Senior executive vacancies bright spot in recruitment sector

VACANCIES for senior executives across a range of industries have offered a glimmer of hope to the recruitment sector over the past week.

A steady stream of positive announcements have followed the news a week ago that the top four accountancy firms — Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC — are set to create more than 1,000 jobs over the coming year. Ernst & Young alone are looking to take on 300 new recruits.

Dublin-based IT Alliance Group, which employs 400 people, has launched a new technology staff resourcing division for the Irish and UK business markets.

The company is recruiting for 110 vacancies, in particular for project management specialists, .NET and Java developers.

Insurance group Allianz is seeking to recruit 170 skilled personnel for its Dublin operation. Corporate governance services firm Glass Lewis Co is creating 15 jobs in Limerick. There are numerous other low number recruitment drives of this size, but perhaps more encouraging still is the series of announcements emerging in the area of senior executive search.

In recent weeks, we have featured news from recruitment firms Collins McNicholas in Galway and the Limerick office of Careerwise, both of which suggested that there are hundreds of unfilled vacancies for senior executives in firms on the west coast of Ireland.

Now professional services firm PwC is telling a similar story. PwC has appointed Marie Maguire as director in its executive search practice in response to rising demand from companies seeking candidates with the skills for senior management roles. Ms Maguire brings over 20 years’ experience in senior level recruitment to the position. She was a founding member and senior Irish partner in with global search firm, Amrop Group.

Ms Maguire said: “Half of Irish businesses are facing a shortage of key talent with specific skills, according to a recent PwC survey. Two out of three worldwide business leaders identified the primary talent challenge over the next three years as a limited supply of candidates with the right skills.”

As well as Amrop Group, Ms Maguire’s prior experience includes running her own career management consultancy, working in London in sales and marketing management with DHL Group, for whom she up their French subsidiary, Elan International, in Paris.

PwC HR services partner Mark Carter added: “Organisations are increasingly looking to the marketplace to fill key these roles as they begin to position themselves for growth. Ms Maguire, with her a wealth of experience and industry knowledge, will help organisations in their search for this key talent as well as succession planning and executive coaching.

“This appointment reflects the increased demand from our clients for assistance in the search for key talent and, consequently, we are seeing significant growth in our executive search practice.”

Meanwhile, in terms of the jobs tally, along with those openings listed above, the Waterford Chamber of Commerce said that there are 200 vacancies on offer at its Jobs and Career Expo, which takes place from 9.30am to 7pm today at the Tower Hotel, Waterford.

The Expo will have over 20 blue chip companies from around the region participating including Genzyme, Glanbia, Statestreet, Sunlife Financial, Schivo Group, KPMG and others. Waterford Chamber president Anne Marie Caulfield said: “The broad range of Companies participating means that there are job opportunities across a very wide range of sectors.

“Free to all jobs seekers, there will be some great advice from HR Professionals in a series of free seminars running throughout the day. The region has lots of companies that are doing very well despite the recession and who have lots of opportunities to offer job seekers.”