2008 Should Still Be Positive but More Challenging 6th December – 2007 was characterised by more restrained salary growth in Ireland, according to Premier Group’s 2008 Salary Guide, released today. Driven by strong levels of activity, sectors such as accountancy and office support saw above average wage growth. However, salary demands in parts of the construction and banking sectors softened in response to the slowdown in domestic construction and the prevailing uncertainty in international financial markets. Brian Murphy, Managing Director Ireland, Premier Group, commented, “Overall the Irish recruitment market has remained buoyant throughout 2007, despite talk of an economic downturn. Salaries have remained reasonably stable, although there has been upward pressure where candidate supply is particularly tight. Looking ahead, we remain very confident in the buoyancy of the recruitment market for 2008, however there is a definite air of uncertainty that may impact the pace and volume of hiring decisions.” “Across our core markets of financial recruitment, office support recruitment, IT recruitment and technical recruitment, we expect to see different pressures with some sectors showing above average growth in 2008. Overall we expect recruitment to slow in the first half of 2008, but to pick up again in the second half. This should reflect improved interest rates and stamp duty changes as recently announced.” “We also expect the trend continues for companies within Dublin city centre to relocate or expand their operations out of the city centre, into suburban areas where candidates seeking reduced commuting options are in good supply.“ Finance “The mainstream finance sector outside of financial services should remain consistently solid throughout 2008, with salary increases expected to match inflation. However the increasing uncertainty in the financial markets has already started to impact on salary expectations, and should ease wage inflation in 2008. That said, there are still staff shortages particularly in areas that require specialist skills and experience. In Financial Services – commercial lenders, compliance and risk professionals along with wealth managers, will continue to be in strong demand in 2008.” Office Support “Whilst companies may be conscious of keep support-staff costs tight during 2008, this could result in a slowing in the numbers of permanent office support staff hired. However we expect that the hiring of temporary office support staff will more than offset this with the number of temporary office support staff hired is set to increase. This may result in some salary increases above inflation amongst temporary workers.” Information Technology “The IT sector in Ireland is set for another strong year in 2008 with some areas continuing to experience a serious shortage of candidates. With the continual emergence of new technologies, the IT sector is expected to continue to require highly skilled candidates. Our ability to meet our IT demands is being helped by the skill sets of candidates coming in from Eastern Europe. Wage pressures are expected to continue within the IT sector for 2008.” Technical “The technical recruitment sector is expected to vary depending on the sector within this market. Construction is going through a dip at the moment and its ability to come out of this will depend on improved interest rates and changes to stamp duty. Therefore we expect that the construction sector will be hiring at a reduced rate in 2008.” Pharmaceutical “With regard to the Pharmaceutical/Medical devices sectors, we predict continued growth particularly in the high value-added sectors. BioPharma is set to experience further expansion and the skills shortage in this area may result in some wage inflation. The food and processing sectors should be relatively stable with salaries remaining relatively flat over 2007.” “The manufacturing sector is somewhat unpredictable. However, it is expected that the trend towards moving low value production operations to lower cost countries will continue. High value-added manufacturing should continue to do well in 2008 and in some specialists highly skilled sectors, you may see wage pressure, however the overall sector is not likely to increase greatly.” About Premier Group Premier Group is the pioneer of specialised recruitment in Ireland. Established in 1988, the wholly Irish owned recruitment services group has almost twenty years experience and has grown to employ 330 people with 22 offices in Ireland and the UK, including Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Kilkenny. The company expects to have a turnover of approx €100 million in 2007 Premier Group incorporates four specialist recruitment divisions: Premier specialising in financial recruitment, La Crème specialising in office support recruitment, Brunel specialising in the technical recruitment and Verkom specialising in IT recruitment.
Premier Group was this year identified among the top 50 best companies to work for in Ireland for the third successive year and as the best company in Ireland in terms of the respect that we afford to work-life balance among our staff. Premier was also included in the 100 Best Workplaces in Europe 2007. Premier Group is also the only Irish recruitment company to be included in the Irish Times Top 1000 Companies List.
Premier Group launches own Internal Recruitment Site
Premier Group has launched an aggressive and innovative recruitment campaign of its own, designed to attract staff to work in each of its four divisions. A bespoke website, www.wegetpeople.ie, has been created, featuring testimonials from staff of the company explaining the reasons why they enjoy working at Premier Group. “Our staff are our best asset and we wanted to use their experiences to attract new people to join Premier Group. We have had a strong year in 2007 and in order to build on that for 2008 we need more people to join our team and help us go from strength to strength,” said Brian Murphy, Managing Director Ireland, Premier Group.
For more information, please visit: www.premiergroup.ie |