Comments for JobsBlog.ie

Comment on Irish Defence Forces Jobs by Richard furlong

Richard furlong — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:54:26 +0000

Can I join

Comment on Declan Fitzgerald by Ivan | JobsBlog.ie

Ivan | JobsBlog.ie — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:47:34 +0000

@Jonathan Is the http://www.easyrecruit.ie still alive? I noticed the About Us page missing, etc?

Comment on Twitter Job Search by Katina Hansley

Katina Hansley — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:12:31 +0000

Hello it was a joy visting your blog.

Comment on New LinkedIn Profile is good (for Recruiters)! by Joe Gallagher

Joe Gallagher — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:52:36 +0000

Linkedin was getting stale. This change will no doubt be for the positive. But for whom? Personally speaking my own circle is not so big being surrounded by alot of non professionals. Which could be to my detriment!

Comment on Are Recruiters any different than Irish Economists? by Michael

Michael — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:58:18 +0000

met David at kilkenomics. Have to say he is very smart, entertaining and so knowledgeable. The punk economics series is just another example of how good his work is and how he adapts with the times.

Comment on How to write a job advertisement – for Google? by Chandan Mitra

Chandan Mitra — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:28:47 +0000

Hellow,i am chandan,optometrist, 4yr exp. I want to get a new job. My phone no is 9438459345

Comment on SOLAS by Denis

Denis — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:49:11 +0000

Re. Fas & Solas
Ten years ago I had a work accident which meant I was no longer able to do what I was trained for.
After 3-4 years of painful physio I was judged by social welfare to have ” only ” a 30% disability.
As I was no longer able for physical work I decided it was time to retrain.
I could not even turn on a computer so I applied to fas for a basic/introductory computer training course. I live in a rural town which the fas rep only visits twice a month for 2hours.
I met a very helpful lady who told me that as I was on an invalidity pension, I would be a priority case & would be fast-tracked for any training starting with basic, then ecdl, then any course I wished, programming, web, network etc. 11 years ago. 2001.
I waited eagerly for 6 months.
Heard nothing. Went back. Met a new gentleman who informed me that the 1st lady was sick, on indefinite leave & that he would be handling things. He then proceeded to tell me that my name was not on any course list & even better that I was not even registered with Fas!
I re-registered, applied for the same 6 week course again & waited for another 6 months.
2nd time I met him, He had a very hostile attitude, telling me that my name was down, I was on the new list & I should not be pestering him.
I became a little animated, told him that I was a priority, that I couldn’t wait another year.
He then asked me if I wanted to be “a secretary or what”. ( At the time I was in my early 30s, fit apart from my injuries. He was mid 50s, very overweight, soft hands, wearing big thick gold signet bracelet ). I informed him that I would give him “or what” with my good fist, at which point I was asked to leave.
Lo & behold, 2 weeks later I got the call. I did the 6 week course no problem. Very basic stuff. At the start we were informed that everyone who wished, after the 6 weeks, could progress to the ECDL course.
At the end of the 6 weeks we were told that 3 names would be picked out of a hat for the next course, & that the rest were guaranteed to be called within 3 months.
Two years later I was still waiting so I decided to give 3rd level a try. I did 3 years Construction Studies in CIT which I enjoyed & did well at. However, because of my disability I could not properly use a land surveying instrument so that particular lecturer failed me, which meant that I failed the entire course, wasting 3 years of time, effort, study & money.
I spent the last couple years licking my wounds & thankfully this year I regained my focus & became interested in retraining again. I turned 44 this year & I know if I can’t get the ball rolling now & keep it going, I might not get another chance.
So armed with the knowledge that there has been “sweeping” changes in FAS/SOLAS I decided to give it another go.
I approached the new twice a month rep in this town & applied for a starter programming course which has a follow on pathway.
Again my name was put down.
Again I was registered.
She told me not to contact her again, that she is handling things.
Again after hearing nothing for 3 months I went back.
She told me that course is full with a long waiting list, that even though I am a “priority”, I am at the bottom. she tried to convince me to do another course in another programming language, which is not as widely used these days. Not knowing any better I agreed.
The following week I met another person from FAS, at an adult education exhibition.
I explained my story & he informed me that the 1st course is not full, that they have a panel of names, all of whom submit to an apptitude test & he put me on the list.
More importantly, he told me that the course that I was advised to do may not even go ahead due to lack of numbers. The same course that I was told to do.
If I hadn’t accidentally bumped into him at the exhibition, I WOULD BE STILL WAITING, NONE THE WISER!!!
Now a fas course mightn’t sound like much to some, but to me it is a fresh start, a way out, a baby step to restarting the climb up the ladder. A light at the START of the tunnel!
If I get the course I will be delighted. If I don’t do well at the apptitude test, fair enough, at least I will have got a fair crack of the whip.
What annoys me is these people who THINK they are pulling the wool over our eyes & yes they are getting away with it.
& yes a National Training Authority is a super idea on paper, but renaming it Solas or anything else, does not cover all the cracks.
And I’m sorry, but all the marketing & cosmetic tricks in the world do not cover the fact that it is still a rotten organisation.
A great pity because many of their courses are very good, both content & delivery, but there is still a stigma attached to the organisation.

Despite my setbacks I am a great believer in people retraining, upskilling & life-long learning, people furthering themselves through education.
However it boils my blood when I hear politicians, media types etc. bandying those terms about, when the reality on the ground is that it can be very difficult for some people to gain access to proper, relevant, useful education.

Apologies for being a bit long winded about this but it is something that I feel very strongly about.
Signed,
OPTOMISTIC.

Comment on JobBridge could only work if… by Deadbeat Dolehead

Deadbeat Dolehead — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 01:29:17 +0000

Some good ideas there Ivan,pity FÁS/Dept. of Social Protection haven’t carried out any review of the scheme since its introduction over a year ago. It’s not hard to update the guidelines to improve the scheme, which does have its merits, but they seem determined not to label any aspect of it as a failure.
Sure, check out my blog for further examples…
http://deadbeatdolehead.wordpress.com/

Comment on JobBridge could only work if… by Philip Powell

Philip Powell — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 10:07:11 +0000

I couldn’t agree more. It should be treated as an extended form of the recruitment process. More so, I believe it should be restricted to private sector use only. I think the public sector use of interns is ethically wrong. I served as a Temporary Clerical Officer within a government department and, despite the continued workload, finance would not sanction an extension of my contract. Despite this they continued to enlist interns, and still do, to carry out admin work. At a time when the public sector is in the middle of a recruitment freeze they still deem it acceptable to hire interns. These interns will have zero opportunity of full employment within the departments and after the internship usually end up back where they began on social welfare.
It is unlikely the government will overhaul the internship process as they themselves abuse it.

Comment on JobBridge could only work if… by Denise Calnan

Denise Calnan — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 09:00:38 +0000

Hello,

I just thought you might like to hear an opinion on a jobbridge internship. I have been unemployed since Christmas 2011 and after over four months of not getting any responses to job applications, or any phone calls from agencies, two interviews where the companies did not even call me back or respond to say what had happened as a result of my interview – a common despicable practice by the way, I was climbing the walls. I am lets say over 40 yrs old and have had a strong career in PA/Admin, Marketing and Conference rolls and 5 years running my own Wedding business. An unblemished CV starting with 7 years experience with Bank of Ireland, I never had any trouble previously in my career getting any job and walked from one position into the next I have worked with major multinationals in the UK and Paris.

I started to look at internships, maybe there was a new skill I could acquire – maybe I could retrain in an industry that was more relevant now in 2012. I am not a “tech – y” person, I don’t love IT, I didn’t want to work in a call centre, however, one day I spotted an internship in digital marketing, I had started to look at digital marketing courses but they were expensive and FAS do not provide any when I enquired. This internship would provide on the job digital marketing and social media skills training and allow me to work – I so want to work – even now as I type it – it makes me want to cry – why with all my skills and experience can I not get work – I have a lot to offer. I digress, the internship is now underway nearly 3 months and I am really so happy. I am working with a small start-up company – Supply.ie, the owner is Mike McGrath, a super person and manager. After three months I getting more confident in social media, google analytics and the world of digital marketing, it is a whole other world where I had no experience. I would say any new skills such as these are always valuable. I am indebted to Mike for giving me the opportunity – I am only sorry that for the moment it is not a paid permanent position.

I cannot recommend an internship strongly enough, if you are a person who wants to work and thinks they can benefit from new skills, if you are lucky enough to get the right host company, it will be a positive experience. As an add-on you get back some of your self-respect and confidence and it gets you back “out there” in the world, at home you will gain and get nothing.