The Government warned of a STEM skills shortage, but if you’re looking for a job in the engineering sector there are plenty available.
There were hundreds of new engineering jobs announced this week all over the country.
IoT company Qorvo revealed that it will be hiring for 100 highly skilled engineering roles in Dublin and Cork over the next two years. The US company plans to open an R&D centre in Cork, which will focus on ultrawide-band product research and innovation, while also expanding its site in Dublin.
Meanwhile, Limerick-headquartered engineering firm Kirby Group Engineering said it plans to create 300 jobs. Recruitment has already begun for some of the new positions, which include engineering, commercial, operations and admin roles.
Among those new jobs, almost 100 new hires will come through Kirby’s apprenticeship scheme and graduate programme, which will be welcome news for prospective engineers and for the Government.
Speaking about the Kirby Group’s announcement, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, TD, said apprentice schemes were “a priority” after a difficult year.
It also comes after Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris, TD, warned of a skills shortage in key STEM areas such as engineering.
Speaking at the National Economic Dialogue earlier in the week, Harris cited research by Solas that found more than half of science, engineering and technology companies are having difficulty in recruiting software developers, designers, engineers and technical support staff.
“It is vital as we seek to rebuild post-pandemic that people are retrained and reskilled in areas where there are skills shortages or in areas where there will be economic growth,” he said.
But it’s not just engineers who are in demand this week. Irish cybersecurity firm Kontex announced 75 jobs in its headquarters in Dublin and in its Tipperary-based regional office.
Kontex provides cybersecurity services and solutions, and will be recruiting in the areas of information governance, cloud architecture, managed security services, incident response, data analytics and security engineering.
Finally, this week saw some much-needed reappraisal of work culture, as we took a look at the future of hybrid working and the possibility of extra paid leave for stressed out employees.
To combat issues like ‘Zoom fatigue’ and burnout, companies such as HubSpot, Bumble and Zalando are offering employees an extra week of paid annual leave.
And as more companies commit to remote and hybrid working, we asked whether it was time for Ireland to accept this workplace revolution.
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