Dell's Irish hell may be heaven for banks
Dell's plans to shed hundreds of jobs in Ireland could help ease the country's shortage of IT staff.
As many as 1,000 jobs at the computer giant's Irish operations could be at risk as the company seeks to cut costs, it emerged at the start of this month. The American PC maker employs some 4,500 people in Limerick and Co. Dublin.
While Dell has not yet confirmed the exact number of job losses or which roles will suffer most, the company's technical staff would be assimilated almost immediately into the rest of the industry, according to Joe O'Reilly, director of the managed resources division of IT Force, a supplier of IT specialists to blue-chip companies.
"The Dell people who made a point of continuous education and training will even end up being better off financially leaving Dell, as there is so much demand for them," O'Reilly says.
However, he predicts that the availability of former Dell IT staff in the labour market will not be sufficient to solve Irish banks' staffing crisis in the long term.
One in five IT companies in Ireland is finding it difficult to attract suitably qualified workers, a survey conducted by the Irish Computer Society showed earlier this year. The shortage of candidates dates back to the collapse of the global dotcom market in 2001.
"The bigger Irish problem is that politicians and the education system don't appreciate that young people don't see IT as a career anymore," Mr O'Reilly said. "Young people see that in IT you have to be up-to-date with the latest technology and constantly learning, whereas in accountancy or engineering you study for three or four years and that's it.
"Also, IT people are getting burnt out quickly due to the pressure of being short staffed and a lot of people leave the industry after a few years."
Those who do work in the sector are rewarded handsomely. Roisin Cahill, head of HR at IT Force, which contracts out IT staff, said people capable of implementing Microsoft servers are generally paid €35k to €50k. Banks will typically offer stock options and bonuses on top.
