Ireland’s hardest jobs to fill.

Engineering and construction related jobs are some of the hardest positions for employers to fill, according to new data by hiring platform Indeed. The analysis looked at Irish job postings from January 1st through to the end of April this year to determine which positions were most likely to remain open for over 60 days – an indicator of it being ‘hard to fill’.

Junior engineer positions were particularly hard to fill, with 2 in 3 (67%) of these positions remaining open for over 60 days. Employers were also finding construction professionals of all types difficult to recruit for, with titles such as mechanical and electrical project manager, civil supervisor and construction manager also featuring heavily on the list.

When it comes to white collar jobs, positions such as tax senior and solicitor were both listed as some of the hardest to fill. Meanwhile some tech roles also remain difficult to find the right talent for with the gap in Ireland’s tech skills persisting for roles such as python developer and front-end developer. The increasing demand for moderators also seems to be causing a talent mismatch, with over half of these roles remaining open over 60 days.

Well documented shortages in healthcare workers were reflected in caregivers also being listed among the hardest to fill roles. Previous Indeed data has shown the top two job searches that saw the biggest increase on the Irish site in 2022 were “visa sponsorship, healthcare assistant” (up 532%) and “visa sponsorship, elderly care” (up 421%). The nature of these searches suggest that Ireland is highly reliant on foreign workers to fill this talent gap in healthcare.

 Jack Kennedy, Senior Economist at Indeed:

“Many of the roles listed are highly specialised and require extensive training or experience, which in itself can narrow the candidate pool. Coupled with the lowest unemployment rate on record since the early millennium boom, as well as the high cost of living driving youth emigration and making it increasingly difficult to attract overseas talent, some employers may feel talent bottlenecks in the coming months.”

“However this is good news for jobseekers in these professions, or someone looking to break into a new industry, as they will be in a good position to negotiate a better salary. This may also be good news for the Irish diaspora looking to return home after emigrating after the last recession, which we know deeply affected sectors like construction. Longer term, however, employers and policy makers will need to examine talent pipelines and find ways to address the persistent barriers to recruitment in the industries most affected.”

Source: Indeed Ireland data (1 Jan 2023 to 30 April 2023)