This Working Life: Why it’s time to tap into the talent goldmine of stay-at-home workers

Headhunters looking to fill positions in the finance, legal, pharma and technology sectors should widen their search to include those highly qualified individuals who have taken career breaks to care for children and others

Returners bring key skills to the workplace such as time and people management, persuasive communication, problem-solving and organisational abilities. Picture: Getty

Ireland’s unemployment rate in the knowledge economy is at an all-time low. Finding people to fill the thousands of vacancies in the finance, legal, pharma and technology sectors is the number one challenge for home-grown and foreign direct investment employers.

Headhunting, once a niche activity to fill high-end roles, has gone mainstream. The pandemic quietly took away the casual recruiter coffees, and gave birth to a never-ending stream of in-mails and direct messages. Recruiters now ...