The investment is supported by Enterprise Ireland and the expansion will bring total employment at Advant Medical to more than 130 people.

Based in Parkmore Industrial Estate in Galway, Advant Medical produces medical-device products for the minimum invasive vascular, Class III implantable devices and other medical markets.

Its customers include some of the world's largest original equipment manufacturers. Advant Medical's products are established across 25 international markets, including the US, Mexico, Italy, Germany, France and India.

With this €2.4m investment, the company is planning to expand its production capabilities and move to higher-value products and services to allow it to expand its reach in existing international markets and enter new markets.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, TD, said the news that Advant Medical is expanding and creating 34 jobs is a sign of what is possible for Irish companies in this area.

Bob DiPetrillo, CEO of Advant Medical, said the investment would position the company to increase its international market share through device assembly and manufacturing capabilities.

"On our 20-year anniversary, we are delighted to have an opportunity to create more employment in the West (of Ireland)," he said.

VoiceSage said this latest round of funding will enable the company to respond to the growing market demand for its cloud-based customer communication technologies, with further investment in a range of R&D activities.

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Dublin and London, VoiceSage has developed technology to enable automated real-time customer conversations. Its cloud-based messaging product and services deliver more than 2m messages a day and are used by businesses serving more than 75pc of the UK population.

In February, the company announced a 32pc growth in sales for the second half of 2012, with a stream of new companies investing in its technology.

Companies that have deployed VoiceSage's technology to target their customer communications over the past year include Airtricity, Argos, Homebase, Littlewoods, QVC and Eircom.

"VoiceSage is a leading innovator in customer communication solutions. They have already won an impressive client base and this investment will enable them to expand their business further," said Jennifer Condon, head of International Services and Software at Enterprise Ireland.

Graham Brierton, chief technology officer at VoiceSage, said the company is delighted to have secured the backing of Enterprise Ireland.

"This investment will allow us to accelerate our technology development to meet the growth that market analysts predict," he said.

The new jobs will be created over the next three years with the majority of them - 50 positions - based at Cubic’s new Sandyford headquarters in Dublin with the remainder deployed across the world.

In less than 10 years Cubic Telecom has evolved from a start-up based in Cork specialising in voice and data roaming services to a licensed telecoms company in its own right, providing software-defined network services to more than 500 mobile operators and some of the top Fortune 100 OEM manufacturers of smartphones, tablets and notebook computers.

The company’s technology effectively provides anytime, anywhere in the world voice and data coverage for device owners by turning a SIM chip into its own operating system.

Cubic’s management team boast more than 200 years’ worth of telecoms industry experience and in terms of intellectual property the company has developed more than 340 APIs.

Cubic Telecom CEO Barry Napier – who as well as announcing the jobs is currently cycling across Spain as part of the CyclingBuddy 300-mile challenge to raise money for families affected by autism – explained that the investment represents Qualcomm’s second investment in Cubic.

“Our goal is to become the single source provider for smart mobile connectivity for the OEM computer manufacturers who want to take all the hassle of connecting to voice and data networks out of their devices.”

He said Cubic is embarking on product development projects for three out of the five top computer OEMs in the world.

“We serve both the telecoms providers and the OEMs by putting in core network architecture and real-time billing engines via a software layer. We can create any type of billing solution on any device for any carrier. This is effectively software-defined networking and everything can be changed on a device or an app over the air.”

Napier is also chairman of BPI Telecom, one of the top 300 companies in Ireland with revenues in excess of €137m.

“We are excited to be investing in a company so well positioned for rapid growth based on their highly innovative network and strong go-to-market relationships with leading smart device manufacturers looking to embed Cubic Telecom’s low-cost data connectivity technology into existing and future products,” said John Flynn, managing partner at ACT Ventures.

Globally licensed carrier that serves carriers and OEMs

Cubic Telecom has its origins in Cork and was started in 2005 by entrepreneur Pat Phelan, who has since left to lead e-commerce security player Trustev.

In 2010, Cubic Telecom became a GSMA-licensed carrier in its own right and has partnerships in place with major operators, including Vodafone, Digicel and Sprint, to name a few.

Napier explained: “The ultimate objective is that when a consumer buys a device – be it a tablet or a smartphone – there is no messing, they can get connected straight away. This also allows major media brands to deliver apps that provide consumers with connectivity and messaging as part of licensing deals with carriers.

“Traditionally, carriers looked at the SIM card as a connection device – we’ve flipped that and turned the SIM card into its own operating system that can include a mobile wallet. The end game is a simple model that allows users to pay, connect and go. If you fly into China we will already have a relationship with operators there so you don’t have to worry about changing settings on your device.

“The reality is that the hardware devices are changing faster than the network’s capability. We keep the core technology fresh and relevant and by connecting to their RAN (radio access network), as a white label we get things done. At no stage will you see our branding on the side of a Formula One car, instead we will align with an operator, a device maker or a content provider and allow them to better serve their customers,” Napier said.

Welcoming the announcement, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, TD, said:  “With this announcement by Cubic Telecom of a successful funding round and new jobs we are once again seeing a great example of the strength of Ireland’s indigenous ICT sector. The Government’s Action Plan for Jobs specifically targets the ICT sector, which has already added a total of more than 11,000 jobs since this Government took office. I am determined to ensure that, with the right supports from Government, companies like this can continue to start up, grow and create the jobs we need.”

Also commenting on the investment, Imran Karim, head of investments at TPS, said: “TPS is impressed with the capability of the Cubic Telecom Platform, with more than 340 APIs, which will give OEMs real-time data on customer consumption with no minimum monthly contracts.

“The traction Cubic Telecom has made internationally with both mobile operators and OEMs firmly underpins the need for this service in market. To have investors like Qualcomm Incorporated, Enterprise Ireland and ACT highlighted that this is a company which is serious in their space,” Karim said.

Wireless signal image via Shutterstock

The report, which was revealed today at the College of Computer Training, Dublin, claims there are more than 4,500 immediate vacancies in Ireland’s ICT sector and that these jobs are not being filled because candidates do not have the skills required.

While these positions range from entry level to expert level, many of them require intermediate-level skills that FIT believes can be obtained through six to 24-month long training programmes.

The key areas where employers are noticing a skills shortage are mobile development, web development, games development, networking and infrastructure, platform administration, creative digital media, CRM, programming technologies, contact centre support, cloud computing and virtualisation, and project management.

As well as technical skills, employers are seeking soft skills, such as written and verbal communication, leadership, teamwork and customer focus.

Building a talent pipeline

FIT, an initiative led by the tech industry, provides training programmes for the long-term unemployed to gain marketable technical skills. “We have been increasingly concerned at the growing skill shortages in the sector while recognising an increasing and untapped opportunity to create a talent pipeline comprising those job seekers with transferable skills from declining sectors,” said FIT CEO Peter Davitt.

Filling the skills gap is becoming more urgent in order to prevent multinational companies from reallocating these jobs to other bases.

If Ireland can produce more skilled candidates in these target areas, the country would be even more appealing for foreign direct investment.

“We are seeing a worldwide increase in demand for ICT skills,” said Minister for Training and Skills Ciarán Cannon, TD. “While we cannot create a supply of highly skilled ICT professionals overnight, through the development and ongoing implementation of the joint Government-Industry ICT Action Plan, Ireland has been at the fore in taking measures to build the pipeline of high-level ICT graduates.”

Founded in 2011, Huggity has come up with technology to allow brands and sponsors to engage directly with an audience at sporting events and concerts through social media platforms.

Huggity secured the €600,000 funding from the AIB Seed Capital Fund and Enterprise Ireland. The company is planning to fast-track its international scaling strategy and to create 16 new positions at its Dublin base by the end of the year.

The new roles, which will bring Huggity's headcount to 22, will be in the areas of business development, customer support, marketing and the development of new products.

The company's core product is FanPic, a panoramic, high-resolution crowd image taken at a venue during an event.

Once a FanPic is posted online, users can zoom into the crowd photo, find themselves and friends, and then share a branded message with friends and family on Facebook, Twitter or via email.

The company has worked with events and brands such as the Euro 2016 qualifiers, English football clubs Liverpool and Manchester United, the FAI and the IRFU.

Huggity has also worked with MTV, Aviva, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swatch and the Qatar Foundation. The company sells through partners in the US, Brazil, Australia, Norway, Poland, Turkey and Belgium, and is also in discussions with a reseller in India.

CEO Mike Sikorski said the investment will allow Huggity to focus on increasing its international reach and building new products.

"The objective behind Huggity is to combine our photography, technology and marketing skills with our love of sport and music to create a positive experience for fans and a powerful engagement tool for brands, venues and artists," he said.

“The reason I decided to put this on is because I keep being asked by people for internships with us but we don't have the capacity to take them on just yet,” said Mulley, founder of the Irish Web Awards, the Social Media Awards and the Irish Blog Awards.

“So I thought the next best thing is to give them some training in what digital marketing companies work on.”

The digital marketing workshop is open to those in full-time education, and takes place at 1.30pm on 25 May at the National College of Ireland in Dublin. Places can be booked online, and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Places are limited to 40.

The course will cover the essentials of social media marketing, including Facebook Business Pages, Twitter for business, and blogging and content creation, allowing attendees to build on their skillset in preparation for the workforce.

The event will also feature speakers from companies in the industry explaining how they work with interns, why it’s a valuable experience, and prospects after internship.

While many students may consider themselves digital natives, having practically grown up with Twitter and LinkedIn, that doesn’t always cut the mustard with employers who are looking for interns with expertise who could eventually become valuable members of staff.

“Those brought to interview had all created Facebook Pages as a hobby, were blogging about stuff they were interested in, and lived and breathed social. The strategy formulation and paid campaigns we can teach them, but passion for the medium is essential to start off with,” one company explained.

Social business image via Shutterstock

Recruitment for the new jobs, which will bring the total number of Aer Arann staff to 370, has already begun.

Aer Arann plans to double its passenger numbers to 2m a year within five years, as part of its strategy to compete among Europe’s top regional airlines, Aviation Tribune reported.

Leo Varadkar TD, Ireland’s Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, announced the new jobs.

“Aer Arann is proving that it is possible to operate successfully as a regional airline by linking Ireland with the UK market and beyond,” he said. “The company is investing in new aircraft, new routes and new jobs.”

Aer Arann, which flies all its services under the Aer Lingus Regional brand, is based at Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport.

Specialisterne’s focus is on employing people with autism in technology-oriented roles.

Under the partnership with SAP, Specialisterne will extend its operations to support SAP’s global expansion of the programme over the next several years.

The partnership follows successful pilot projects in Ireland and India that empowered people with autism to excel in their areas of strength.

At the moment, the Ireland pilot project is completing the screening phase for five positions to be filled this year.

“By concentrating on the abilities that every talent brings to the table, we can redefine the way we manage diverse talents,” said Luisa Delgado, member of the executive board of SAP AG, human resources.

“With Specialisterne, we share a common belief that innovation comes from the ‘edges.’ Only by employing people who think differently and spark innovation will SAP be prepared to handle the challenges of the 21st century.”

Thorkil Sonne, founder of Specialisterne and chairman of the board, Specialist People Foundation, said SAP is the first company to partner with them on a global scale.

“We are very excited by this opportunity to enable SAP’s global access to a huge pool of untapped talent,” Sonne said.

Specialisterne was originally founded in Denmark. The company now has worldwide operations, with offices in Ireland, the UK, the US, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Iceland and Poland.

One of the fastest-growing internet companies with US$2bn in revenues shared with local businesses, jobs advertised on Groupon’s UK website indicate the company will be establishing a major presence in Ireland.

At present there are as many as 30 roles advertised on Groupon’s UK website, with roles ranging from HR and marketing to IT, design, software engineering, data analysis, web applications engineering, and product management.

According to the wording on the job roles advertised, Groupon says: “Come join us as we build out our new international headquarters in the St Stephens Green area of the city. Dublin will be a new hub for our International Marketing Group, including SEO, SEM, Display, Affiliates and Merchant Marketing.”

The company is also seeking people for business consulting roles in key cities in the UK, including Aberdeen, Brighton, Glasgow, London, Hull, Bradford and Oxford.

The arrival of Groupon will be another jewel in Dublin’s digital crown. Groupon will join a community that already boasts Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft, PayPal, Gilt, Intel, IBM, Yahoo!, Salesforce.com and many others who see Ireland as the go-to place for building global web businesses.

Dublin’s gain may be Berlin’s loss, however. In recent weeks, it emerged that Groupon, as part of a restructuring exercise, will be potentially cutting back 100 jobs at its Berlin operations, where it employs an estimated 850 people.

Since it was founded in 2008 by Andrew Mason and Eric Lefkofksy the daily deals site has grown at an exponential rate to employ more than 11,000 people and has been cited as one of the fastest companies to achieve US$1bn in revenues.

However, disappointing Q4 losses saw co-founder Andrew Mason ousted as CEO. Although revenue increased 30pc to US$638.3m, Groupon reported an operating loss of US$12.9m in the fourth quarter 2012. Net losses amounted to US$81.1m.

Nevertheless, the company already has a receptive online market in Ireland where thrifty online consumers spent €53m through daily deals sites in 2012, up from €46m a year earlier, according to MyDealPage.ie.

Groupon image via Shutterstock

US research is behind the study that found the 39pc failure rate, and PricewaterhouseCoopers undertook the study of projects at the 200 firms, Business Review Europe reported.

A project manager’s role can involve many and varied tasks, such as hiring staff, communicating job expectations, planning, monitoring, budgeting and appraising employees’ progress and completion of a project, making recommendations to strategic plans, and essentially being responsible for the delivery of a project on time and on budget.

In Ireland, a project manager can expect to earn a salary of €40,000, at the very least, up to about €90,000, according to IrishJobs.ie.

The news comes months after Jobs Minister Richard Bruton, TD, announced reforms of the work permit processing system that will see a 50pc increase in the number of employment permits granted over the coming year in the ICT sector and reduction of 33pc in the processing time for employment permits.

The figures were produced by Fine Gael TD Eoghan Murphy who welcomed the development but said more needs to be done.

“A specific technology visa has yet to be introduced but in the Action Plan for Jobs for 2013 steps were made by the Government towards making it easier for people with relevant technology skills to come and work in Ireland.

“Since April 2012, 27 applications for the Start-up Entrepreneur Programme and 10 applications for the Immigrant Investor Programme have been received. Fourteen applications have been approved under the Start-up Entrepreneur Programme, seven applications have been refused, one applicant gained an alternative status and the remainder are still under consideration. Three applications have been approved under the Immigrant Investor Programme and the remainder are still under consideration.

“To date, the total investment committed under both programmes is of the order of €10.5m and is projected that 270 jobs will be retained or created on foot of these investments in the ICT, recycling and financial services area. In addition, two organisations, one educational and the other a charity, are receiving substantial endowments to support and develop their activities.”

Murphy said these numbers are positive and demonstrate the benefits of a more targeted and competitive visa regime.

“That said, the numbers could be a lot better if we dedicated more resources to the schemes and made them more competitive. This would involve quicker processing times, lower financial thresholds for participants and more rigorous approach to potential investors and start-up companies abroad,” Murphy said.

Lightbulbs image via Shutterstock

Capita has opened a new 45,000 sq-foot office on Grand Canal Square in Dublin to accommodate its growth, and most of the new jobs will be based in the city.

The UK company, which runs IT and administrative services for other companies and the public sector, is seeking both professionals and graduates to fill the new positions. The new jobs are in fund administrations, loan administration, asset management and recovery, and support services for the life and pensions industry.

“The scale and ambition of the company’s investment in Ireland, and the announcement of their plans to employ 800 more people over the next three years, is a major vote of confidence in Ireland,” said Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, TD.

“This announcement highlights the progress that is being made in restoring confidence and attracting investment and jobs into Ireland.” 

Robbie Hughes, Capita’s country manager, said the new office allows the company to consolidate a number of business units in one location, as well as providing room for future growth.

“We have grown consistently in Ireland in recent years and, as stability is restored to Ireland’s financial position and its international reputation, we believe there is opportunity for continued business growth, on both a domestic and international front,” Hughes added.  

At a time when technology has never been more paramount to the business world, the shortage of ICT skilled workers has become a global problem. At the time of writing, there are some 5,000 ICT job vacancies in Ireland and more than 700,000 unfilled ICT positions across Europe.

It emerged in December that Fidelity Investments is to create 200 new jobs in Dublin and Galway involving a diverse mix of technology, back office operations and enterprise services skills.

The president of Fidelity Investments Ireland, Travis Carpico, said the company has sought inspiration from a programme developed in Ireland 10 years ago called GIFT.

GIFT is understood to have set the direction for a current programme known as Leap.

Today, the financial services giant employs more than 650 Leap and GIFT graduates worldwide, some 200 of them trained in Ireland and who occupy senior technology and management positions in the global company.

Fidelity operates the Leap programme out of Ireland and Raleigh, North Carolina, in the US.

The six-month long programme is designed to accelerate the development of recent IT graduates in business, professional and technical skills. As well as programmes focused on mainframe development, technology infrastructure and engineering, participants also learn the soft skills they need to accelerate their career development, including presentation skills and business etiquette.

Fidelity is currently in the midst of recruiting 25 open slots for the next Leap class which starts in September, with participants graduating in March 2014.

The financial services player works collaboratively with the career centres at colleges and universities across Ireland, including NUIG, UCC, UCD, DCU, UL, Trinity College Dublin and NUI Maynooth.

Hardware skills to soft skills and business etiquette

“We are in Ireland 17 years now and one of the issues that emerged was how do we bring in new graduates and talent? The idea that was embarked upon by the Irish management team 10 years ago was to come up with a repeatable, formalised programme to onboard people and give them the training and skills they need to do a better job.

“The idea started to gain traction and globally, to handle the skills shortage, Fidelity turned to Leap, which is now run out of a base in North Carolina.

“We find it is really important to continue the programme in Ireland, too. Ireland is a place with skilled talent and a stable workforce capable of doing cutting-edge work and pursuing higher-end projects.

“By exposing people to higher-level projects and giving them the right responsibilities they will stay with you.

“This is unique in a world where the economy is not growing fast enough and the workforce is ageing. It is critical to devise the right programmes to encourage young workers to come on board.

“When I started out in the business world there wasn’t even email – but today’s digital natives have been using Twitter since they were teenagers. We are fortunate to be able to leverage this formulised curriculum that goes beyond technology skills to include business skills.

“It is great to see a training programme developed in Ireland resonate and go global. Every year we take in 225 to 250 graduates, including at least 25 in Ireland and we very much see this as an investment in the future.”

Carpico said that participants are typically integrated into existing teams within Fidelity rather than being sent on side projects.

As well as the Leap programme, Fidelity workers lecture 5,700 secondary students every year to introduce them to business, economics, entrepreneurship and the importance of education in positioning them to be part of the global economy.

The financial services giant also funds paid internships for Irish third-level students and is funding 10 DCU Access scholarships, which result in a typical 96pc employment rate.

The ECDL programme was established in 1996 to promote computer literacy. Since then, more than 13m people in more than 100 countries have received ECDL certification and, today, a major revision of the programme was launched to reflect new technology and labour market requirements.

Changes include the introduction of ECDL Profile, which allows candidates to build a profile of modules to suit them. This profile can be built up over time as candidates discover new skills they might want to add to their repertoire.

A range of 15 modules is now available, including Online Collaboration and IT Security.

“The programme has evolved many times since it began in 1996, and I believe it continues to stay true to its intended and original purpose: to provide skills for work, and skills that work,” commented Jim Friars, chair of the ECDL Foundation.

ICS Skills, the national licensee of ECDL in Ireland, welcomed the launch of the new programme, which will be available to all schools from September 2013.

The new ECDL programme will rolled out across 55 countries over the coming months.

Gartner predicts that 4.4m IT jobs will be created globally by 2015 to support big data, but only one-third of these positions will be filled. Meanwhile, the International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts that, by 2020, there will be 10 times as many servers and enterprise data centres will be managing 14 times as much information, but there will only be 1.5 times as many IT professionals.

“This trend is creating an IT skills gap which can only be filled by adapting our undergraduate and post-graduate education programmes,” said Jason Ward, EMC’s director for Ireland, Scotland and UK North. Along with SAS, EMC has partnered with the Irish Management Institute and UCC on a recently launched master’s in data business and diploma in data business in its efforts to address the shortage of talent.

“Colleges should now move to develop more programmes covering the increasing role that the combination of IT, data, services, economics, innovation, business models, analytics and strategic data management play in the success of an organisation,” added Ward.

Big data is growing by up to 40pc annually and it is the Government’s intention to make Ireland a leader in this field, but Ward believes new thinking in education is needed to produce capable graduates.

“Our colleges can sometimes produce programmes that are over-specialised, particularly at undergraduate level, when they perhaps should be giving students the freedom to explore interdisciplinary courses and then figure out where their strengths lie,” said Ward. “For example, data scientists need competencies across a range of areas, including maths, computing, science and sociology. New college programmes need to reflect that diversity.”

Graduates image via hxdbzxy/Shutterstock

Those unique job opportunities include a position as a ground electronics technician based at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, and an increasing number of jobs for ‘ninjas’.

“At LinkedIn, our mission is to connect talent with opportunity at massive scale,” Luke Baxter, group manager, Online Talent Solutions at LinkedIn, wrote on the LinkedIn Blog.

“In the past 18 months, we’ve more than doubled the number of job opportunities posted on LinkedIn.”

Baxter also wrote that LinkedIn has more than 8,000 internship opportunities posted on the site, just in time for students seeking summer jobs.

The infographic also charts the internship jobs that have generated the most attention.

New expansion plans will see Asidua grow its Dublin office, as well as offer its application and data integration services and solutions based on its customer contact platform and platform for policing.

The company has deployed services based on this software for major clients, including BT, Milton Keynes Council, London Borough of Harrow, Chorley Council, a major UK police constabulary, as well as an international mobile phone operator.

The company has recently been awarded a contract in Northern Ireland to provide its customer contact platform to underpin a single contact management platform for all of central government.

“We’ve spent the last few years with only a small presence in Dublin, while we focused on developing the UK market,” Asidua CEO Dr Steve Brankin said. “With that activity well under way and bearing fruit, and with renewed confidence in the Irish region, the time is now right to invest in expanding in Dublin.”

Invest Northern Ireland has offered just over stg£4.5m of support towards the expansion, which will deliver stg£20m annually in additional salaries through the creation of up to 650 jobs across Allstate’s three sites in Northern Ireland.

Almost 200 of the analytics, software development, software testing, and infrastructure services posts have already been filled and the remaining 450 will be recruited by 2016.

Speaking at Allstate’s offices in Belfast, First Minister Peter Robinson said: “This announcement of hundreds of new high quality jobs by a top Fortune 100 company sends out a clear and unequivocal message to international investors to have confidence in Northern Ireland as a competitive location from which to grow their business.”

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness added: “These jobs will benefit people in Belfast and the north-west. The high quality positions and associated salaries are further proof that we have the people, skills and technology to support the business needs of major companies like Allstate.”

NI: an integral component of Allstate’s global infrastructure

US-owned Allstate Northern Ireland was established in Belfast in 1998 and provides software development services and high-end business solutions in support of its US parent’s operations.

The Allstate Corporation is the largest publicly held personal lines property and casualty insurer in America.

Bro McFerran, managing director, Allstate Northern Ireland, said: “Allstate Northern Ireland has had a strong presence here since 1998, and working closely with Invest NI, we have grown to employ over 1,900 people across our three sites. Many of those people are non-IT graduates who have received advanced training and now have new skills and careers with Allstate.

“Allstate Northern Ireland remains an integral part of Allstate Insurance, and today’s announcement is testament to the talented people we have here and the significant contribution that people in Northern Ireland have made to Allstate’s operations,” McFerran said.

Belfast sign image via Shutterstock

The Silicon Valley start-up is headed by Agrawal and consists of a team of six ex-Google, Microsoft and McKinsey alumni who graduated from six universities with 10 degrees between them.

The Collegefeed career marketplace aims to connect college students and new graduates with their ideal employer by fostering social networking between students, graduates, alums and employers.

The service works whereby students create short profiles that showcase their work, experiences and skills more effectively than traditional CVs and Collegefeed uses this information to connect users to jobs and internships based on their interests, to network with industry insiders, find alumni at their choice of companies, apply for employer-sponsored awards, share interview experiences with each other, and much more.

They get a custom news feed that displays updates on their preferred employers – making it effortless to stay up-to-date.

Collegefeed features a recommendation engine, which allows students to share the names of companies they are most interested in working for, and algorithms suggest alternatives based on that criteria. As a result, Collegefeed creates new job opportunities within start-ups and even in large companies students would otherwise never discover.

While the service is free for the 1m students who graduate in the US every year, the company’s revenue model appears to be built upon providing employers with a branded presence to increase their mind share among students and companies can even push relevant content to a student’s news feed to get his or her attention.

The socially connected market for first-time job-seekers

Collegefeed said that since launching in private beta to select Silicon Valley schools in March, thousands have joined. Students have already secured jobs, internships, interviews, and financial awards from companies like YouTube, eBay, Facebook, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft and many more.

Agrawal said that because it connects students with potential employers, Collegefeed is already succeeding in doing what LinkedIn has not been able to do for new grads.

“LinkedIn, Monster, job boards can all be good tools for anyone with professional experience, but they don’t help most first-time job-seekers get hired,” said Sanjeev Agrawal, founder and CEO of Collegefeed.

“Collegefeed is the first social media site designed to fix the problem. Grads can quickly showcase the skills and qualifications they do have in a way that makes them stand out to employers. They get the ability to network with interesting industry insiders, a custom news feed, with opportunities tailored to them, and access cutting-edge discovery tools to match them to the perfect company,” Agrawal said.

The new web resource is an extension of the Euraxess.ie portal developed by the Irish Universities Association. Launched in 2009, the site, which is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the European Commission, has information for researchers on topics such as R&D funding, job opportunities and researcher mobility.

The new portal on Euraxess.ie will allow companies to advertise vacancies, search an online database of researcher CVs and search for funding support opportunities.

Via the new R&D funding search facility, businesses will be able to search in real-time for all national and European funding supports for their business and research activities.  

Sherlock said the new resource will give a boost to research and development and that businesses have specifically asked for a one-stop shop for these queries.

He was speaking this morning at the start of a two-day Researcher Careers and Mobility conference that's taking place at Dublin Castle.

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, the European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, is also speaking at the conference, which is focusing on measures to ensure the free movement of researchers and knowledge across Europe.

Geoghegan-Quinn said that new industry user interface will make Euraxess.ie more attractive to industry.

"We will be exploring the possibility of rolling this out to other countries so that business users across Europe will have a tailored interface including both job and funding opportunities," she said.

Working towards a European Research Area

At the Researcher Careers and Mobility event in Dublin, researchers and policy-makers from around Europe are converging to discuss issues for researchers, including fast track immigration, and open and transparent hiring policies.

One of the aims of the conference is to work on practical solutions to achieve the European Commission's goal of a 'European Research Area' for the free movement of researchers and knowledge.

"We must foster research excellence to maintain our leading international position," said Sherlock this morning. "We must provide pathways to enable researchers to find employment in industry where their talents can lead innovation and the development of new products and services."

According to the Commission, while 5m jobs were lost in the EU between 2008 and 2010, the number of jobs in the knowledge economy increased by 800,000.

Geoghegan-Quinn said that European Research Area will help ensure a sufficient supply of highly qualified workers by offering researchers more attractive careers, and by removing any obstacles to mobility across sectors and countries.

"Think of it as a 'European single market' for research, knowledge and ideas," she said.

In the past two decades, technology has transformed photography as quick as a flash (pun intended). For the most part, gone are the days of developing film in a darkroom to instantaneously seeing a shot image on a digital camera.

Software, such as Photoshop, can help photographers fine tune the perfect shot, and to professional photographers, Instagram doesn’t count.

A day in the life of a photographer depends on their field of work. Wedding photographers, for example, may find themselves busy every Saturday in June, whereas photojournalists go where and when the news takes them. A photography career can be as much of a lifestyle as it is a job.

The starting salary for photographers tends to be on the lower end of the pay scale, but as their experience increases and portfolio of work improves, their compensation certainly can grow, as well.

When I sit down to discuss Sheryl Sandberg's best-selling book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, with two of Facebook's most senior directors on this side of the Atlantic (both women), it quickly becomes clear that gender has not really been on their radars as they rose up the ranks in Microsoft, Google and finally Facebook - both women have had a not dissimilar career path, having worked together at all three tech giants.

Orna Holland is director, EMEA staffing, responsible for sourcing talent from engineering to sales for Facebook across the Europe Middle East Africa region. Having joined Facebook from Google back in December 2009, she has been at the helm during a growth period that saw staffing in Dublin rise to 400, as well as the opening of the social network's first non-US engineering office in London.

Gail Power is director, Global Sales Services, for Facebook, having moved from Google a little earlier in August 2009. With a track record of project management and managing and scaling diverse teams, stints at Barclays Bank and Accenture in the UK preceded her move over to the tech industry.

Both women are based in Facebook's Dublin HQ.

Not unlike their COO, Holland and Power are married with young children, something that has clearly not been an impediment to their careers, nor a dampener on their obvious ambition and drive. They have met Sandberg several times - first when she interviewed Power for her role in Google back in 2004, and Holland for her job in Facebook in 2009.

Role models for girls

Before we get into the book, we chat about the general landscape and the much-discussed dearth of young girls taking up technology and science-based subjects in school and university. Both are optimistic about changing perceptions among young people that are today making the tech industry a 'sexier' proposition.

Orna Holland: I think these days people see a job where you can travel the world. There are not enough engineers, so you can work at really progressive organisations now. I would see it as becoming the golden egg for many young people.

Gail Power: Yeah, people like Mark Zuckerberg are amazing role models, especially because he started so young and, of course, Sheryl Sandberg herself and Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo!). I think it's like geek chic, right? Being an accountant or lawyer, that's the dull stuff now.

Holland: If people had asked us when we were graduating college what we wanted to be, we could never have said we wanted to work at Facebook, because nothing like that ever existed, and if we've learned anything from our career paths, it's that the rate of change happens so dramatically. It's important we ensure our kids have open minds about their careers.

You see the kids now. I remember we had a computer in primary school, and there was one computer in this office. People used to come in and kind of stare (laughs) at it in awe, and every so often you'd be allowed touch it. Now my four-and-a-half-year-old can put on the music system in our house, and pick the songs she likes on the iPad. It's a completely different time.

Sandberg as a role model?

While Power and Holland clearly look up to Sandberg as a role model, they say that they wouldn't have particularly remarked on her gender over the years.

Holland: I didn't ever really think about what gender she was. It never really had any impact on how I saw her. I just remember finding her extremely impressive, and I probably did think 'good for her. She's nailing it'.

Power: She's just so good at her job. That's what is really impressive, not whether she's male or female. It's more like 'wow, she's just so amazing', whether it's at a one-to-one interview, or in a room with 100 of us.

The Lean In movement

So were they surprised when Sandberg began to raise her head above the parapet, give talks on the gender gap and, ultimately, publish the Lean In book?

Power: If I'm totally honest, at the start I was a bit sceptical. I think I hadn't quite got into the mindset that it needed to be done. I think for me it was partly because I'm in a quite senior position so it's like (laughs) 'what, there's a problem?' Just learning more about it and opening my eyes made me take a very different stance in terms of things like CWIT (Connecting Women in Technology). I had always been involved, but it was something I didn't put a lot of my energy into, whereas now I chase Orna all the time about it. It has definitely changed my opinion. If it has that impact on everybody else, then it will make a difference.

Holland: When it comes to the book, the numbers and the stats for me were pretty frightening. (Power nods). In this site here in Dublin there's me and Gail and Emer Donaghy and Sonya Flynn - all female and all directors - and overall there's a ratio of about 50-50, so you kind of think 'we're rocking along nicely'. But when you're handed the data you think 'OK, my perception is incorrect. Just because I'm in a good place doesn't mean that's happening globally, or indeed through the rest of Ireland'. That was an eye opener for me, because I guess I had thought everything was A-OK.

Power: And for me it wasn't even just the stats, it was the trends - the fact that it has plateaued. I hadn't realised that at all. That was the stat that made me sit up.

And I love Sheryl's approach that this is not just aimed at women, it's aimed at men, and that she's really proactive about getting anybody involved. It doesn't feel so much like a women's rights issue as one of 'we have to change the world together'.

Holland: I guess what also surprised me was that somebody at Sheryl's level would do this. I mean, with what she's accomplished in her career, what is the value add for her to stand up and write this book? She didn't need to do it. She did it for a good reason. That to me was a real 'aha' moment. I thought, 'good for you'. That really impressed me.

Reactions and reality checks

While there was huge praise for the book, it is well documented that - perhaps predictably when it comes to the complex area of gender politics - it also drew its share of naysayers and critics.

Power: Yeah, I was surprised by the venom behind some of the criticism. My first gut reaction was to feel really defensive toward her, but then you take a step back and you think, 'well, it's good that people feel so passionate about this topic', and at least the conversation is being bought to the fore. But yeah, some of the more personal attacks surprised me. I guess that's what happens when you put yourself out there. But it was great that it got to No 1 on the best-seller lists so quickly. It shows that there is great interest and enthusiasm in having the conversation.

‘Sit at the table'

In the book, Sandberg encourages women to step forward, and she posits that women are often the ones who hold themselves back. In one chapter, in particular, she also cautions women going on maternity leave, "don't leave before you leave". I ask both women if they have had any experience of either.

Holland: About 90pc of females I grew up with went to college. I'd say about 85pc of them don't work anymore - they all have children, some two or three. It's definitely something I've seen on that side of my life. Yet, here at Facebook, and even when I was at Microsoft and Google, I'd say 80pc have come back.

Power: I'm not sure they've all come back and been so ambitious, though.

Holland: No, definitely not as ambitious.

Power: What I used to see at Microsoft was amazing people I was competing with go out on maternity leave, then come back and say, 'I'm not going to go for the high-profile project, because I want to go home at 4'clock'. In Accenture, too, people would say, 'I never want to make partner because I want a family life'. So yes, I have seen people self-select out. Because it's a decision you make, right? You sacrifice your family to some extent.

And have they had the experience of women checking out "before they leave", as described in Lean In? They both nod immediately.

Holland: Yes, I have seen women who work on the team, and when they're pregnant they've checked out before they've even walked out the door.

Power: Or people we've approached in the past saying, 'oh no, we've just got married, and we're thinking of having kids'. Like, really? That would stop you moving jobs? I remember I started at Facebook just after I got married and so many people were asking, 'are you crazy? Do you not want a family?' I just didn't equate the two as being part of the same conversation. That was funny to me. This isn't the 1950s, after all.

Holland: Yes, I totally agree. Mind you, it is difficult when they come back. It does feel still like a lot of the childcare responsibility burden falls on women. I feel like 90pc of the time it sits with the woman of the couple to organise the logistics of the sick baby or being let down by the child minder.

Having it all?

In another chapter, Sandberg describes the coining of the phrase 'having it all' as "perhaps the greatest trap ever set for women". I ask them what they think of this thesis.

Holland: I actually believe you can have it all - once you forgive yourself the guilt. I think the biggest stumbling block is yourself. That was my experience. Once I got over my guilt of not being there every day, not putting them to bed every night, I said 'OK, so I'm here four days a week I can absolutely nail it. (Holland is based in Dublin four days a week, while her home is in Dunmore East). I can do what I have to do'. But at the weekends when I'm at home, I'm with my kids. I won't go out on a Saturday night, I'll stay in or we'll go out for pizza or we'll have people over.

Women ask more questions than men do, in my experience. I can't tell you the number of times a woman has said to me, 'Do you not miss the children, oh that must be so hard?' It's asking a question in a nice manner but there's so much underlying negativity to it.

Power: I always think the grass is greener, as well. Because I sometimes think it might be nice to be a stay-at-home mom, and then I do it for a day and I'm like, 'oh God get me back to the professionals'. I'd probably be bored stiff if I was home all the time and it would ultimately not be good for my son. I think it's a balance. At Facebook, we're given a lot of freedom to make sure we get that balance, but you're always trading something off.

I think Sheryl standing up and saying 'I leave work at 5.30 every day to be home' helps. I leave early on a Monday and don't take calls on a Monday night because that's my time with my son. But I do my work and I do it incredibly well, so why wouldn't I go home early on a Monday? In any company, if you work hard and you do a good job you should be able to balance it. If you don't, well then, people are going to ask questions.

Make your partner a real partner

It brings us neatly to Sandberg's assertions in the book on the importance of having a 'real partner' in life.

Power: I couldn't do what I do without my husband. We don't do 50-50. It's more like 70-30 - and he does the 70pc. Some weeks it's 100pc. He has given up a lot to let me have my career, so I feel blessed all the time.

Holland: Well, even logistically, my husband has the kids four days a week and I'm only there three days, so we parent together at the weekends. So I'd say he does 75 to 80pc. He's more flexible because he runs his own business, and we do have help. We couldn't do it otherwise.

Lean In: conclusions

Finally I ask them if they believe it is a positive thing that Sandberg wrote this book?

Power: It's a brilliant thing. The very fact that we're having this conversation, the chances are that it's going to raise awareness - about not only the decisions that corporations are making, but that women are making. I think it's so important for our kids and for the next generation.

Holland: Gail and I have heard Sheryl speak for years, and we would have heard a lot of these stories. I feel like I have been so fortunate to know her through my career. The fact that is now available to the world is just great. Plus it's good to see women in positions like that take on a challenge. I have two daughters, and hopefully when they grow up they'll look at me and think, 'that's what my mom did. I can do anything'. So I think the book is awesome.

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead has been published by WH Allen. The Lean In community is also online.

Women Invent Tomorrow is Silicon Republic's year-long campaign to champion the role of women in science, technology, engineering and maths

Hood steps into her new role immediately, taking over from departing CFO Peter Klein.

Klein will remain at Microsoft until the end of June to ensure a smooth transition, after which time he plans to travel and spend time with family.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive officer, said Hood (41) brings the right talents and experiences to the role as Microsoft continues to strengthen its focus on devices and services.

“She has been an instrumental leader in the Microsoft business division, helping lead the transition to services with Office 365 and delivering strong financial and operational management throughout her time on the business,” Ballmer said.

Hood, who joined Microsoft in December 2002, has been involved in the strategy development and overall execution of the company’s successful acquisitions of Skype and Yammer.

She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University.

Women Invent Tomorrow is Silicon Republic's year-long campaign to champion the role of women in science, technology, engineering and maths

Forbes reported on the US results of CareerBliss.com’s analysis of more than 48,000 employee-generated reviews between April 2012 and March 2013. At least 25 reviews were required for a company to be considered in the compilation.

Half of the companies in the compilation are technology companies, and all of those have Irish operations: EMC, telecoms company Motorola Solutions, chip giant Intel, networking equipment maker Cisco Systems, and computer maker Hewlett-Packard.

The remaining companies on the list that have offices on Irish soil are Bank of America, telecoms company Verizon (Verizon Ireland), and financial services firm Fidelity Investments.

CareerBliss.com defines young professionals as employees who have fewer than 10 years of experience in a full-time role.

For the compilation, they were asked to evaluate 10 factors that affect workplace happiness, such as work environment, daily tasks, job resources, company culture, compensation, growth opportunities, company reputation, relationship with boss and colleagues, and control over the work one does on a daily basis.

The respondents then valued each factor on a five-point scale, and also indicated how important it was to their overall happiness at work. The numbers were combined to find an average rating of overall employee happiness for each respondent, and then sorted by employer to find which companies had the happiest young employees, Forbes reported.

The top company on the compilation, EMC, received an index score of 4.20. In Ireland, the firm recently highlighted how jobs-rich the IT sector has become, as well as growth areas, such as cloud, big data and security.

In November, Fidelity Investments announced it was to create 200 new jobs in Dublin and Galway involving a diverse mix of technology, back office operations and enterprise services skills.

Young professionals image via Shutterstock

At ESB, Shine served as deputy chief executive, as well as managing director of Network, where he oversaw a €6bn network upgrade.

Herb Hribar, CEO of eircom Group, said he is delighted Shine is joining the company.

“He brings a wealth of network experience and joins Eircom at an exciting time as we launch our next-generation fibre network, rollout our 4G mobile service and introduce our ‘quad play’ and television service,” Hribar said.

Eircom will also see the departure of Brendan Lynch, managing director of Group Technology, in August.

Lynch originally joined Meteor Mobile Communications in 2007. During the past six years, he led the rollout of the 3G mobile network and the network integration across Eircom’s fixed and mobile platforms.

“Bríd is a very experienced and valued member of ESB’s leadership team who in recent years has firmly established ESB’s energy services business, Electric Ireland, as one of Ireland’s most dynamic and well-respected brands,” O’Doherty said.

“She comes to this role at a time of great change and uncertainty in the electricity sector as we tackle the challenges of decarbonisation, energy security and energy affordability,” he added.

Horan took on the role of executive director of ESB Business Service Centre and Electric Ireland in 2010.

Previously, she held several senior executive positions in the company, including executive director ESB Energy Solutions and executive director ESB Customer Supply and Group Services.

Prior to joining ESB in 1997 as Group Pensions manager, Horan led KPMG Pension & Actuarial Consulting.

Horan is also a non-executive director of FBD Holdings plc and was a commissioner of the National Pensions Reserve Fund from its establishment in 2001 to 2009.

She has also been a board member of IDA Ireland, from 1996 to 2006.

Women Invent Tomorrow is Silicon Republic's year-long campaign to champion the role of women in science, technology, engineering and maths

The number of professional job opportunities on the market reached close to 9,000 in April 2013, according to the Morgan McKinley report, up 9pc from March and dropping a marginal 1pc year-on-year.

The number of professionals seeking employment also rose 5pc from the previous month, but declined 4pc year-on-year.

“The IT and technology markets remain strong, with an increase in demand for UI, online and digital skills,” said Karen O’Flaherty, chief operations officer at Morgan McKinley. “This trend is reflective across a number of businesses and sectors, where new product and service offerings are displayed and sold online, demonstrating changing buying behaviours.”

Another indication of growing confidence in the jobs market is longer term contracts being offered by employers. “As visibility and confidence returns, many of the jobs being registered are for longer periods of time, typically 12 to 18 months compared to six to nine months in the last couple of years,” said O’Flaherty.

The new jobs will bring the number of staff at Deloitte’s Belfast Technology Studio to 201. 

Deloitte said most of the jobs would be tailored to graduates and will be mid to low-level entry positions.

The expansion will require a range of skills and experience, including digital software engineers to develop web/mobile platforms, and systems integration engineers to solve the challenges associated with leveraging legacy data and backend systems. 

Testing skills will be in high demand, where candidates must have an acute attention to detail in order to ensure software is of a sufficient quality. 

Analytics skills will also be highly sought after, which may come from a range of diverse backgrounds, including science, technology, engineering or maths, but candidates should all have an appreciation of the business value in harnessing insightful data.

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said the new positions will provide an estimated stg£6m in salaries in the Northern Ireland economy.

Danny McConnell, technology partner at Deloitte Belfast, said the investment in the Belfast Technology Studio represents a significant step up from the company’s previous ambitions in Northern Ireland.

“(This investment) is a direct response to major new opportunities we have identified in the provision of specialist and integrated analytics, digital and testing services,” said McConnell. 

“The fact that we have chosen to further develop our technology studio in Belfast is testament to the skilled workforce and advanced infrastructure in Northern Ireland. 

“With the help of Invest NI we plan to develop a dedicated team of professionals who are passionate about innovative and emerging technology which will enable our clients to stay ahead of the game in this fast-changing technological age,” McConnell added.

Recruitment for the new jobs has already begun.

That information comes courtesy of the annual Games Fleadh in Thurles, Co Tipperary, which took place in March.

The founder of the event, Philip Bourke, predicted the gaming sector could create thousands of new jobs over the next few years.

“We are creating a real opportunity here for Ireland as the proliferation of indigenous games developers is sending a strong signal to multinationals that Ireland is a cutting-edge location when it comes to games development. We are building a real pedigree in Ireland,” he said.

In the years to come, Bourke added, focus has to be on helping the smaller indigenous developers get their games published, while the indigenous sector can also help attract further foreign direct investment.

The Irish Government has also pinpointed the gaming sector as a hub for job creation. Richard Bruton, TD, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, has established an industry group made up of executives from major games companies in Ireland. Their task is to direct a strategy to create 2,500 new digital games jobs by next year.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, TD, appointed McCluggage to the role.

As director of e-government and then-CIO for Northern Ireland, McCluggage led the development and successful implementation of a range of strategies that have transformed Northern Ireland’s public services’ interface with the citizen and the delivery of public-sector back-office services.

As deputy government CIO in the Cabinet Office in London, he led a multidisciplinary team that developed the government’s national ICT strategy.

McCluggage holds a BSc in electrical engineering from Queen’s University, Belfast, and an MSc in aerosystems engineering. He is a member of the Institute of Engineering, Technology & Chartered Engineers, a fellow of the British Computer Society, and is a visiting professor at the University of Ulster.

McCluggage will be reporting to the secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

He will hold ultimate responsibility for the strategic direction of technology in support of the wider mission and strategic change objectives in the public sector. In addition, he will lead the CIO Council and will drive the implementation of the e-government and cloud computing strategies.

“I look forward to the opportunity to work with the CIO Council, colleagues across Government and industry, and with the senior management team in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform under Minister Brendan Howlin and Secretary-General Robert Watt to make a tangible difference to the delivery of public services across Ireland through effective use of technology, e-government and cloud computing,” McCluggage said.