5,000 jobs pledged in hiring scheme

AN INITIATIVE to encourage employers to “hire instead of fire” has resulted in about 5,000 jobs being pledged and 2,000 positions filled in less than six months.

Hireland is a not-for-profit movement aimed at encouraging employers to hire some of the thousands of skilled people who are out of work.

The job pledges made on the hireland.iewebsite have come from hundreds of companies across sectors such as software design, engineering, pharmaceuticals, sales, marketing, retail, hotel, hospitality and sports and leisure.

Lucy Masterson, co-founder of Hireland, said the group had now surpassed its original target of 5,000 job pledges in the six months since its launch.

On average, companies have pledged between one and five jobs. The vast majority of job promises came from companies in Dublin (3,128), followed by Cork and Galway.

Ms Masterson said all job pledges would be monitored to ensure that they were not empty promises and that the posts were actually filled.

She said the group never imagined the extent of the support it would receive from the Irish business community and the media industry.

“This truly is a people-powered movement, which is being run on the goodwill of those with a can-do attitude. Since its launch on the 16th of January this year, over 2,000 new people are taking home a weekly wage, which is just brilliant,” she said.

The group is now planning to develop a network of volunteers across the State as part of its “county call” campaign.

“We believe that local communities have a passionate pride and self-belief,” Ms Masterson said.

“All we need is one person per county to help us kick-start the local movement. So we’re looking for one volunteer representative from each county who would act as the local Hireland lead.”

Those interested in getting involved as the local representative can log on to hireland.ie/yes-we-willfor further details. Closing dates for receipt of applications is September 30th, 2012.

The idea for Hireland came from a chat around the kitchen table between Ms Masterson, a lecturer in social and not-for-profit marketing, and some friends last year.

“We thought, what if we could challenge the current status quo of firing to one of hiring?” she said.

“What if we could get employers thinking differently – about the benefits of creating a job instead of cutting?”

The 2,000 positions filled so far have been in firms including Byrne Curtin Kelly, Ely Winebar, Murex Advanced Technologies, Hauste Group, Red Tree Consulting and Spirit Motor Group.

BREAKDOWN OF HIRELAND JOBS WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN PROMISED

Carlow 26

Cavan 22

Clare 14

Cork 174

Donegal 29

Dublin 3,128

Galway 135

Kerry 23

Kildare106

Kilkenny 31

Laois 22

Leitrim 25

Limerick 91

Longford 13

Louth 21

Mayo 85

Meath 32

Monaghan 5

Offaly 6

Roscommon 14

Sligo 8

Tipperary 54

Waterford 92

Westmeath 90

Wexford 43

Wicklow 21

Others 690