How bad is the job market, really?

Per Mertesacker

Hi

I'm sorry if this is a tedious newbie question, but how much is hyperbole and how much is cold hard reality when it comes to the job market in Dublin?

I ask because I'm tempted to move there as it would be far easier for me to live with my wife-to-be in another EU country than to try to get a British visa (which would basically require getting + keeping a second job for nearly a year).

I'm just a general unskilled office monkey i.e. sales/customer service experience but I've never had any trouble finding work in Oxford where I currently live, and that's literally ten times smaller than Dublin. Apples and oranges maybe...but to what extent I don't know.

If coming with 7k euro or so in savings would this still be a huge and stupid risk to take?

There's a chance I would be able to keep working remotely for my current boss, but I'm just wondering if I should still pursue this if that's not possible, or just outright forget it in that case.

Cheers...

ClashCityRocker

I'd have thought League of Ireland would be a bit of a step down for you tbh

Victor

On the face of it, it sounds like madness.

There seems to be movement only in some very low skill jobs - retail, pizza delivery, etc. and very high end tech stuff.

Sign up to some of the Irish jobs websites and see what is being offered.

Note that he cost of living tends to be higher in Ireland.

Tipperary animal lover

I'd think you'd be mad!!! Sorry, there's graduates with degrees coming out of there pie holes here looking for work and will do anything just to tide them over plus loads of skilled/unskilled office workers like yourself looking.... Plus you'd have a big outlay of a months+ down payment of rent and all the usual that goes with moving over here, plus Dublin is one expensive city so you'd want to be earning a good wage to make it worth the move.....

liffeylite

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

I'd think you'd be mad!!! Sorry, there's graduates with degrees coming out of there pie holes here looking for work and will do anything just to tide them over plus loads of skilled/unskilled office workers like yourself looking.... Plus you'd have a big outlay of a months+ down payment of rent and all the usual that goes with moving over here, plus Dublin is one expensive city so you'd want to be earning a good wage to make it worth the move.....

Take it all with a pinch of salt...as suggested, have a look on job sites such as jobs.ie and monster.ie there are jobs. Dublin is the least affected part of ireland in terms of unemployment. Average of 10% as opposed to average nationally 14% some parts of dublin is only 5 or 6%. The real unemployment rate isnt really any different than it is in the uk. Plus if your customer service experience, there are plenty of jobs. Paddy power just announced they are recruiting more people as an example.

liffeylite

ClashCityRocker wrote: »

I'd have thought League of Ireland would be a bit of a step down for you tbh

League of ireland? Where did he mention football? Or am i missing something:-)

bobin fudge

liffeylite wrote: »

League of ireland? Where did he mention football? Or am i missing something:-)

op's user name is german/arsenal player

liffeylite

bobin fudge wrote: »

op's user name is german/arsenal player

Good spot that man! :-)

liffeylite

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

I'd think you'd be mad!!! Sorry, there's graduates with degrees coming out of there pie holes here looking for work and will do anything just to tide them over plus loads of skilled/unskilled office workers like yourself looking.... Plus you'd have a big outlay of a months+ down payment of rent and all the usual that goes with moving over here, plus Dublin is one expensive city so you'd want to be earning a good wage to make it worth the move.....

Forgot to say, yes dublin is quite expensive, though id wager oxford is more so.but one thing to remember is you dont get taxed as much in ireland as you do in the uk. So you clear a bit more :-)

Jay D

I have to say I don't agree with lots of people who say there's "no" work. There is work.

It may take a while to find it but if you have a decent CV, good interview, you will get a job. Fair enough it's going to take a lot longer than before to get an interview but with the right CV you will get one. Don't be afraid or overly proud to take a low end job to get you going. You can always look for one in between.

sky2424

Yes the job market is bad. No point lying to you. I suggest you apply for jobs here and fly over for any interviews you might get. If you know someone in Ireland, use their address for your post as youve a better chance of getting called if they think your living in Ireland. But yes to summarise I think youd be mad to quit Oxford and move to ireland with no job security. People living here and with local experience cant get jobs. Theres tax incentives for employers to hire long term unemployed in receipt of Irish Social welfare. Theres also a free internship system. These are the cheaper forms of labour that youl be competing against. Id strongly suggest you take a look at what your up against.

Moving to Ireland might seem romantic ,if thats what your after, but I think youl find it an uphill struggle if you dont have any niche skills.

liffeylite

sky2424 wrote: »

Yes the job market is bad. No point lying to you. I suggest you apply for jobs here and fly over for any interviews you might get. If you know someone in Ireland, use their address for your post as youve a better chance of getting called if they think your living in Ireland. But yes to summarise I think youd be mad to quit Oxford and move to ireland with no job security. People living here and with local experience cant get jobs. Theres tax incentives for employers to hire long term unemployed in receipt of Irish Social welfare. Theres also a free internship system. These are the cheaper forms of labour that youl be competing against. Id strongly suggest you take a look at what your up against.

Moving to Ireland might seem romantic ,if thats what your after, but I think youl find it an uphill struggle if you dont have any niche skills.

yes, i wouldnt suggest moving to ireland without a job. but as mentioned, try and arrange interviews. if you have something about you you will get them, especially in Dublin. Ireland is very Dublincentric, the same way the UK is Londoncentric. And actually, the unemployment rate is lower in Dublin than in London.

It is perfectly feasiable to get a job. though dont jump before you have one, I would say.

And dont be skewered in your views by the unemployment rates presented. For some reason, in ireland, if your working part time you arent categorised as employed! So this 14% rate is actually people not in FULL TME employment. In the UK, if you work 4 hours a week your classified as employed. so the 8% vs 14% unemployment rate is a stupid comparison. the actual rate is about the same. problem is, most of the jobs are in the greater dublin area. But if thats where your looking at your in with a better shot of landing something.

stevenmu

A lot of the big tech companies have set up their customer support centers here, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Ebay, Microsoft etc, and there seems to be a good bit of work going in that area in general. Especially if you have experience in that kind of area, and doubly so if you have another European language.

But like people have said, if you can, try applying to a few places, see if you are getting interviews or interest and you'll be able to judge for yourself.

Per Mertesacker

Thanks a lot for the replies everyone. Regarding the language thing, I actually do speak French at somewhere hovering around the B1/B2 borderline - no good for employment as it stands but I could use a couple of grand of my savings on intensive courses to get me up to certified C1 (Fluent) level with the Alliance Francaise might be a better investment if language based customer service jobs are really in that much abundance in the Irish market compared to bog standard customer service jobs.

Very interesting stuff about the published UK and Ireland employment rates too, no doubt it's been further massaged over here by counting those that are on the Tories' 'workfare' scheme as in employment.

liffeylite

quite right. the stats are maasaged continually. although one thing Ive noticed is the UK massages its figures up,whereas Ireland massages its figures down!

UK positive spin, ireland negative. This is again why I say there are jobs. especially in Dublin. Could be worth looking at paddy power. they announced 800 new jobs in Dublin last week.

As far as your language is concerned, as mentioned, approach some of the multinationals. Go onto their websites and look for jobs/email HR etc.

Google, microsoft are here in Dublin and both expanding. Yahoo, paypal Ebay, Amazon, Facebook are also here, and plenty of smaller companies like Zynga, salesforce etc. A 2nd language is a great advantage!

You will hear hard luck sotires of people looking for jobs. But I konw people that have moved over to Dublin from the UK and got full time jobs in less than 3 weeks - this year. it is doable, just as it is in a recession in the UK.

Good Luck!