Not withstanding the challenges of Brexit as well as the pressures of the energy crisis and supply chain due to the Ukraine, business in general across the island is strong and companies are hiring to meet this demand. Graduate recruitment across practice is strong but it is at the other levels where the candidate shortage is quite marked. This is due to a number of factors.
Post-pandemic, some employers are not quite as flexible with working models as they should be in order to retain and attract the best talent, the past two years have certainly made people stop and consider what they want out of their careers and how they want their lives to work. Professional services firms have to sell themselves to the market. The days of a prestigious name being enough to attract and retain talent are long gone, every employer has to set out their stall and outline their employee value proposition. The pressure is on professional services firms to show that they can offer valid and rewarding career paths for employees including quicker promotion prospects and being more creative and generous with their remuneration packages.
Jean O'Donovan
A flexible working model is no longer seen as a “nice-to-have” but rather an essential part of the overall job package. Certainly in 2022, we’re seeing people ask about flexible/hybrid working before they’re asking about the salary, we are constantly telling employers that they need to step up their game in this regard. Some of the bigger players are doing it well but there is still room for improvement.
Developing markets
Accountancy firms are more competitive than ever and they’re offering their clients more services to take advantage of a busy market. The problem of course is trying to find the resources for these services. We’re working with a number of accountancy firms who are building out M&A and project management departments as well as firms who are looking to grow both organically and acquisitively, this helps them offer alternative career paths to existing employees as well as build excitement out in the marketplace and promote themselves as a vibrant employer of choice. The problem of course, is that there is still a limited talent pool so we’re advising employers to be flexible on their parameters and to really consider what are the essential skills vs the desirable ones.
Practice Vs Industry
The old problem of people leaving practice for industry is also rearing its head as accountants become more confident about leaving secure jobs. Ireland’s FDI sector is performing very well as is the Irish entrepreneurial sector. Global leaders such as Trinseo are still choosing Ireland as a location of choice for Centres of Excellence. All this simply leads to far more choice for accountants as they gain qualifications and climb up the ladder. Ireland is still a major hub for manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies in particular and those organisations have been building up their in-house capabilities. This now means they’re no longer outsourcing roles such as payroll, taxation and internal audit therefore increasing the number of roles available for qualified and part-qualified accountants in industry. Industry, too, is perhaps seen as more of a generous and flexible employer than practice. It’s also viewed as an area where accountants can be far more than number crunchers and really be a cornerstone of the business. We’ve seen a sharp increase in roles in industry at all levels, particularly this year, those in industry can also be more flexible on working patterns and remuneration packages so it’s an attractive prospect.
Financial Services
Ireland has a well-deserved reputation as a global hub for financial services and Brexit accelerated this growth. It’s not just in Dublin where the growth has come but across the country where global financial services leaders have set up thriving bases and are able to pull from the local talent pool. Nearly half of Irish based funds have a presence outside of Dublin. Cork, Kilkenny and Limerick have benefited hugely from this sector. Financial services companies investing and expanding in Ireland this year include Alter Domus and BNY Mellon in Cork & Dublin as well as Stepstone in Dublin. Ireland is seen as a huge hub for innovation in financial services and fintech, our record for innovation as well as support from various governmental bodies coupled with our high standard of education puts us well ahead of other countries. I think the 3rd level institutions are working well with employers on building courses and modules that align with employers’ needs but we need to advocate for accountancy and finance careers at 2nd level too in order to build future talent pools.