Tag Archives: Joe Robbins

DESPITE the very high level of inflation seen over the last year, the economic outlook is still quite strong as 2023 begins. While lay-offs in the technology sector have raised concerns, Joe Robbins of Careerwise Recruitment feels those are not reflective of the overall health of the local and national jobs market. “We’re still effectively at full employment. We’re still finding it very hard to find people at all levels. I think we’re very lucky that we have a very diverse economy. “The technology companies are down right now and they’re letting a lot of people go, but if these people can migrate into the medical device/pharma-type companies then there are loads of opportunities still. It’s very buoyant right now.” While inflation is very high, in many cases workers have seen their incomes rise significantly. “Because it’s such a competitive economy the wages have increased. It’s a messy environment as well, people might have two or three opportunites to change …

AT the moment many companies are facing a slew of problems in terms of recruitment, retention and management of workers, according to Joe Robbins of Shannon-based CareerWise recruitment. Last week a poll suggested 63% of Irish workers were disengaged from their job, but Mr Robbins says that figure, while alarming, is actually an underestimate. “It’s far higher than that. Millennials, modern young people, they want more than just working from home, they want to be able to take time out to go to the gym or do charity work or whatever, there’s a huge disengagement around the world.” At the same time there is a huge demand for people, with labour shortages across various sectors. “The labour market is very, very tight now. You saw last week that Ireland has surpassed 2.5 million people working. “There’s a huge shortage of all sorts of people now; hospitality, production and manufacturing, finance, supply chain, R&D, there’s a shortage of people everywhere. It’s …

POST Covid-19 restrictions there is a significant shortage of labour across the economy, according to Joe Robbins of CareerWise Recruitment, which operates from Shannon, as well as having bases in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Mayo. While many jobs in the western world went to China over the last 30 years, he says that trend is now being reversed, which is leading to more jobs here, but they aren’t necessarily easy to fill. “It’s called in-sourcing, they’re trying to bring stuff away from China and to become less reliant on China. Obviously it’s leading to inflation, but more importantly in the long run it’s going to mean a lot more opportunities for the likes of Ireland to supply the big multinational companies. In fairness during Covid we kept everything going as a country, which was great. “A lot of the American corporates were very impressed that the Irish subsidaries kept everything going. That’s one big factor that’s going to lead to …

THE move to Level 5 restrictions has seen the domestic economy slump further, with many locally owned businesses having to close their doors again. While many people have been left out of work, at least temporarily, there is a more positive dimension to the local employment situation, with a number of multinational companies in Clare and the wider region trying to find new staff. This week saw an announcement by US company exida that it will create 25 new jobs in Shannon , while Joe Robbins of Careerwise Recruitment said the Pharma/Life Sciences/ Medical Devices sector is booming in the mid-west. “If you consider so many companies are working on a vaccine, they’ve continued to hire, and a lot of them are growing. They’re hiring from a small pool of people, and if you’re a quality engineer or a manufacturing engineer, or a chemist or a scientist, you’ve a lot of choice. I’m talking about the mid-west but in Cork …