ACCENTURE TO CREATE 100 TECH JOBS - 100 technology jobs have been announced by the US multinational management consultants Accenture. The positions are targeted for both graduates and those with industry experience and will be based around the country. These jobs are on top of an earlier four-year programme to recruit 100 staff announced in November at a research and innovation centre it was establishing. Accenture already employs more than 1,300 people in Ireland.
The managing director of Accenture in Ireland, Mark Ryan, says the new jobs will be across a broad range of technology skills with 50 positions for newly qualified graduates and 50 for those with experience in the sector. He says that recruiting at the graduate level remains very good, but finding those with more experience can be more challenging. But he adds that jobs in technology are out there and the sector can offer great opportunities. On pay, Mr Ryan says that his company has had a pay freeze over the past three years and as yet no decision has been taken on 2012. But he says that as there is demand for jobs it is not very easy to inflict pay freezes on employees.
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UPTURN IN AMOUNT OF DEALS EXPECTED IN IRISH COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MARKET - The Irish commercial property sector once had foreign-owned and Irish banks tripping over themselves to lend into. But times have changed and CBRE says that the ongoing euro zone debt crisis, financial issues and market volatility will continue to dominate the sector over the next 12 months. The property consultants have produced their outlook for 2012 and its executive director Marie Hunt says that local economic, financial and political decisions will be the main drivers of pricing and deals in the Irish property market in 2012.
Ms Hunt says that the property market stalled last year because of uncertainty, but says some of that uncertainty has now eased after the December Budget. She says she believes the commercial property market should show some signs of stabilisation this year with a notable increase in transaction volumes expected in all sectors of the market. However, she also notes the growing problem of ''functionally obsolete accommodation'' in all sectors. She says there is no funding available to refurbish commercial property and so its quality is becoming quite poor. There are fears some buildings will not pass health and safety regulations unless work is carried out on it, she adds.
