The number of professional job vacancies has risen significantly in recent months, though the lack of available workers exaggerates this further.
According to a new report, between March and April, professional job vacancies in Ireland grew by 7pc, with an added strain on the jobs market seeing the number of those available to fill the positions dropping significantly.
Morgan McKinley’s study shows a 15pc drop in the number of professionals looking for new roles in this period, with a 2pc drop in those actively seeking new positions.
As usual, the IT sector is leading the pursuit for new talent.
Morgan McKinley suggests this is best reflected by a number of people interviewing with multiple employers at a time, adding to the competitive environment and, perhaps, driving up salaries.
There is a strong need for programmers covering C# and Java, with cloud engineering one of the emerging areas of interest.
DevOps and experienced support engineers also continue to be in high demand along with .Net developers, security engineers, project managers and SAP consultants.
With DevOps in particular, Morgan McKinley claims that candidate shortages have led recruiters to look abroad for people to fill roles.
“The continuing improvement in economic circumstances is feeding into a buoyant professional services recruitment market,” said Trayc Keevans, director of inward investment at Morgan McKinley Ireland.
“We are seeing a strong pipeline of interest from abroad as potential inward investment projects seek information and guidance on skills availability in Ireland.
“This is a mixture of standard FDI interest and Brexit-related concern on the part of international companies.”
Brexit is a particular focus in this employment monitor, with Morgan McKinley suggesting that contingency plans around the UK’s leaving the EU are making for an interesting era.
Employers are seeking more professionals in corporate finance, consulting and risk management, but not for restructuring or insolvency roles, which the recruitment company feels is a positive.
People with global and EMEA experience in finance and procurement finance are also in high demand.
The incoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) next summer means that firms are actively recruiting as they advise companies on compliance.
“At present, while there are some pressure points in terms of skills availability, we see an overall level of balance in the market where there is steadily growing demand for key skills, matched by appropriate remuneration levels and a strong measure of mobility within the workforce that is helping to support growth in key business sectors,” said Keevans.
“Aligned with this, we are seeing continuing interest in new opportunities among Irish professionals who are currently living abroad and who are considering returning to Ireland.”
