with unpaid interns.

Minister Burton put the emphasis back on employers and what their role could be in helping alleviate unemployment, provide meaningful experience and also help themselves with extra hands on deck – where most of the 13,500 Job Bridge Interns were taken on in small and medium sized enterprises, it was to their credit that most firms found employees with skills that were hidden away in Dole queues. Re-training and up-skilling is still important, said the Minister, where some unemployed people were being re-trained in software engineering. In Ireland, we have over 4,000 roles unfilled in software engineering and IT development, so filling some of that skills gap with people who were once long-term unemployed is ideal. Can your business find room to mentor an Intern?

Watch the Minister’s interview here:

Top 10 Job Boards in the UK

Posted by Holly Fawcett on Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Job Boards, Job Seekers, Latest, Search Engines, Social Media, Technology | 4 comments

We always keep a close eye on the visitor statistics of job boards, career’s services and recruitment agencies around the world to get a reliable feel for the market. When we reviewed the top 10 job sites in Ireland last month (available here) we have had a good few requests for a similar table of the UK market too. So, here it is!

* (Site visitor statistics are taken from their ranking on Alexa.com, correct as of April 9th 2013)

Top 10 Job Boards in Ireland – 2013 Edition

Posted by Holly Fawcett on Tuesday, March 12, 2013 in Job Boards, Job Seekers | 1 comment

We reviewed the top 10 job sites in Ireland over a year ago now (see it here) – and the shift and change is quite something. Here’s the 2013 list of the top 10 job boards in Ireland today:

Rank	Website	Site #	+/- v 2012
1	Jobs.ie	67	+7
2	IrishJobs.ie	114	+3
3	Indeed.ie	124	+312
4	Fas.ie	156	-55
5	RecruitIreland.com	250	+247
6	Monster.ie	274	-22
7	JobBoard.ie	519	NA
8	FindAJob.ie	582	-48
9	ComputerJobs.ie	732	+1810
10	CPL.ie	1071	+389

Welcoming CPL into the top 10 job boards, they’re the only Agency to do so. Also, welcome to JobBoard.ie, making a respectable entry to the market at Alexa Ranking #519. ComputerJobs made the biggest improvement, jumping 1810 places across the top websites in Ireland to #732.

Employee Value Proposition: What does it all mean?

Posted by Holly Fawcett on Friday, March 8, 2013 in Assessment, Employer Branding, Job Seekers, Latest, LinkedIn, Tips | 0 comments

When bandying around the term EVP, “Employee Value Proposition“, business managers, recruiters and HR professionals either confuse it with Employer Brand or are just confused. What is an Employee Value Proposition? Officially, it’s the salary, compensation and benefits that the employer pays to an employee who’s contracted to deliver skills, experience and productivity that further delivers the company’s business goals, mission, purpose and values. Your EVP, in tandem with your Employer Brand, will be the determining factor in retaining or losing talent from your organisation.

Every company in the world has an EVP, whether it’s defined or not or you’re aware of it or not. Every recruiter, whether an in-house recruiter as part of the HR team or an agency recruiter, sells the opportunity to work at a company based on this EVP. Let’s break up the EVP into three parts: salary, compensation and benefits.