Help, thinking of moving back to Ireland

irelandrover

I have been working in Holland for the last 5 years. AT this stage I am thinking of moving home. I have been working as a Quality Engineer for the last 3,5 years.
What are job prospects like at home at this point? Place I would be most interested in moving to would be Cork. Also, what type of salary would I be looking at after tax. Here I am on about 2000 a month after tax and would like to stay around this. Is it reasonable at all to think I could get this. All jobs i see advertised seem to say salary negotiable and I have no idea of the going salary in Ireland now.
My main question is, is it realistic to try to move home now and expect to stay on the same salary level as I am on here?

CatFromHue

I don't know about the salary but have you sussed out that their are jobs here that you could be employed in?

Have you contacted any/many employers yet?

Just also be aware that some to alot of jobs advertised on jobs websites could actually be the same job but different recruitment agents are advertising it.

Offy

irelandrover wrote: »

I have been working in Holland for the last 5 years. AT this stage I am thinking of moving home. I have been working as a Quality Engineer for the last 3,5 years.
What are job prospects like at home at this point? Place I would be most interested in moving to would be Cork. Also, what type of salary would I be looking at after tax. Here I am on about 2000 a month after tax and would like to stay around this. Is it reasonable at all to think I could get this. All jobs i see advertised seem to say salary negotiable and I have no idea of the going salary in Ireland now.
My main question is, is it realistic to try to move home now and expect to stay on the same salary level as I am on here?

I left the republic less than a year ago to take up a position in Northern Ireland. A year ago I would have really struggled on 2k a month, as it happens I was getting a higher income as a student when I was studying for a second degree shortly before I left. Any offers I got back then were in the 30k bracket. I should state that I first worked as an engineer in 1994 so I have a few years experience behind me.
Perhaps things have improved in the last year but as it stands I am happy working in the UK system. I worked in Manchester from '94 to '99 and then returned home. From 1999 to 2010 I worked in Ireland, in that time I never earned as much as I did in Manchester. Like you I thought returning home with my experience would yield a similar position. It didnt. The work was never as well paid. I doubt I will return for a long time.
Home is just a few hours drive for me now. Work is plentiful in Northern Ireland for engineers. The cost of living is lower and the pay is very similar. In my experience engineers are treated with more esteem in the UK than in Ireland. With these factors in mind perhaps a move to Northern Ireland might be worth considering?

djpbarry

irelandrover wrote: »

I have been working as a Quality Engineer for the last 3,5 years.
What are job prospects like at home at this point?

I think it depends on the industry, but I would be under the impression that there would be some suitable vacancies in Ireland at present for such a role.

irelandrover wrote: »

Here I am on about 2000 a month after tax and would like to stay around this. Is it reasonable at all to think I could get this.

You'd only have to make about €30k per annum to come out with €2k per month in Ireland - well below the national average of €36k. If you manage to secure a position, I would be very, very surprised if you were offered less than €30k with 3.5 years' experience.

spideog7

Kind of in the same boat myself, would take a big cut in salary, an increase in taxes and an increase in the cost of living. The big advantage is I'd get more holidays!

Surely if there is a 'skills shortage' it would be an employees market but that doesn't seem to be the case oddly enough.

petethedrummer

http://www.irishjobs.ie/Jobs/Production-Manufacturing-Materials/Quality-Engineer/

irelandrover

petethedrummer wrote: »

http://www.irishjobs.ie/Jobs/Production-Manufacturing-Materials/Quality-Engineer/

Thanks for that. I hadn't thought of inputting quality engineer into the Irish jobs website.
My problem is that a lot of those jobs are advertised with agencies. So there is no way to know if there actually is a job. Also as I stated in my opening post most of those jobs state that the salary is negotiable.
Thanks to everyone else for the input.

petethedrummer

irelandrover wrote: »

Thanks for that. I hadn't thought of inputting quality engineer into the Irish jobs website.
My problem is that a lot of those jobs are advertised with agencies. So there is no way to know if there actually is a job. Also as I stated in my opening post most of those jobs state that the salary is negotiable.
Thanks to everyone else for the input.

I don't think the agencies make up jobs (but maybe they do), so I'd be pretty sure there are jobs. Alot of jobs fall through or go on hold for a while if the company with the job is dilly dallying. Happens all the time so it may appear like the agency is d!cking you around. The only concern I would have is that alot of those jobs could be duplicates with different agencies advertising the same jobs. But a quick phone call and you should be able to establish what's real and not.

djpbarry

petethedrummer wrote: »

I don't think the agencies make up jobs (but maybe they do), so I'd be pretty sure there are jobs.

I'd be reasonably sure there are real jobs out there, but I've had enough dealings with agencies to leave me doubting the legitimacy of anything they advertise. I've seen positions being advertised by agencies months after they've been filled - it's purely to lure in candidates and get their CVs onto the agency's database.

petethedrummer

djpbarry wrote: »

I'd be reasonably sure there are real jobs out there, but I've had enough dealings with agencies to leave me doubting the legitimacy of anything they advertise. I've seen positions being advertised by agencies months after they've been filled - it's purely to lure in candidates and get their CVs onto the agency's database.

Any job they've come to me about, I can usually sniff out whether it is legitimate or not. But alot of projects and positions do fall through or get put on hold, often at a moments notice. And while I don't particularly like dealing with agencies, I think for the vast majority of cases they are advertising real jobs.

For instance when the economy took a downturn, there were fewer jobs in my field and the agencies stopped contacting as frequently and there were very few jobs on irishjobs. Things have come round again and they are advertising and contacting me about actual real jobs much more frequently. I know this because they often call me about jobs I already know about through contacts.

Edit: I don't think the agencies do themselves any favours because they will send your cv into a job and not bother to tell you if your CV has been rejected or if the job has been cancelled. So it might appear like they haven't sent it to anyone. I think it's important that you track who has sent your CV for which jobs and press them for regular updates. I put my CV forward for a job last year through an agency and heard nothing back, I was on a project with plenty of time left so I wasn't pressing them for updates. The job I wanted did exist but was put on hold. The guy from the agency didn't bother to tell me and I found out from someone else.

I had a friend work as a recruiter and he said some people rang him once a day for updates. That seems a bit excessive to me, I'd go once a week. A few regular calls and you will soon figure out if the recruiter is worth dealing with.