Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/86587
Regional Report Emerald in the Rough A skills shortage and high unemployment complicate Ireland's talent management challenge, but things are looking up. By Debbie Bolla Through economic turmoil, the Emerald Isle continues to shine. With alluringly low corporate tax rates, Ireland and its main city of Dublin continue to attract some of the world's largest multinationals, including Google, Microsoft, Dell, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Paypal amongst others. In addition to technology, the country boasts competitive financial services, food, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, and bioscience sectors. "Ireland is one of the most business friendly economies in the world, with fantastic support that ensures minimum amounts of bureaucracy, important financial assistance, and the benefit of a well-established international business community in nearly every industry that enables senior vp's to rub shoulders locally with their peers," says Jonathan Campbell CEO, Social Talent. Export-led operations are also doing well, and even the hardest hit organisations—small to medium enterprises (SMEs)—have seen growth through job creation. "Enterprise Ireland has done a very good job in facilitating the growth of Irish SMEs overseas whilst the IDA [Industrial Development Agency] has been very successful in getting foreign direct investment into Ireland, in particular within the tech and pharmaceutical sectors," reports James Milligan, senior business director at Hays. (Enterprise Ireland is a government organisation that drives the development and growth of Irish enterprises; the IDA is an inward investment promotion agency responsible for the attraction and development of foreign investment in Ireland.) Although businesses that are reliant on domestic sales remain in a slump, the government is attempting to address the situation. "Earlier this year, the government launched the first annual Action [8] HRO TODAY GLOBAL | SUMMER 2012 Plan for Jobs to rebuild the economy and create jobs," says Orla Nugent, MBA programme director at the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in the Blackrock suburb of Dublin. "The plan contains more than 270 actions to be implemented in 2012 by all 15 government departments as well as 36 state agencies. The object is to improve supports for job-creating businesses and remove barriers to employment creation across the economy." According to the Irish Times, the government reported progress on the initiative at a press conference in July. It has delivered on more than 90 per cent of the almost 150 measures it promised to complete by the end of June. Whilst the creation of 100,000 jobs is predicted by 2016, government officials said it was too early to comment on such projections. Talent Dichotomy Ireland faces an unusual situation when it comes to its pool of talent and skilled workers. The jobs and skills just don't match up. Campbell explains that whilst the amount of construction and retail workers is swelling, few or no jobs exist in those sectors. "At lower levels [non-skilled workers], there are large numbers of applications due to high unemployment in Ireland. Once new starters are trained and competent, there is then the challenge with retention of workers as local employers compete for competent talent," says Seb O'Connell, U.K. director for Randstad Sourceright. On the other hand, the war for talent is on in the tech, financial, and pharmaceutical sectors. Campbell notes that competition is at both a local and global level. Take Google. He says that the