Up to 1,000 people are expected to attend an information technology (IT) recruitment fair at the RDS tomorrow. Organised by British recruitment exhibition company, VISIT (Vacancies in Systems IT), 15 companies will be competing to recruit experienced IT professionals.

Eight Irish, one US and six British-based companies will be represented, including IBM, Cap Gemini, Allied Irish Bank, Esat Telecom, P&O Nedlloyd, Sema, ICL, Standard Life, Admiral, Compuware and KAO Infosystems. There will be about 30 observers from other IT companies space at the event sold out very quickly. Some companies have hired interview rooms for the day to assess potential candidates. According to Mr Sebastian Stoughton, VISIT's senior sales executive, recruitment drives like this can generate an average of seven new employees per company. Each is paying £8,100 for a stand. "One company told us if they recruited one person it would cover the outlay for the stand. This is not a graduate fair, roughly speaking, one-third of positions will require over 10 year's experience in the IT industry."

This is the first time VISIT has hosted such an event in the State and it is one of the first recruitment fairs solely devoted to IT. Mr Stoughton says VISIT was prompted to come to Dublin by British clients impressed by the strength of the economy and the recent investment here by blue-chip multinationals.

Mr Stoughton said this type of recruitment works well for job hunters who want to avoid going through recruitment agencies and they get to introduce themselves to 15 companies in one day. The exhibitors can collect a lot of CVs and VISIT follows up the event by issuing a breakdown of the skills and requirements listed by visitors at registration.