SkillPages represents success due to collaboration – Bruton


20 Jun 2011

Skill-based social network SkillPages has officially opened its expanded headquarters in Dublin as well as launching a new feature called ‘Opportunties’ to enable a better way of connecting people.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton, TD, visited the expanded offices today and said SkillPages represented the “great success that can come from a combination of Government support, partnership with universities and innovative people”.

“We in Ireland must not only build on our traditional strengths to attract international companies here, but also learn from the highly innovative companies we already have here to drive a generation of Irish start-ups.”

Since its formal launch last January, 1m people have joined SkillPages. CEO Iain Mac Donald explained that the new feature allows members to create an ‘Opportunity’, detailing what skilled person they are looking for. 

Other members of SkillPages can then view these opportunities, get presented with those that are relevant to their own skill sets and/or forward opportunities to someone they know who might be interested.

“Thousands of opportunities have already been created by members of SkillPages,” said Mac Donald. “These include people looking for skilled people for contract work, full-time employment and for one-off occasions.”

The result of extensive research

The new feature is the culmination of extensive research by the R&D team in SkillPages with the assistance of CLARITY, the joint University College Dublin, Trinity College and Dublin City University computer science research initiative funded by Science Foundation Ireland.

Uniquely, people creating Opportunities on SkillPages can see how they are connected to respondents; such as if they have a mutual friend, went to school together or have some other real-life connection. This enables people to do business with people they have a connection to and therefore, are more likely to trust.

Photo: Richard Bruton, TD, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, with Iain MacDonald, CEO, SkillPages