FUTURE to the LOOKING

Excel Recruitment is expanding its footprint in Dublin city centre, Belfast and Naas with a €1.5m office investment

One of Ireland’s leading recruiters, Excel Recruitment has announced it is undergoing a recruitment drive to fill 100 new roles over the next 12 months as it moves forward with its island-wide expansion.

The company celebrated its 20-year anniversary in 2022 by opening a new 5000 sq ft office in Dublin city centre which expanded its office footprint by 25%, while opening its new Belfast office to complement its branch network of Cork, Naas and Galway increased its reach across the entire island.

Providing permanent and temporary recruitment solutions for retail, hospitality, events, healthcare, industrial, engineering and the office support sectors, the recruiters say growth is driven by unprecedented demand. Speaking at the opening of the new Dublin office expansion, Barry Whelan, Group CEO said: “We have doubled our growth every year for the last three years, despite the challenges of Covid and with this growth we want to deliver an optimum workspace for our team, whilst investing significantly in Dublin city centre. Our commitment to hiring an additional 100 staff is driven by the demands we are experiencing for our services and the positivity we see in Ireland and its economic outlook, despite all the challenges that prevail.

“By delivering instant temporary workforce solutions across a broad range of sectors, we are supporting our clients to enable them to deliver their business goals in a time of acute labour shortage. Our increased footprint in Dublin along with our island-wide expansion will give us the workplaces we require to deliver our unique service.”

While the jobs market is robust, it is not without its challenges. Commenting on the market, Shane McLave, Managing Director of Excel Recruitment said: “Never before have we witnessed such a complex jobs market in this country – on the one hand, Ireland has almost full employment with career opportunities at every corner for those who want them. But on the other hand, economic factors both in Ireland and overseas and a period of hyperinflation are leading us towards a possible recession. At the same time, Covid’s legacy is being forcefully felt by employers who cannot fill roles due to the mass exodus of overseas workers and Ireland’s younger labour force. Another consequence of Covid is the increased numbers of employees who want to and do work from home –which has transformed the working environment for employers and employees alike but is unfortunately not always possible to implement across all sectors. Furthermore, no attention has been given to the issues surrounding Stamp 2 Visas and there is no inclination to do so. We are again calling on the government to reconsider its position on this and to introduce some flexibility around the conditions of the Stamp 2 work Visa. This country is currently home to thousands of students from abroad, many of whom are eager to work. However, their Stamp 2 Visa model only allows them to work for 20 hours for seven months of the year and for 40 hours for just five months. These students could contribute in a big way to solving our staff shortages – if only our Visa system facilitated this. What we have is a case whereby people are struggling to exist on the pay from a 20-hour working week, while employers throughout the country, particularly in the hospitality and retail sectors, are shouting out for workers.”

Excel Recruitment is currently interviewing for in-house roles in its five offices throughout the country, go to www. excelrecruitment.com for more information

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