The right talent at the right time

Technical recruitment has always been difficult and matching the right skills to the right position remains a challenge, but eir evo talent has developed a network that can fill the gaps, whatever they are.

Sharon O'Reilly, founder and IT recruitment practice director, said despite uncertainty in the market, last year eir evo talent saw growth of in excess of 40 per cent mainly attributed to the financial services and utilities sectors. Government is a major part of its business due to their demand for IT skills, this is set to continue as they implement their digital transformation strategies.

“In 2023, demand for project contractors was phenomenal across all sectors. Uncertainty meant that companies moved away from full-time employment hires, moving instead toward projects,” she said.

Formerly known as itContracting, eir evo talent is now Ireland's leading IT recruitment agency, connecting IT professionals with exciting temporary, contract and permanent IT jobs.

The company has seen strong growth in permanent hires already this year and indeed its rebranding as eir evo talent is intended to underscore its ability to source IT professionals for both contract and permanent positions. In addition, eir evo talent is now exploring opportunities with key clients in recruitment process outsourcing (RPO).

“We do see a rise in full-time roles coming back,” O'Reilly said.

“A lot of the layoffs we all saw in the headlines were driven by readjustments post-Covid. It was a question of realignment, and many of those people have found other positions outside of the large multinationals,” she said.

The IT skill sets currently in demand include networking, software development and project management, in addition to IT support.

Cyber security specialists are particularly in high demand, O’Reilly said, and eir evo talent recently attracted a number of highly-skilled individuals with specific expertise in IT and operational technology (OT) security within the utilities sector.

“We brought in a number of cyber security people from Britain. These are career contractors who will follow a technology regardless of location,” O’Reilly said.

The processes for recruiting permanent staff and contractors differ somewhat, as there are different expectations on the candidates’ parts.

“With contractors, number one is the day rate and, number two, the details of the project. What you see is they are very confident in their skill set and they want to be at the forefront of emerging technologies, which allows them to become subject matter experts in their field” she said.

“For permanent positions, people want work-life balance, and hybrid working is now a given. They're interested in the remuneration package but also want to know about career development and location” she said.

With close to 15 years’ experience in IT recruitment and backed by Ireland’s largest telco and ICT managed service provider, eir evo talent is uniquely positioned to tap into key talent that is not necessarily accessible on the open market. “Candidates performing exceptionally in their current role, may not be looking for a move, but we can find them through our eir evo group peer network and entice them into new roles.” O’Reilly said.

“We treat the candidate with the same respect we treat the customers, if not more, because they’re key to the whole process. If you have the talent, the customers will come.”

This has paid dividends for both eir evo talent and its clients as word spreads rapidly.

“The number one access to talent for us is our referrals. If you place one candidate in a role, such as SQL DBA, and they are happy in their new position, they will refer their peers to us,” O’Reilly said.

For details visit: eirevotalent.ie