Research carried out by IrishJobs.ie confirms the greatest skills shortage in Ireland at the moment is in the area of IT skills, along with languages, finance and sales. However, the shortage is particularly marked in the area of mid to senior IT roles, and this could create a risk for other jobs, says Jane Lorigan, CEO Europe of Saongroup.com and IrishJobs.ie.
“Over 60pc of the people who had been hiring for IT positions told us it was either extremely difficult or difficult to fill those roles,” says Lorigan. “What’s worrying is that the roles they were hiring for were actually at the mid to senior level, and that would suggest there’s a long-term risk for business here, because so many FDI companies are located here.
“If they’re struggling to hire senior people, very often these are very pivotal roles around which they are hanging projects. The problem is if an international company with multiple locations can’t find the senior person to run a significant project in Ireland they always have the option to move that project offshore, and a pivotal role like that takes with it maybe 10 other jobs.
“That means there’s an immediate skills shortage at a higher level that we have to address,” says Lorigan, who believes great work is being done in higher education in Ireland, but that will not be sufficient in the short term. “Immediately if those skills aren’t available at the higher level, we need to bring them in.”
Watch the full interview with Jane Lorigan here:
Jane Lorigan is a panelist at the Future Jobs Forum, where international keynotes and local leaders will discuss Ireland’s challenges and opportunities in the global battle for talent, on 8 February at The Convention Centre Dublin
