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IRELAND SPECIAL Recruitment
Recruitment Market – 2010
Review and 2011 Prospects
Smooth seas do not make skilful sailors.
– An Old African Proverb
Turbulent times indeed. Financial
crises, threat of defaults, rising
unemployment, falling income, rising
education costs, diminishing opportunity.
Let’s stop there and look past the headlines
to the reality of the situation on the ground.
Ireland has been through three consecutive
years of shrinking economic development
and undoubtedly there are some tighter
years on the way with the measures
introduced in the IMF / ECB sanctioned
Budget for 2011 through 2014.
However, life and work will go on,
commercial exchange between supplier and
customer will continue, goods will continue
to move, imports and exports will continue
to travel through our ports and supply
chain professionals will be at the centre
of ensuring that all of this vital economic
activity is driven in a seamless and cost
effective fashion.
It brings us back to the fact that the most
important element in supply chains is that
people design them, people make them
happen and people deliver for people.
So what were the last twelve months like
for recruiters in the Supply Chain sector in
Ireland?
“2010 has been in an interesting time for
Supply Chain in Ireland. We have moved
on from the opportunity drought of 2009
and have embraced the movement within
the market. The majority of movement
comes from the multinational companies
and has moved away from the typical middle
management positions to more senior
strategic positions and also more specialized
junior positions above the graduate level”
says Mel Donnellan, Head of the Supply
Chain Team at Sigmar Recruitment.
The trend would appear to be that more
‘thought led’ roles are where opportunities
arose over the last year.
According to Shaun Du Preez of
Brightwater Recruitment, “In the past year,
we have seen recruitment focus on the front
22 Link January 2011
end of the supply chain i.e. procurement and
planning. Demand for experienced Planners
(Supply, Demand and Master Scheduler) is
at an all time high. In fact, the availability of
suitably qualified and experienced planners
is shrinking fast, belying the general
impression that there are large volumes
of adequately qualified and experienced
specialists on the live register”.
“Due to the economic situation,
companies expect to leverage significantly
lower prices for goods and services. On this
basis, supply and service level agreements
are being revisited and renegotiated.
This has led to increased demand for
Procurement specialists as well as Vendor
Managers. We have also seen a rise in
senior management positions, particularly
in the areas of Strategic Sourcing and
centralisation of procurement/ purchasing
functions.
In regard to warehousing and materials
management, again we have seen a demand
John Halpin
for analysts and improvement specialists,
who can reduce inventory overhead,
streamline warehouse operations, and
introduce just-in-time material delivery etc.
We have also seen a significant rise in
the number of contract roles available in the
market, which showcases the conservative
nature of recruitment currently. Companies
are hiring on a project basis. If they cannot