Retrain in science, IT and sales, say experts
The latest set of Central Statistics Office figures this week made for more depressing reading with the number of people on the live register climbing by 8,500 to 452,500 last July.
The seasonally unadjusted figure showed there were 466,800 people signing on, an increase of almost 14,000 from June.
With no sign of employment improving, many people have been on the dole for well over a year now – and have seen their mortgage protection payments run out and unemployment benefit payments fall and may be faced with little prospect but to re-train, if they want to get a job in this country again.
Founding president of the University of Limerick, Ed Walsh, says he would advise people to re-skill as much as they can and to leave the country if they still can’t find employment.
“It must be soul-destroying for people in their mid-30s who have put years into their careers to consider re-training. However, many of the country’s architects, engineers and quantity surveyors will have to consider looking at different sectors if they want to work again.
“I know I bored people in the early 1990s talking about how we were de-skilling the workforce by offering such high wages in construction for early school-leavers, but you can see the consequences now.
“The only choice that these people have is to upskill in areas where there are prospects,” he says.
“We are living in most depressing times. It will be a decade before Ireland sorts this mess out. My main advice to unemployed people would be to improve your skills, if you are unskilled get some further training, if you have a bachelor’s degree, do a masters, if you have a masters, do a doctorate, if you still can’t get work, go abroad as you will be able to return when things improve.
“During the boom times, these returning emigrants were a great reservoir of expertise and the next generation will be too. Put it this way, if I was an architect with Mandarin, I wouldn’t be hanging around here.”
Divisional manager with Premier Recruitment Cork, Ronan Hill, says people “need to step back a bit” and realise they may have to retrain and then take a salary drop for a while.
“Think about it. If you are a 35-year-old former construction manager, you have at least 30 more years in the workplace and your salary will grow again. Take a fresh look at where jobs will be in the future,” he said.
Mr Hill also advised people in jobs to keep on training so that “your career just falls in place” and that if you ever hit the jobs market, you are well armed.
Managing director with Grafton Recruitment, Cathy McCorry said a number of sectors are beating the recession.
“We would primarily be seeing a lot of jobs in renewable energy, the IT sector and in accountancy. There are also jobs in light engineering in manufacturing and in specific areas like supply chain. Health and safety is also holding up very well and the sciences will continue to grow. The food and drink sector is also holding up well,” she said.
