Madam, – I am a 23-year-old graduate with high-level qualifications, determined to forge a career in the food industry in Ireland.However, I am dismayed at the lack of graduate recruitment facilities and organisations here. There seems to be an ingrained link between graduate recruitment and Irish universities which works very well when there are plenty of opportunities for graduates, but not when these opportunities are limited.
When visiting my local Fás centre, my pessimistic outlook was heightened by the fact that Fás does very little to improve graduate recruitment in this country. When I heard the timely advice from the Fás agent that I should undertake an ECDL course to improve my recruitment opportunities I knew that Fás can do nothing to help a high-level graduate like myself.
Compared with the UK, where my job hunt has brought me in contact with numerous graduate recruitment agencies specialising in the food industry and other industries, Ireland is ignoring the plight of graduates. With so much focused graduate recruitment from the UK in Ireland, the inevitable brain-drain of young Irish graduates abroad will occur. I fear the “smart economy” will become the “vacuum economy” with the potential absence of so many bright and talented young minds from our shores.
– Yours, etc,