September has been shown as one of the busiest hiring periods across the world, with graduates fresh out of college, managers and bosses back from their holidays and refreshed and many of us simply crving change ahead of Christmas.
Figures from the CSO's latest Labour Force Survey showed that the number of people at work in the State had risen to a record high of 2.6 million.
The appetite for new opportunities was only made clearer at the Digital Business Ireland Summit, which took place in Dublin's Croke Park yesterday. The event showcased suppliers from across the country and hosted talks from companies such as TikTok, Google, Meta and more.
We caught up with Digital Business Ireland's Chairperson Ashley McDonnell, Global Digital Media & E-Commerce Director at PUIG, host of the Tech Powered Luxury podcast and educator, to discuss the event and hear her tips for making the most of the September surge.
Speaking about the summit, McDonnell said the bustling event "shows the growing interest in and need for Irish businesses to understand digital, to understand technology".
"AI in particular is a big theme this year and what we want is for anyone attending this year to leave with actionable insights they can really apply. Today, I saw people in the room downloading apps, using ChatGTP as they saw presentations about it."
Having garnered a reputation for sharing insights from her own impressive career – having been appointed manager at Dior at just 22 – on social media or on her podcast, it's unsurprising that McDonnell had many young followers eager to speak with her about the job hunt.
"Even this morning I had people coming to me directly, with their CVs, looking for an internship so it's amazing to see people be out there and going for it and realising there are loads of opportunities", she said. "It's just about asking the right people. Asking for advice, asking for feedback, asking 'can I get a bit of experience?' especially for students that are coming out of their degrees today."
"I had the same challenge about 10 years ago when I was trying to figure out how do I get a job? Either after school or after university we all have that question and it can be really unclear, especially if you're focused on a specific area. For me, it was luxury and tech and somehow I managed to get just enough info to push me in the right direction."
She noted the "entrepreneurial" spirit in Ireland, saying, "We see incredible evolution within the tech space in particular, and that's a big export. We're exporting our technologies all over the world, often as a service."
One such entrepreneur she points to is Shana Chu of fashion software company Tailr, who has 95% of her clients currently based outside Ireland.
So what are her tips for nailing the job search with such fierce competition out there?
When it comes to finding jobs, she pointed to LinkedIn, particularly for "looking at the profiles of people whose jobs you would really like to aim for and have, so you can see all their experience of how they got to that point".
"If you already know what company you're aiming for, of course go to their website, go to their careers portal because that's where you're going to have everything available.
"Research the company, I think that's really important to understand what kind of company you've applied for, what is their mission, what are the main products or services that they sell or what is it that they actually do." She added that researching who will be interviewing you can help you think of the right questions to ask in the interview.
"Lastly, think overall about what you want to know about the role. You probably have the job description ... and if there's something that wasn't clear in that for you make sure that you're ready to ask them about it. But in the meantime do as much research as you can so you're coming prepared and be able to show them at least as many of the things as possible as they want from you."
As a fashion lover and expert herself, we couldn't help but pick McDonnell's brain about what to wear to an interview.
For a Zoom interview, she said she opts for "something quite simple, something black or white, a shirt". "You don't have to worry too much about it. You don't want to be worried about your outfit on the day either so not going too complicated."
For in-person interviews she suggested going for something weather appropriate. "Don't turn up for an interview dressed for a summer day if it's the middle of winter in Ireland."
"Also [consider] what people usually wear in that company if you want to be aligned with the codes that they wear. I remember doing interviews in the past for MAC as part of Estée Lauder Group and it's known they all wear black, so I said, okay, I'm going to wear all black and show I've done my research on the culture of that company."
Finally, following up after an interview can be a good way to make a lasting impression, but don't push too hard, McDonnell said.
"I always recommend sending a quick thank you email to whoever it was that either helped you set up the interview and if you have the email of the person who actually interviewed you as well, just to say thanks, really appreciate your time, looking forward to the next steps."
