Sunday Business Post - New Business Section - May 24 2009
Read the article on the Sunday Business Post website by clicking here.
Start-ups and other small companies are "gridlocked" by a lack of available finance, according to Eilis Quinlan, the newly elected chairperson of the Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association (Isme).
‘‘The absolutely crucial issue overriding everything else at the moment is cashflow,” said Quinlan. ‘‘That, teamed with the late payments issue, is absolutely grid locking a lot of companies. The money is just not moving out there.”
Quinlan, who has run her own accountancy practice in Naas for 17 years, said her primary objective in her new role would be to help Isme’s 8,500 member companies to get money flowing through their businesses again.
Stilted cashflow was forcing otherwise viable companies out of business, according to Quinlan.
‘‘Bad businesses will always fail anyway, unless they are particularly lucky,” she said. ‘‘They do not deserve to succeed. Good businesses, which have been operating for ten to 15 years, with fundamental good business models and tight ships, and which are not operating in areas of the economy that are defunct, cannot get paid. Their debtors are taking longer and longer and the banks will not extend their overdrafts.”
Quinlan said small businesses in Ireland faced a number of other challenges.
‘‘The loss of competitiveness is also a major issue,” she said. ‘‘The cost of doing business in Ireland has become massive - labour costs, local charges, fuel costs. For exporting businesses, the fall in sterling is an issue.”
Quinlan said start-ups, and entrepreneurs who might otherwise opt to set up in business, needed forceful action from the government.
‘‘General economic uncertainty is a problem. People do not know what the government’s plans are, or even what government is going to be there in six months. There is no idea in place of any sort of overall master plan.”
Quinlan established her own independent firm of chartered certified accountants and registered auditors in Naas in 1992.The practice employs ten staff to provide auditing services, taxation advice and management consultancy, primarily to SMEs.
Quinlan is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, holds a certificate in computing from Dublin City University and has an accredited commercial mediator award from the Mediation Forum of Ireland.
Quinlan is also a committee member of Naas Chamber of Commerce, a member of Mensa and a member of the government’s SME Management Development Council. In her new role with Isme, Quinlan succeeds outgoing chairman JJ Killian, managing director of Clonmelbased Flancare Distribution.
‘‘I am a qualified commercial mediator, and I am an experienced liquidator, but more important than any of that is that I am actually an SME myself,” said Quinlan.
‘‘I am a small-time employer and a risk-taker. I understand the business risks, and I hope this will stand in my stead very well in my new role.”
Quinlan said there had been a rise in the number of new businesses formed so far this year, particularly by entrepreneurs made redundant as a result of the recession.
‘‘There are huge amounts of sole traders and small companies starting up, as people do not just want to lounge around on the dole,” she said.
‘‘People are taking the opportunity to set out on their own. A lot of these are highly educated and highly skilled people, who have been thinking about taking the leap for the last ten years.”
Redundancy may turn out to be a positive event for many of those now starting out on their own.
‘‘There are really positive aspects about owning your own business, so this push could be the best thing that could have happened for them,” she said. ‘‘Any SME owner manager will tell you that there is not much work-life balance during the start-up phase, but in the medium and long-term the payback is huge.”
Quinlan advised potential entrepreneurs, with viable business ideas, not to be disheartened by the current difficult-looking business climate.
‘‘My advice would be to go for it if you have a good idea,” she said.
‘‘Entrepreneurs have always been brave and willing to take calculated risks. There are always opportunities out there and there still are. HP and Nokia were both set up during recessions.”
Quinlan added difficult economic times could be advantageous for some new businesses.
‘‘The cost base, in some ways, is now relatively low,” she said. ‘‘Insurance costs can be found cheaper. You can shop around for things like fuel, and rents can often be negotiated down in the current climate.”
Quinlan added, however, that it was imperative that new businesses secured sufficient funding to get off the ground. Access to start-up bank credit was an issue for entrepreneurs at the moment, she said.
‘‘At the time I was setting out, it was easier to get bank support than at present. A bank will want to see the paper, and they will want to see the figures. I can totally understand that as even in the good times banks are entitled to reasonable projections and a master plan.”
Quinlan advised new business owners to seek support and guidance and not feel they had to do everything themselves.
‘‘Do not try and be everything to all people,” she said. ‘‘Reach out and get help. If you have an excellent idea that is your unique strength, do not be embarrassed if you do not know the financial rules or the legal end of things.
‘‘One phone call or e-mail to Isme and we can comeback with the right answer. The support that is available from us is worth ten times the cost of the membership.”
Quinlan said new start-up companies would create the momentum to lift Ireland out of the economic doldrums.
‘‘Small businesses are the lifeblood of this economy,” she said.
‘‘When things get rough, your corner shop or local boutique or garage does not up sticks and move to another country. We are very adaptable and we can change direction quickly.
‘‘We can take setbacks on the chin and come back for more. In a way, we are much better poised to react to things as they happen than bigger business is.”
More government assistance is needed to improve credit access for small and medium-sized businesses, said Quinlan.
‘‘A government commitment to promoting SMEs would help,” she said. ‘‘The banks say they are lending, but we have seen no examples of that, I am afraid. Isme was instrumental in securing €350 million from the European Investment Bank, but it is just not being passed on. ‘‘The lip service paid to an SME stimulus provision in the last budget was pathetic and heart-breaking.
[Minister for Finance] Brian Lenihan had one line about €50 million being given through Enterprise Ireland, but how much of that will filter down to SMEs?
‘‘Then you have to go through hoops and piles of paper to get anything. In the meantime, new and small businesses are failing. Liquidations are coming across my door every day of the week, including good, serious businesses.”
Monday 25 May 2009
Start-ups ‘gridlocked’ by lack of funds
Tuesday 19 May 2009
Keep your career moving in the interim
Sunday Business Post - Recruitment Section - May 17 2009
Read the article on the Sunday Business Post website by clicking here.
"There has been a significant increase in the numbers of people approaching us, many of whom are more senior than might have been coming to us before,” said Robert Wasson, managing director of Watershed Interim Management.
"We have a flood of people at the moment, people who have been made redundant recently and others who feel they are about to lose their jobs. The seniority of some of the people coming to us has been a bit of an eye-opener.”
The increase in candidates seeking interim opportunities echoes the growing popularity of this option for employers, according to Patrick Dwyer, managing director of Executives Online.
‘‘We have seen a number of Irish companies, which cannot hire permanently owing to hiring freezes, take someone on in an interim capacity,” Dwyer said. ‘‘There has been a rise in the use of interims for projects that are a direct response to the economic crisis. Demand for interims to work on cost reduction - such as financial directors or procurement professionals - and sales improvements, are up.”
Career choice
When Michael Cowan decided to enter the interim market in 2005, he already had 18 years’ experience as a marketing director under his belt in the FMCG field. Among Cowan’s previous employers were multinationals, including Proctor & Gamble, Diageo and PepsiCo in Ireland, Britain and Central Europe.
‘‘It was pretty much a deliberate career choice,” Cowan said. ‘‘My wife and I decided to move back to Ireland. At the time, I looked at my CV and felt that interim management just suited my long-term career aspirations.”
Cowan said the move into the interim market was relatively straightforward.
‘‘The first role I had was working for a well-known Irish drinks business which was looking to launch a new product,” he said. ‘‘With my background, the functional skills and experience were there. It was just a matter of focusing on the assignment at hand and delivering a certain project brief.”
He said that the interim management projects he had so far worked on had been varied and interesting.
‘‘I am on my fourth interim assignment in five years,” Cowan said. ‘‘I have worked for drinks companies, an international sports body on a particular tournament, a financial institution and now an iconic Irish retail business.
‘‘Typically, I would be with a client for six months. Quite often, you are replacing someone who has a very specific skill set that might take longer to recruit long-term.
‘‘Also quite often, as in my current role, you are brought in to fill a void that is not just one particular job, but work across the organisation to sort out some fundamental issues and devise the best way forward.”
Working as an interim manager allows Cowan to focus on the project to hand, while avoiding long term management issues and the potential to become involved in company politics.
‘‘Working this way is about meritocracy,” he said. ‘‘You are very much rewarded for getting the job done, rather than being part of a department and getting established within the company politics and infrastructure. You are just there to do a job, which helps keep you focused, and helps you to be much more effective.
You can switch in and out of different companies and challenges. It helps to keep fresh that way.”
The flexible nature of interim work suits Cowan’s personal circumstances. ‘‘I come from New Zealand and this allows me the flexibility to, if I want, take three months off without it interfering with the business,” he said. ‘‘It suits our family lifestyle as well.”
Candidates who make the move from full-time roles into interim management tend to a mass to an established wealth of professional experience, said Was son of Watershed Interim Management.
‘‘Clients tend to select people who are slightly over-qualified for the position,” he said. ‘‘Typically the people we would place would have significant managerial experience, generally greater than ten years in senior management positions.”
Dwyer said interim management work suited people who were flexible in their approach and confident in their own abilities.
‘‘A successful interim manager needs to be very self-directed and resilient, and have a strong track record of delivering results,” he said.
‘‘Interim managers must be able to find their own assignments - although agencies can help - and cope with the on-off pattern of work, live out of a suitcase where necessary and be held to a very high standard for the results they are being asked to produce.”
Lifestyle change
Lifestyle is an important issue for anyone considering a move into interim management, Wasson said.
‘‘Some people may not want to work at certain times of the year, or may not want to work five days of the week,” he said. ‘‘They may want to keep a few days a week to work on something else, or for family purposes.
That is quite a common thing, especially with senior professional women who often want to work three days a week.”
Interim management and consultancy are not the same thing, according to Wasson.
‘‘The main difference is that consultants come in and advise people what to do,” he said. ‘‘Interim managers come in and roll their sleeves up and do it. Not everyone who is a consultant can be an interim manager, and vice versa, but you do get people who can do both.”
Interim roles
Many different types of organisations use interim managers - and for many different reasons, according to Deirdre O’Shaughnessy, business development manager with Inter IM Executives.
‘‘There is no ‘typical’ client,” O’Shaughnessy said. ‘‘Opportunities come from all sectors of the economy - private, public, and non-profit - and cover all managerial functions and qualifications. Interim managers can support one off projects, such as integrating mergers or acquisitions, product or market diversification or IT initiatives.
‘‘Interims can also be taken on to support organisational change, such as the introduction of new processes or management strategies, or to take over a critical role where a senior executive is absent through illness or pending the replacement of an outgoing executive.
‘‘An interim manager can even test a new or changing role in advance of a permanent candidate being appointed.”
Salary prospects
Senior executives could increase their annual power by working as an interim manager.
‘‘Successful interim managers can earn orders of magnitude more than they did in permanent employment,” Dwyer said. ‘‘If they replace a salaried role paying €100,000 per year, with interim roles where they earn €1,000 per day and are on assignment just 75 per cent of the year, they could easily double their earnings.”
Wasson said that interim managers working with Watershed typically earned between €750 and €1,200 per day plus Vat. He warned, however, that working on an interim basis did not automatically guarantee a high annual wage.
‘‘Interim may not suit someone who expects a very high salary, because of the rates available in Ireland and the number of days you can expect to work,” he said. ‘‘There are 220 days available and we would say that 150 days is fantastic. Therefore, you will have difficulty earning more than €150,000 through the interim route.”
Cowan said his yearly earning capacity as an interim equalled fulltime employment.
‘‘I operate through a limited liability company and my interim management services are part of a broader marketing services agency that Iown,” he said.
‘‘There are benefits to doing that versus being a PAYE worker. There are risks though. You do not get sick pay or paid holidays and there are no bonus schemes or share options. The rate takes that into account, so it probably evens out in the long run.”
Market trends
Wasson said there were more interim managers seeking roles than there were positions available. He said, however, that companies driven to interim management by the downturn were likely to stick with the model when the economy picked up.
‘‘Just at the moment, the stream of opportunities is drier than we would like,” Wasson said. ‘‘Having said that, we are seeing signs that companies are looking to interim managers as the way to start to reemploy people again.
‘‘We are convinced that will be an increasing trend and that the recession will be very good for the interim industry. It will break the permanent-only idea in people’s minds.
‘‘When companies think about taking on a senior executive, they will think about what they really need, and more often consider taking on someone for just six months, or just three days a week.”
Despite the downturn, Cowan said he would continue to work as an interim manager.
‘‘With the risk of the gap between assignments, there is a temptation if an offer came along of a permanent job, but at the moment I am pretty comfortable for the future of interim management,” he said.
Monday 27 April 2009
Legal sector looks to retraining
Sunday Business Post - Recruitment Section - Apr 26 2009
Read the article on the Sunday Business Post website by clicking here.
Earlier this month, Dublin legal firm William Fry announced 17 redundancies, while in February, 45 jobs were lost at A&L Goodbody, another ‘big five’ legal firm.
Arthur Cox is also seeking voluntary redundancies from up to 20 secretarial and support staff. A similar number of qualified solicitors have left the company so far this year.
Legal firms around the country are implementing similar plans, according to David Byrnes, legal, tax and public practice manager with Brightwater Selection.
‘‘It is fair to say that the economic downturn has affected the entire legal recruitment market,” Byrnes said. ‘‘Unfortunately, it has affected small, medium and large legal firms, in-house legal people and the public sector as well. It is a particularly difficult time right now.”
Dave Riordan, a senior recruitment consultant with Careers Register, said jobs were on the line across the board.
‘‘A lot of legal firms are cutting numbers, and practices are scaling back their staff and not keeping on newly qualified staff,” said Riordan. ‘‘They are also offering early retirement to senior management and senior partners. Recruitment freezes are going on in many firms at the same time.”
Property and finance
For most firms facing difficulties, the collapse of the property market was a major catalyst, said Cliodhna Dineen, head of law at Griffith College Cork.
‘‘A huge amount of the work done and the fees gained by law firms in recent years would have been in property-related areas,” said Dineen. ‘‘As the property boom has gone, conveyancing work has gone with it. That has been the biggest problem for solicitors’ offices throughout the country. That is where a lot of employees have been let go or had their hours reduced.”
Unprecedented turbulence in banking and related sectors has added to the woes of legal employers nationwide.
‘‘Practices which were servicing the financial services industry have be en badly affected,” said Riordan. ‘‘Banking and funds have been the worst hit in the last six months in particular.”
Salary cuts
Accompanying the job cuts announced by William Fry and Goodbody were further plans by both firms to reduce pay for remaining staff. Riordan said salary cuts were widespread throughout the sector as firms sought to manage costs.”
Salaries have only moved downwards,” he said. ‘‘Towards the end of last year, O’Donnell Sweeney cut salaries of senior staff by 15 per cent, and cuts of between 10 and 15 per cent have been fairly typical in other larger legal firms.
‘‘Most legal employers are cutting salaries and looking at other ways of retaining staff, and different working hours and working arrangements are being looked at.”
Too many candidates
There are many more qualified legal professionals looking for work than there are positions available, said Byrnes.
‘‘Due to the number of firms that have had to let staff go and the sheer number of people who have qualified, there are a lot more candidates than jobs at present,” he said.
Unemployed candidates have scaled back on salary demands in the hope of securing new roles.
‘‘People see that they have to be very reasonable and flexible with their salary demands,” he said. ‘‘I have seen people at senior associate or just below partner level taking €20,000 to €25,000 hits on their salary just to get a job.
‘‘These are very good people, but because of the area they have worked in, it is difficult for them to get a job if they are not flexible on salary.”
New candidates
Newly qualified solicitors are particularly vulnerable in an increasingly difficult labour market.
‘‘I met a recently qualified solicitor - a fantastic candidate, but she is on €22,000 a year,” said Riordan. ‘‘About a year ago, she would be moving to €50,000 to €60,000, but as it stands, she is just being let go. That is typical for a lot of newly qualified solicitors.”
Riordan said a lot of highly qualified legal professionals were finding it difficult to secure new jobs.
‘‘A lot of solicitors have trained for years to get to where they are, and it is very frustrating for them to not actually have the tools and skills to find that next job as quickly as they would imagine a highly qualified person would,” he said.
‘‘We are advising them that it will take a bit longer to find the right role at the moment.” The decline in property-related work has impacted demand for solicitors with skills and experience in the area.
‘‘It creates huge challenges for individuals, because in most cases the legal professionals would have specialised,” said Byrnes. ‘‘For guys who went into some of the ‘big five’ or other law firms and just did property work throughout their career, it is very difficult.
They do not have to go right back to the start, but there will definitely have to be an element of retraining.”
Study options
Dineen said the majority of students completing law degrees this year did not expect to secure work with legal firms upon graduating.
‘‘The mood among our final year students is that most will continue studying and pursue a masters in law or other postgraduate courses in other areas,” she said. ‘‘They see that there are not that many jobs out there, so they keep studying and gaining more academic qualifications. That is the consensus around all third-level institutions at the moment.”
Byrnes said the number of candidates opting to study law had increased significantly in recent years, leading to a glut of supply in a cooling market.
‘‘The numbers going into Blackhall had increased significantly in recent years,” he said. ‘‘A lot of people are coming out qualified at a time when the market is not particularly buoyant.”
Newly qualified solicitors who cannot secure work can opt to continue their study, move into other markets or emigrate in search of work.
‘‘Further training and retraining has become the chosen avenue for many newly qualifieds, while some newly qualified solicitors are trying to offer services out of a home practice,” said Riordan. ‘‘The Law Society Gazette had an article recently on opportunities in Australia, China, the Middle East and Norway, which highlighted how far newly qualified solicitors are looking.”
Flexible skills
Candidates with a good law degree have the benefit of a range of career options requiring similar skills.
‘‘There are so many areas that you can branch into from a law degree,” Dineen said.
‘‘Not only does the degree train you in the academic side of the law, but you also learn so many essential skills such as critical analysis, problem solving and that type of thing. Those skills are invaluable in any profession or industry, whether journalism, banking or any form of business.”
In-house opportunities
Some opportunities do exist for legal professionals with the right skills and experience.
‘‘There is more activity in in house legal roles than in practice,” Byrnes said. ‘‘This is due to simple economics, as a lot of companies now are looking to have people in-house who maybe cost less than using specialist consultants from a legal firm.
‘‘Until recently, companies were looking for the best advice and they were willing to pay for it. Now they are looking for a bit more value for money.”
Byrnes said increasing regulation and compliance in financial services and other sectors could boost demand for suitable candidates.
‘‘Over the next couple of months, we will see a renewed focus on regulation and compliance, particularly in the financial services sector.
‘‘There will be opportunities for a good number of legal professionals to focus on these areas. I see an opportunity for the Law Society to run some courses around the new financial services regulations,” he said.
Riordan said the difficulties facing companies operating in a downturn could create opportunities for legal professionals.
‘‘Insolvency and corporate recovery requires legal work,” he said. ‘‘For solicitors, the area of insolvency, unfortunately, is on the up,” he said.
Family law is another relatively busy area, according to Dineen.
‘‘Areas of law that remain consistently busy and essential include family law,” she said.
‘‘People will always be divorcing and separating, and there will always be maintenance issues and concerns in that area. That has remained consistently busy.”
Signs of recovery
Riordan said there were some early signs of a tentative recovery in the legal market.
‘‘We feel there is a bit of a bounce over the last month. Maybe it is because some firms had put recruitment on hold for a while, and could not hold out any longer.
‘‘Maybe it is because there are fantastic candidates and wonderful talent out there, and they have decided to take advantage of it. It could also be that there are fewer recruitment firms as well, but we are definitely busier and we hope it will continue into the summer.”
Tuesday 14 April 2009
Hotel reopens with an emphasis on true quality
Sunday Business Post - New Business Section - Apr 12 2009
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The downturn in the hospitality sector has afforded an unlikely opportunity for two entrepreneurs. For Patrick Dillon and Paul O’Shea, the opportunity to set out on their own came earlier this year, with the closure in January of the Quality Resort Hotel in Killarney, Co Kerry. Dillon was general manager of the hotel, while O’Shea was financial controller.
Following the closure, the pair agreed a lease deal with owner Hepton Developments to take over the majority of rooms, reopening the facility on the Cork Road on April 9. The new hotel will continue to trade as Quality Resort Killarney, offering the same food, beverage and leisure facilities as before, according to Dillon, who is now managing director of the hotel.
Despite its recent failure, Dillon is upbeat about future prospects for the hotel. The business strategy would, he said, be to focus on the Irish market, rather than seeking to attract overseas visitors.
‘‘Our key strategy is to focus on our core market, which is the Irish family holiday market. We are going to be chasing the local market in a big way, whereas before we were part of an international brand. Our strategy is to provide similar facilities as we did previously, but giving extra value,” he said.
Dillon said that the re-opening of the hotel created 60 jobs, while up to 200 positions would come on stream in the high season.
‘‘We had an open day for staff, and advertised online and on the Fás website. A lot of people have been handing CVs in at the front door,” he said.
Under new management, Dillon said the hotel would contribute more than €3 million to the regional economy this year alone.
‘‘This will generate more than €2 million in wages, and another €1 million to mostly local suppliers. Then there is the knock-on effect for bars, restaurants and other businesses around Killarney,” he said.
While Quality Hotel previously operated with a mix of hotel rooms, holiday homes and apartments, Dillon said the new business would operate on a more streamlined basis.
‘‘We are opening with 199 bedrooms, so it is a materially different business to what was there previously,” he said.
O’Shea is finance director of the new operation. He said the move to agree a deal with the hotel’s owners, Hepton Developments, following the collapse of the existing operator Carvanna Properties, was swift and decisive.
‘‘We knew other prospective operators were making proposals, so we said, ‘why not ourselves?’,” he said. ‘‘We believed that we knew the business better than anybody else, we had the figures and we started putting a business plan together. We approached the landlord with what we thought was a viable rent compared to what was being paid before, taking into account that we were not taking some of the rooms.”
Dillon and O’Shea have formed a new management company, Laethanta Saoire, to run the hotel. Dillon owns 75 per cent of the new company, with O’Shea owning the remaining 25 per cent. ‘‘We had to put in a certain amount of money ourselves. The banks were fairly supportive, as we had a realistic business plan. We were not looking for a large loan to redecorate, it was mainly working capital,” he said.
The new company is targeting 40,000 room nights this year. It plans to utilise its database of previous customers to drum up repeat business. ‘‘Forty-five per cent of our customers were repeat customers.
We will be doing a very large mail-shot to all of our past guests, along with general advertising.
‘‘The key message is that we are open again and ready to welcome people back.” Dillon said the hotel would compete on the basis of value for money, rather than offering below-cost room rates. ‘‘We do not want to create a business that is not sustainable. There are a lot of hotels out there, particularly in Dublin, slashing rates,” he said.
‘‘This is great in the short term, but will their businesses survive? A core part of our strategy is giving extra value to our customers so that they return.” Dillon, who has been in the business for 20 years, advised entrepreneurs in the hospitality and tourism sector in Ireland to keep costs down and prices realistic.
‘‘It is a difficult time for all businesses, and the key thing is trying to manage costs. You need to spend every penny you have very wisely. You need to have a realistic business plan and know your market. There is no point doing something one year that cannot be sustained after that. It is about being sensible,” he said.
Dillon said he expected the number of overseas visitors to Ireland to fall this year. He said this would be balanced out by the projected increase in cash strapped Irish holiday-makers opting for locations at home. ‘‘The forecasts are that the overseas market will be back by 8-9 per cent this year. The indications are that the home holiday market will be stronger this year, and that will be great for us,” he said.
Wednesday 8 April 2009
Opportunities exist in tough times
Sunday Business Post - Recruitment Section - Apr 05 2009
Read the article on the Sunday Business Post website by clicking here.
This year’s National Recruitment Federation (NRF) annual conference takes place against the backdrop of troubled times for an industry halved in just two years. NRF president Frank Collins said the event - billed as ‘Facing the future with ease - education, enterprise & enthusiasm’ - would promote a positive outlook among recruiters who remain active in the Irish market.
‘‘As an industry, we are suffering, but we would rather dwell on the positives,” said Collins. ‘‘There are small signs of growth in the industry, and we felt that we need to position ourselves for the inevitable turnaround and to lift people’s spirits. There are still a lot of good things happening out there - a lot of good things that we can do.”
The one-day conference takes place on Thursday, April 23 at Citywest Hotel in Saggart, Co Dublin.
Chaired by career management expert Rowan Manahan of Fortify Services, the event will also feature speeches from Minister for Labour Affairs Billy Kelleher, Alan Haugh of the National Employment Rights Association (Nera) and Ann-Marie Muntz of the world employers’ body Euro CIETT.
Lucy Gaffney, chair of Communicorp and formerly director and chief operations officer of Esat Telecom, will talk about managing a company through the ups and downs of the economic cycle.
Management consultant Bill Braining will outline his 13-point ‘Tin hat strategy’ for business growth, while Tempy Cummins, of Vision 2 Reality, will advise agency owners on motivating and encouraging staff through a difficult period.
Collins said the conference would help recruiters to improve service levels in a tight market. His presentation at the event will introduce the NRF’s new education strategy, which includes the launch later this year of a continuous professional development certificate.
‘‘We need, as a body, to ensure we give a certain standard of service, and we want to have a qualification that all recruiters should have,” Collins said. ‘‘Most of the people within the industry are professionals in their own sectors - they are accountants or engineers, qualified in the area they are recruiting in. This gives them the extra background they need to know in terms of the recruitment side. There has been a demand for this for quite a while, but it has taken time for us to get a course written and off the ground.”
Leveraging new technology can help recruiters to maximise available resources, said Collins.
‘‘Damien Mulley of Mulley Communications will be giving a live demonstration of the latest technologies in social networking. We will see how sites like LinkedIn and Facebook can be used in a firm’s day-to-day activities to help them recruit the right candidates,” he said.
Collins said he expected a high turnout from the NRF’s 120 member agencies at the event. He said non-members were also welcome.
‘‘This is the first year we have opened up the conference to all recruitment professionals,” said Collins. ‘‘There are a lot of people who recruit people who do not necessarily work for a recruitment agency. We want to spread the word to as many people as possible who are involved in recruitment activities.”
The last two years have, he added, been ‘‘traumatic’’ for the recruitment sector in Ireland, with the number of people employed by recruitment agencies falling significantly from a peak of just over 12,000 in 2007.
‘‘We are probably somewhere around 7,000 or 8,000 now,” Collins said. ‘‘We did a survey in autumn 2008,which found that 2,000 people had lost their jobs in the recruitment industry in the previous twelve months. I would have little doubt that another 2,000 have lost their jobs since then.”
The number of recruitment agencies operating in Ireland has also dropped sharply, Collins said.
‘‘Atone stage, there were 450 agencies here,” he said. ‘‘The number is now probably somewhere between 350 and 400.
Some agencies have shut down, particularly multinational agencies that had opened offices in Dublin. Other agencies are closing regional branches, which were costly to run. Some purely specialist sectional agencies went out of business when demand dried up.”
There has been some consolidation in the market, Collins said. ‘‘There are not necessarily more mergers and acquisitions than previously, but there are more agencies now looking in an opportunistic way to get agencies on the cheap, whereas before it was more about expanding into new sectors,” he said.
Collins said that a lack of confidence in the Irish economy was just as detrimental to the recruitment sector as the lack of new positions to fill.
‘‘Currently, there are more people losing jobs than there are getting jobs. That means there are less jobs for us to be filling,” he said.
‘‘There is also a knock-on effect, as people are not confident and are not moving jobs.
They are looking for stability and do not want to take a risk, especially as they will not be covered for redundancy if they are less than two years in the new job. If everyone stays where they are, there is no recruitment happening.”
Collins said that the latest live register figures - which showed the national rate of unemployment had increased last month to 11 per cent -were bad news for Irish recruiters, but he also pointed to the fact that 30,000 people came off the live register in January and February this year.
‘‘There are jobs out there, there are people getting jobs every day of the week. There is a lot of despair around, and a lot of misinformation, but there are opportunities out there,” he said.
‘‘Last week alone, NRF members placed over 400 people into permanent jobs, and filled 550 temporary roles. Other people started jobs that they found in other ways. We are not deluded, but it is important to acknowledge that there are some jobs available.
‘‘Construction and financial services have been hit badly, but certain parts of the services sector, particularly international traded services, are doing quite well.
‘‘Pharmaceutical is also doing quite well, and there are still retail and marketing jobs going. The healthcare sector and catering are not doing too badly either.”
Collins said the recruitment sector acted as an early warning system for the economy. There is some evidence of positive trends in the industry.
‘‘We lead economies by six to eighteen months. We saw the downturn in Ireland well before others, and we will see the upturn too,” Collins said.
‘‘A number of our members say they are starting to see some small pick-up. January and February were dead, but they are starting to see some movement now. With a bit of luck, it might accelerate a bit towards the end of the year.”
For more information on the NRF Annual Conference 2009, phone 01–8161754, or e-mail: director@nrf.ie. The cost of entry for non-members is €75
