Jobseeking in Ireland
The great thing about looking for work in Ireland is that is is now all at your fingertips. Just search #JobFairy on Twitter and there are hundreds of tweets from companies that are hiring. The problem is that it is equally at everyone’s fingertips, which means hundreds of applicants to each position.
It’s hard when you three years or less out of college and places want five years experience. It’s tough when you are two years out but have spent most of that collecting the jobseekers allowance and attending interviews to no avail. An ex-colleague was unemployed for almost two years despite heavy efforts. He even got down to the last two for a job that started with over sixty applicants, over a three month interviewing period, only to end up number two on their list.
While it’s bad here, and I am agreeing that it is, it’s almost as hard if not harder to get work abroad. An article published recently pointed out the fact that a company abroad (no names) had published an ad requesting that ‘no Irish’ need apply. Also, consider all the job seekers who have maxed their savings, who can’t get up the capital needed to uproot and emigrate. They are stuck in a vortex, unable to get out inhouse and unable to get out period.
Many can, have and will, get jobs here and abroad and will go on living their lives. However, even more jobseekers won’t. We are breaking records in our number of jobseekers and breaking no records in the numbers of jobs created every day. The government needs to do something. Taxes, taxes and more taxes may seem like a good idea in the hallowed halls of the Dáil, but to those Irish on social welfare, or even worse, on nothing, the expenses mounting against the lack of income is just driving them further into the pit, and further into desperation. And nobody wants to hire desperate people.
Blog of Clare Cullen, freelance broadcast and print journalist and social media professional.
