The Supply Chain Market in Ireland

Supply Chain in Ireland has gone through some surprising change over the past 12-18 months. Whilst Companies made severe cuts during 2008/2009, they are now beginning to focus on growth and plan for the future. The Supply Chain Division in Sigmar Recruitment has noticed a dramatic shift in the recruitment of Middle Management positions towards more Specialised Senior roles and junior roles just above graduate level. Speaking with the Manager of the Supply Chain Recruitment Team, Mel Donnellan predicts a “demand for temporary and contract roles while growing the permanent roles once again” in 2011.

 

Large MNCs are focusing on establishing their EMEA Headquarters in Ireland for a number of key reasons, Ireland has one of the lowest corporations taxes in the world at just 12.5%, we speak English the most widely spoken language in business, we boast a highly educated workforce and we are members of the EU giving Multinational Companies access to over 500m people, this makes Ireland an ideal location in Europe for Multinationals. This is fantastic news for Supply Chain professionals particularly those with strong virtual supply chain experience as much of the manufacturing for these large MNC’s is done in Far East locations and from there shipped to distribution centres all around Europe but the process is controlled from Ireland. The majority of these positions have come from within the Consumer Electronics, FMCG, Pharmaceutical and Medical devices industries, with Professional services surging towards the latter end of 2010.

 

A defining reason for such employment growth in these sectors is largely due to Procurement and a growing focus on cost reduction and contract negotiation in MNC’s. Positions are seen both on the direct and indirect sides of the business while operating at a European and Global level.

 

Experience on specific projects is also a big part of our search. Social media websites such as LinkedIn and Twitter have become a huge search tool for professionals with the specific skill sets required by our clients. Most companies now are searching for a creative solution to evolve their supply chain and candidates with previous experience delivering projects have a distinct advantage in the job market. We have found skills gaps in the area of category and commodity management, strategic leadership and strong logistics candidates who are bilingual and have 3PL vendor management experience. We have recently established our own Supply Chain group on LinkedIn called “Supply Chain Jobs Ireland”, with over 400 members and growing daily, to aid us in finding the right Supply Chain professionals for our clients.

Ruth Melvin, Supply Chain Consultant

Supply Chain Jobs – Market Review

Turbulent times indeed. Financial crises, threat of defaults, rising unemployment, falling income, rising education costs, diminishing opportunity.Let’s stop there and look past the headlines to the reality of the situation on the ground. Ireland has been through three consecutive years of shrinking economic development and undoubtedly there are some tighter years on the way with the measures introduced in the IMF / ECB sanctioned Budget for 2011 through 2014.

However, life and work will go on, commercial exchange between supplier and customer will continue, goods will continue to move, imports and exports will continue to travel through our ports and supply chain professionals will be at the centre of ensuring that all of this vital economic activity is driven in a seamless and cost effective fashion.

It brings us back to the fact that the most important element in supply chains is that people design them, people make them happen and people deliver for people. So what were the last twelve months like for recruiters in the Supply Chain sector in Ireland?

“2010 has been in an interesting time for Supply Chain in Ireland. We have moved on from the opportunity drought of 2009 and have embraced the movement within the market. The majority of movement comes from the multinational companies and has moved away from the typical middle management positions to more senior strategic positions and also more specialized junior positions above the graduate level” says Mel Donnellan, Head of the Supply Chain Team at Sigmar Recruitment. The trend would appear to be that more ‘thought led’ roles are where opportunities arose over the last year.

Mel Donnellan feels there is good reason to be optimistic about the immediate future as “companies have made their cuts and are now planning for the growth stage again. Because of Ireland’s attractive Corporate Tax Rate of 12.5% and sound geographical placing, many multinationals set up their Europe Middle East and Africa headquarters in Ireland. Typically, these companies search for candidates with strong virtual supply chain experience”.

“The procurement area in particular has seen major movements this year. Companies are looking for procurement professionals who can bring real cost savings to surface in a time when value for money really is the name of the game”. Interestingly the geographic spread for employment opportunities in Ireland is widening. Dublin would be traditionally regarded as the main employment centre but recent years have seen the development of FDI led initiatives creating demand in all corners of the country.

Edited from Ths Supply Chain and Logistics Link, (SCLG) January 2011