The report found that Irish jobseekers are applying for roles in strong numbers, compared to UK, French and German counterparts.
New data published by LinkedIn, exploring the European jobs market, has found that in comparison to other European nations, Ireland’s jobs market remains competitive. Trends in LinkedIn’s December jobs data found that there is candidate fatigue among European jobseekers, amid lower levels of hiring.
The UK recorded the largest drop in activity, down nearly 8pc year-on-year, followed by France at 5pc and Germany at 3pc year-on-year. By comparison, Ireland experienced a 2.4pc year-on-year rise in applications per candidate.
Commenting on the data, LinkedIn Ireland’s country manager Cara O’Leary, said, “While many European countries are showing clear signs of jobseeker fatigue, Ireland is moving in the opposite direction. At a time when applications per candidate are falling in the likes of Germany and the UK, Irish jobseekers are switched on and still confident of finding their next role regardless of economic uncertainty.”
What was also discovered is that a candidate’s network is becoming increasingly important, as LinkedIn’s data showed that applicants are more than 3 times as likely to get hired if connected to an employee already at the organisation they are applying for a role at.
O’Leary said, “Our data shows who you know is just as important as what you know, with candidates significantly more likely to be hired when they know someone at the organisation, reinforcing the importance of relationships alongside experience. For employers, this highlights the growing influence of their own people in attracting talent, with referral schemes one option to incentivise staff.”
AI talent magnet
LinkedIn’s research explored how the global labour market is evolving in response to AI becoming more prevalent in the workplace and in broader industry trends. It said, “In the near term, AI is creating more jobs globally than it is replacing. In the past two years, employers across the world have created at least 1.3m ‘new collar’ AI‑related job opportunities, including data annotators, AI engineers and forward‑deployed engineers.”
Additionally, LinkedIn’s research explained that this demand for AI talent is outstripping supply in Ireland, as the country is further establishing itself as a net importer of skilled workers.
AI engineering talent is 8 times more likely to move across borders than the average LinkedIn member and the data showed a 2.2 net increase in net migration of AI engineering talent to Ireland, placing the region second in terms of net beneficiaries globally. The UAE was the biggest AI talent magnet globally, with the top five rounded out by Germany, Australia and Singapore.
O’Leary said, “Demand for ‘new collar’ jobs continues to outpace supply, but Ireland is proving to be an AI talent magnet, successfully attracting more AI engineers to these shores than those departing. Given that many of these jobs simply didn’t exist five years ago, with the pipeline from the education system playing catch up as a result, companies need to realise that upskilling is the solution.
“We have never seen higher levels of interest in AI content on LinkedIn, so people are clearly eager to learn. It is in employers’ best interests to give their workforce the opportunity if they are to seize a competitive advantage.”
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