There is not a lot of positivity on the ground at the moment. Seeing empty shops and streets in the run up to Christmas is certainly not something any of us thought we would ever see, in peace times.
The joy of a lockdown is simply compounded by stories of Arcadia Group, once the darling of fashion, now in serious trouble, and friction over the lack of an all island approach in relation to the lifting of the restrictions.
Top this with a dose of Brexit- green cards to cross the border rearing its head again as a headache for insurers; endless discussion about fishing rights, as if you can create an invisible line down our own Carlingford Lough; and coming into what really is a crunch week for Brexit,(even though I have said this many times before) you really would wonder why businesses even bother.
As you know where possible, I try to find the positive and it has been undoubtedly difficult this year. Today however, I want to focus on a little chink of positivity that I have noticed. I started a group on ‘Linked In’ during lockdown to support people who had lost their jobs. It is called ‘Newry Area Jobs and Training’. The concept was really simple- if I or others could see any jobs or training that might support people locally who had, or were at risk of losing their jobs, we would share it.
Over the last month or two I had noticed a bit of a lull- there wasn’t a lot coming through my news feeds. I was genuinely worried. Over the last week however, there has been an influx and I have spotted lots of great local opportunities.
I think the companies offering these roles tell us a little bit about where we will see future growth, at least in the short term.
Young people making career choices and those changing careers need to, more than ever be aware of the external factors that shape their choices.
PESTLE we call it in marketing circles. P for Political, E for Economic, S for Social, T for Technological, L for Legal, and E for Environmental.
It is no longer particularly smart to say I will ‘do Law’ like I did, just because I got the grades. There are other factors to consider- where do technological advances leave the legal profession? Potentially much smaller, in my opinion; where does Brexit leave your opportunity to study Law with French or Law with Spanish for example?
I digress a little to show why people need to make much more informed choices and; why they need to look at companies and industries that are recruiting in the midst of a pandemic for where future growth markets may be.
Warrenpoint Port is recruiting for a Project Manager to join their senior team. We are an island economy. We rely heavily on the ability to import and export products- careers in the area of shipping, importing & exporting are going to continue to matter, particularly in light of Brexit.
I see jobs in Finance from trainee accountants with Malone Accounting to a Financial Controller with AMI Secure IT. We are blessed every day to have First Derivatives in our city centre with a constant stream of recruitment for ‘Fintech’ and related services.
Andor Technology also posted a raft of jobs just last week. There are huge opportunities in both finance and technology. In our little part of the world we are already punching well above our weight and this will only continue to grow.
Norbrook and Almac featured, both of these organisations are constantly recruiting with fantastic opportunities for technical, quality, scientific, operational roles and everything in between. Healthcare, whether animals in our food chain or human health has become more prevalent to us all in 2020 and this industry is going nowhere.
Where I am seeing the biggest area of growth however, is in construction, utilities and related services. Local companies Mac Group, CTS, Cunningham Contracts, Alternative Heat, Water Solutions Ireland, H&J Martin- the list is endless with recruitment for all sorts of roles from trades and labourers to health & safety and commercial, design and project roles.
So while the general outlook may appear gloomy, there are chinks of light. We need to refocus and perhaps retrain to ensure that we do not end up with mass unemployment because there are no jobs; but unemployment because there are not the right skills.
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