By Business & Finance Cpl’s Employment Market Monitor for Q4 of 2014 today showed the 12th continued quarter of year-on-year jobs growth in the four main employment sectors – IT and telecoms; science, engineering and supply chain; sales, marketing and retail; and accountancy, finance and banking.
The rate of growth in jobs posted in Q4 last year stands at 30%, the strongest growth recorded since January last year.
The report records a year-on-year increase in jobs on offer across all sectors, with a bigger upswing in the number of jobs available within the science, engineering and supply chain and the sales, marketing and retail sectors, when compared to monitors for the same quarters in previous years. In IT and accountancy, finance and banking, the annual growth was modest (below 10%), however, in the science, engineering and supply chain segment and sales, marketing and retail sector, growth was significantly higher at 58% and 48% respectively.
The Cpl Employment Monitor survey also revealed interesting insights as to why candidates turned down a job offer. 80% cited bad first impressions, 60% said dislike of the hiring manager and 50% would reject a job offer if the interview process was too long or took more than three interviews. Location, insultingly low salary offers and negative social media commentary about employers were also factors in the jobseeker’s decision-making process. This reflects the improvement in jobseekers’ sentiment recorded in the report.
Other findings show that 60% of jobseekers believe that smoking breaks should be banned during work hours and thought that such breaks are unfair due to the amount of time smokers were away from their work duties, and said they also thought it was a large distraction for others across the office. Other annoying co-worker habits recorded were punctuality issues (59%), body odour (55%) and constant chat (43%).
Regarding use of social media at work, one in seven employees spend more than one hour on social media during work hours, with one in three spending under 15 minutes accessing social networks at work. 14% admitted to using social media for more than one our each day and 28% stated they typically did not use social media during work.
According to Peter Cosgrove, director, Cpl Resources: “Despite a slowdown in job postings in Q3 2014, there was a surge in postings in Q4 last year, reflecting the general trend that Ireland’s employment market continues to grow year-on-year across all sectors.
“We also recorded a change in sentiment from jobseekers, and whilst candidates continue to perceive the jobs’ environment to be still an employers’ market, many candidates are raising their expectations of employers and companies when seeking to make a move or advance their career. For many, it is the first job move they’ve made in many years, so they are incredibly careful about ensuring they choose the right company, with the right culture, conditions and colleagues for them.
“It is also very interesting that the use of social media at work is relatively low considering the ubiquitous nature of digital platforms, and one would have to question how much of the use of social media is work related rather than personal. Employers may need to review ICT policies in the workplace, particularly when it comes to use of company devices and networks,” he added.
