Tweak Your Biz » Announcements » Hireland.ie – New Job Initiative Aims To Encourage 5,000 Employers to Pledge A Job

Hireland.ie – New Job Initiative Aims To Encourage 5,000 Employers to Pledge A Job

by Niall Devitt on January 16th, 2012
23 Comments



A new initiative aimed at encouraging job creation for Ireland’s skilled unemployed was launched earlier today. Through collective entrepreneurialism and positive thinking, Hireland hopes to encourage the creation of 5,000 new job opportunities in the first half of 2012.

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To support the launch, Hireland has issued the findings of a brand new piece of research, which was conducted amongst small and medium enterprises at the beginning of January this year.

  • Encouragingly, slightly more than half (52%) plan to hire one or more new employees this year.
  • Half of all new jobs will be full time, 3 in 10 will be mostly part time and the balance will be a mixture of full time and part time jobs.
  • The research did however reveal that 43% are undecided about their recruitment plans.

Pledge a job on Hireland

Speaking earlier today, Gerard O’Neill, Chairman of Amárach Research and co-founder of Hireland said, “The findings of the research are positive, but it is clear that there are many business owners out there who have been toying with the notion of taking on additional staff, but don’t feel confident enough to do so.

Hireland’s message is very clear. If you’re a business owner, pledge a job on Hireland. A sure way of future proofing your business is to hire more people. By recruiting more people into the business, a company will experience immediate and direct benefits.

Hireland is sending out three clear messages to a company’s three main stakeholders. It lets customers know they can expect better service, staff will be rewarded with a greater division of labour and enhanced output and it also sends a strong message to competitors that you are investing in your company.”

  • Hireland is a volunteer, not-for-profit group that has developed a national communications initiative to encourage employers to hire one of the thousands of skilled people who are currently out of work. It came about in February 2011 after a kitchen table conversation between a group of friends, who had lost other friends to emigration.
  • Since then, it has grown to include students and people from the business, marketing and media community, all of whom have given their time and skills for free simply because they want to see the creation of jobs for the thousands of unemployed skilled workers in Ireland.
  • Hireland wants to draw on the power of the collective and act as a catalyst to stimulate job creation. It’s about a positive, confident movement, where one job will lead to another if Irish businesses get on board and pledge a job.

Advertising Campaign

Ireland’s media industry has played its part and has given €500,000 in advertising to support the launch of the initiative. Hireland’s campaign includes newspaper, television, radio and outdoor advertising, as well as digital and PR activity. You can also find Hireland on Facebook and Twitter.

Inspiration

Even though Hireland only launched officially today, it has already inspired a sister initiative in the United States of America, UhireU.S. which was announced at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in September 2011.

Six in ten SMEs stated that they would be willing in principle to support an initiative like Hireland and make a public pledge to hire at least one new staff member this year, so employers wishing to get involved and pledge a job should log on to www.hireland.ie



Category: Job Creation, SMEs

Tags: , , , , , ,

The Author:

Niall Devitt is a doer, not a talker when it comes to social media. Niall advises organisations how to plan, design and implement social media strategies that generate real business returns.  Niall is Chief Digital Strategist & Founder at the Ahain Group, an independent, ideas-led social business consultancy with experience of working with all types of clients and sectors– from large blue-chip multinationals to the 1 SMEs. Download our industry specific and researched social business reports. In 2009, Niall co-founded TweakYourBiz.com (formally Bloggertone.com) an international, business community and online publication. http://www.ahaingroup.com/

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  • Anonymous

    Cutural fit or org fit is important whether deciding to work with a company as an employee or supplier AND when hiring staff or business partners.

    Nice Post Barney

  • http://blog.myprojecttracker.com Barney Austen

    Agree 100% Paul. Thanks for the comment.

  • http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

    I think that you raise an important point. In my case, I need people to be responsive if I am to help bring about change.I have now learnt to read the (or between) signals as to whether this company is one I want to work with. In my experience, something as simple as bad time keeping or not returning calls/e-mails is more often a reflection of the overall level of professionalism. You would be amazed how sloppiness of senior managers infests an org. It’s easier to walk away than dig a hole :-)

  • http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

    Inspiring thoughts there Barney,
    If the square potential partner is flexible enough, they will fit into any “hole” (oh dear).
    Just an observation would be that it’s possible the not so fitting “loser” could in fact “get it” after another meeting. Then you would have a perfectly squished square in a fine round hole.

    However, I think you made the correct judgment on the day, and ascertained that the ‘winner” would not only be the best “fit”, but your client will work well with them and that the relationship will be long lasting. (Have you an update?)

  • http://blog.myprojecttracker.com Barney Austen

    Thanks for the comments Elaine. Yes, it worked out well – so the right call was made.

  • http://blog.myprojecttracker.com Barney Austen

    Agree – sometimes it is better to walk away. Thanks for the comment Niall.

  • http://twitter.com/CSAlexMorris Alex Morris

    Good, at least their trying some new initiatives. In England the government has been trying to get young adults who are unemployed (graduates etc.) into work by getting them unpaid internships etc. Having been unemployed myself for 3 years and knowing how ridiculously difficult it is to get a  job (even something like stacking shelves in a supermarket) I can only say they must be determined and keep looking. Which is not what a lot of 18 year olds are like, unfortunately.

  • http://www.tweakyourbiz.com Niall Devitt

    All very fair points, Alex and thanks for your comment. Another area I think we need to work on with young people is to encourage and educate them around entrepreneurship, I’m not sure what it’s like in the UK but we’re failing badly here in relation. 

  • Conor Hughes

    Really interesting alright!  I’m amazed that our politicians have not come up with something like this before, or am I????

    Well done to all involved.
    Conor

  • http://www.tweakyourbiz.com Niall Devitt

    Thanks for the comment, Conor :)

  • Elitespecificconnections joe

    We at elite specific connections think you have a great idea,this is what is needed at the present time.Together we can REBUILD & GROW which is our motto,we are a new company,visit our website http://www.elitespecificconnections.com,we will be recruiting soon

  • http://www.awardcertificateframes.com/ Tyler

    Great information here.  Very thorough, and many good points.  Ensuring that people enjoy their work is one of the best ways to make sure that they do a good job, and stay with the company.

  • http://dealassessor.com.au/ Johnyaeger85

    Goal Setting and Time management are important skills to increase productivity. Time management without having a clear defined set of goals can lead to waste. 

  • http://www.wholesalepages.co.uk/ UK Wholesale

    I found this post a year late but, I am happy that at least
    I have read it. These 12 points are golden ways to increase productivity by
    single person to a whole workplace. I loved the point of course and improvement
    option. On job training or off job training both are really helpful for
    employers and employees as this will enhance the knowledge of employee that is
    useful for business success and its ultimately effects on employer. The
    investment on training works a lot and for long.  

  • http://www.callboxinc.co.uk/ Hannah Hamilton

    I agree with you Neil. Mind is very powerful, the more you think of something the more it is likely to happen. Visualizing your passion makes it more easy to do it on the real situation. :)

  • http://twitter.com/bengii bengii

    Thanks Guys, we are hopeful that the green shoots are finally starting to appear

  • http://www.smartsolutions.ie/blog/ Elaine Rogers

    Happy New Year Ben,

    I would agree about the green shoots, even if it is just being “tired” of being “in” recesion, the general feeling I get is, Yes, it is time to start making some progress. The financial vibe in Ireland presently is definitely positive, whether in business, employment or property.

    And to agree specifically with your point 2 – some SM virgins need to realise for themselves, that likes and follower numbers do not count for interaction and engagement. A painful lesson at times, but necessary.
    Here’s to more opportunities, more money, more customers, and more interactive engagement in 2013 :)

  • Tom Watson

    Spreading the customer base also softens the blow when cusotmer don’t pay on time. The broader the base, the easier to operate your business from a cash flow perspective.

  • http://twitter.com/bengii bengii

    Hi Elaine, a regular question I ask is: would you rather 100 committed followers who comment regularly or 1,000 likes? It is an excellent way to frame a discussion and help people understand where they want to go with social. There is no right answer, but it is always good to clarify the goal from day one

  • http://www.facebook.com/elish.bulgodley Elish Bul-Godley

    Thank you for that post – all very topical – Personally believe the last one is critical in light of the financial instability surrounding us these days.

  • http://twitter.com/bengii bengii

    Thanks Christine! You are right – resolutions are a habit. Therefore it is important to undertake them consciously. Otherwise it is almost impossible to get real buy-in from the team, and failure becomes inevitable.

  • http://www.sdwebworks.com/san_diego_web_designer_blog San Diego Web Designer

    Wow this are some good lists. Are there any strategy for social media that you could share? Like how do you gather audiences?

  • Joe

    All good points. For number #4, I’d put an emphasis on “recognize”. Blanket rewards or praise to the workforce definitely help morale, but when you recognize individuals for specific achievements (and reward them accordingly), it’s much more beneficial, for those individuals and the organization as a whole. For the individual, it confirms to them that his or her work is both valuable and appreciated. For the organization, recognition and praise of individual effort can spur teams to aim higher in their work, encouraging others to strive for similar accolades. While software can help track workforce productivity and efficiency (our own solutions help align project and resource portfolios: http://www.trackersuite.net/enterprise_workforce_efficiency.html ), it ultimately requires personal involvement by management and leadership to achieve the best efficiencies.

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