A NEW JOB creation initiative launched just one week ago has seen more than 150 companies across the country pledge to create nearly 1,200 new positions.

Hireland – a volunteer, not-for-profit group – aims to encourage employers to hire skilled people who are currently out of work. Since launching just one week ago, the initiative has seen 154 companies pledge to create least one new job across a variety of sectors - from software design and development to engineering and pharmaceuticals to sales, marketing and retail and hotel, hospitality and sports leisure.

The group hopes to encourage the creation of 5,000 new jobs in the first half of this year, according to co-founder Lucy Masterson. “We are just one week in and we have been really overwhelmed by the response,” she said. “Companies are pledging jobs are a daily basis. What’s really great is that many of the jobs are pledged for the first quarter of this year”.

Of the 1,117 jobs already pledged, 710 are in the Dublin region while the remaining 467 pledges are from businesses located across 19 different counties. On average, companies have pledged between one and five jobs.

However, there have been some notable exceptions: CPL has pledged 200 jobs in technical support; Paddy power has pledged 100 jobs; Avon has pledged 70; VersionOne software has promised to create 90 jobs; and HomeInstead has pledged 50 new positions.

A conversation between friends

Stressing that the initiative is separate from any Government or lobby-group influence, the founders explain that the idea first emerged during a conversation between friends who had lost other friends to emigration. While recognising the need for businesses to cut costs, Hireland founders were convinced that entrepreneurs had an essential role to play in kick-starting the economy by hiring skilled workers.

The founders say they wanted to draw on the power of the collective and act as a catalyst to stimulate job creation, and insist that the benefits of recruiting more people are significant – and include better customer experiences, a greater division of labour, enhanced output and sending a strong message to the competition.

To date, Hireland has received pledges for jobs in the following sectors:

166 jobs in Software development/ design/ engineering and associated.

134 jobs in sales and marketing (heavy emphasis on online )
146 jobs in retail & sales (including commission based reps)
226 jobs in telesales and technical support staff 226
23 jobs in restaurants staff (chefs and admin)
22 jobs in administration
6 jobs in beauty
45 jobs in sports leisure
62 jobs in hotel hospitality
43 jobs in business management
11 jobs in pharmaceuticals
62 jobs as carers for nursing at home
23 jobs in web development
8 jobs in trades and construction
3 jobs in the motor industry
32 jobs in learning teaching
165 jobs types unstated

Although still in its early stages, the success of the initiative is not only measurable at home, and has already inspired a sister initiative in the United States, UhireU.S. which was announced at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in September 2011. Hireland says that, through joint effort, the groups hope the movement will result in 1,000,000 new jobs in America and 5,000 in Ireland.

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