Recruitment company CPL Resources is promising 160 new jobs in Ireland over the next two years and 40 further roles abroad. The positions will include recruitment, sales and marketing jobs and will be spread across its operations in Ireland, the UK and Eastern Europe.
CPL's chief executive Anne Heraty says the company's expansion plans are a good indicator of the growing strength in the Irish economy. Ms Heraty says there is great demand for skilled workers and she hears employers saying that finding skilled workers is one of the biggest challenges facing them and it is an issue which is constraining the growth of their business. The demand is also pretty much spread across all sectors, she adds.
The CPL CEO says the company conducted a very successful campaign last year with the Diaspora and it attracted 3,000 people home. A number of skilled people left Ireland during the downturn - and people are continuing to leave jobs here to work abroad - and Ms Heraty says her company wants to work with the Diaspora to bring people back to Ireland. She says that most people come back to Ireland for family reasons and because it is a good place to live and work. The company is working with a number of diaspora groups in the UK, US and Australia to get the message out there that the Irish economy is growing and that there are fantastic job opportunities here.
However, there are some difficult barriers to surmount to attract people back to Ireland, including sorting out the housing crisis and high rents. She points out that both Dublin and Cork are really suffering at the moment in the housing crisis. She says it is not always about pay for people coming back to work here, adding that access to good quality housing, good infrastructure and good education are also key issues. That is why it is so important for the country to invest in improving the country's infrastructure, roads network and trains and - most importantly of all - the country's education system, she adds.
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