This week’s performance on the jobs creation front has completely outstripped every other week in November. Is there a reason?
Once Halloween has come and gone, it can often feel like the year is drawing to a close very slowly and then all at once. We steam through November, hit December and then get caught up the pre-holiday revelry and present buying. Before we know it, we’ve hit the dawn of a new year.
Generally as the year’s end nears, things quieten down on the jobs creation front. Yet this week not only defied all expectations, it completely outdid prior weeks in November by a considerable margin.
We reported on a total of 720 jobs created across the island of Ireland. The biggest announcement came from financial services firm Grant Thornton, which announced 400 roles primarily based at a new premises at Dublin’s City Quay but with other roles dotted around the country. Artificial intelligence firm Genesys announced 200 new positions at a new state-of-the-art facility it recently unveiled in Galway.
Eye health company Bausch Health confirmed that it will expand its manufacturing capabilities in Waterford in order to meet increased demand for its silicone hydrogel contact lenses, creating 100 jobs in Leinster. Finally, risk management fintech firm Quaternion announced a strategic partnership with State Street subsidiary AcadiaSoft and the creation of 20 jobs over the next two years.
Given that these jobs represent a broad swathe of industries, it’s difficult to pinpoint any particular catalyst. It could be that companies are rushing to get their announcements in before the end of the year so that they can state with relative confidence that they plan to have all the available positions in place by 2020, a satisfyingly round number if we ever saw one. Perhaps the mystery shall have to endure, albeit a happy mystery for the jobseekers among us
It was also Science Week in Ireland this week, giving us on the Careers beat the opportunity to have a lot of illuminating conversations about a career in science and technology. We learned about how social responsibility projects can become the glue that really holds a team together. We chatted to BMS’s Seán McKeon about how he keeps every plate spinning in his capacity as a supply relationship manager. We found about what it’s like to work on a medtech R&D team and also heard more about the tech job you probably don’t hear about often enough.
For more on any of these stories, check out the links above.
