Robert Mac Giolla Phádraig is wearing a suit and smiling into the camera.
Sigmar’s Robert Mac Giolla Phádraig. Image: Bryan James Brophy

Sigmar launches emergency jobs initiative for displaced workers

26 Mar 2020

Recruitment company Sigmar has launched a new site, CovidResponseJobs.com, to facilitate upskilling and jobseeking during the pandemic.

Recruitment company Sigmar has today (26 March) launched a new emergency jobs initiative to help workers who have been displaced by the coronavirus pandemic with employment and upskilling opportunities.

The site, called CovidResponseJobs.com, went live this morning and features a jobseekers resources centre with “cutting-edge jobseeker advice in the Covid climate”, free upskilling resources, direct job postings and hiring facilities, and daily job alerts. The company added that it is completely free to use.

Sigmar is encouraging jobseekers to register on the website so that employers can make direct contact with them. The daily email alert available to users will include information on companies with immediate openings for both permanent and temporary contracts, to which people can apply directly.

The company aims to have advice pieces on the platform that are relevant for the current climate, with an emphasis on video interviewing, online engagement, social branding, digital collaboration, remote working, Covid-19 restriction employee rights, societal consciousness and remote onboarding, for example.

The initiative’s founder and Sigmar COO, Robert Mac Giolla Phádraig, said: “CovidJobsResponse.com was created by Sigmar Recruitment to support displaced workers and employers during the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Our aim is to connect people who have been impacted by short-term business closures, with employers who have seen rising demand for frontline staff, those in healthcare and those needed to keeping Ireland’s supply chains operating.

“The economy has temporarily stalled and the traditional recruitment process is on its head. However, the current pandemic has created new positions, especially in retail, distribution, manufacturing and the health sector, to include many administrative, customer support and back-office roles.

“In addition, we are actively supporting many other organisations balance business continuity with sustainable employee flexibility throughout the crisis.”

The site is also aimed at what Sigmar referred to as the “restricted workforce” in the time of physical distancing, which the company said it hopes to help make a “faster rebound”.

Mac Giolla Phádraig said: “With the introduction of the Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme this week, a significant cohort of the workforce is now likely to be retained, but with restricted workload. We aim to support the restricted workforce through upskilling during downtime, to better equip our workforce to rebound from the crisis in the medium term.

Lisa Ardill
By Lisa Ardill

Lisa Ardill joined Silicon Republic as senior careers reporter in July 2019. She has a BA in neuroscience and a master’s degree in science communication. She is also a semi-published poet and a big fan of doggos. Lisa briefly served as Careers Editor at Silicon Republic before leaving the company in June 2021.

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