RECRUITMENT PICTURE A LITTLE BRIGHTER THIS YEAR - Stockbroker Davy has predicted that the country will be properly out of recession in three to four months time - that means April or May. We will have to wait and see what that means for new job opportunities.
Jane Lorigan, managing director of recruitment website Irishjobs.ie, said the recruitment picture in January 2010 was a lot more positive than at this time last year.
She said the number of job vacancies advertised had hit a low in April, but the market had been stable since the middle of last year and she was expecting modest growth in 2010.
Ms Lorigan said around 16,000 jobs were on offer on Irishjobs.ie at the moment, compared with 45,000 at the end of 2007. She said the strongest areas at the moment were banking, finance and accountancy. IT jobs and sales were also robust.
She said big US multinationals had stopped hiring non-essential in late 2007 and early 2008, but they had started to hire again and some had started big recruitment campaigns, with Google a particularly big recruiter.
Ms Lorigan advised people who had been laid off recently not to panic, and to review their skills to see how up to date they were. She also encouraged people to Google their name, as many employers would also be doing this.
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NEWS IN BRIEF - CRH is predicting a drop in its pre-tax profit of 55% for 2009.
US crude oil is over $80 a barrel in trading in Asia this morning.
Retailers Next has raised its profit forecast after better than expected trading in the run-up to Christmas.
