Interested in working in Northern Ireland?

July 20, 2012 04:33 by Admin

Are you interested in working in NI? Do you fancy a job in Derry or perhaps a spell working in Belfast? 

IrishJobs.ie’s sister site in Northern Ireland is NIjobs.com.  It is Northern Ireland’s leading recruitment website and the team at NIjobs.com know the Northern Ireland job market inside out and they took the time to highlight some of Northern Ireland's growing sectors and big recruiters. 

Well, although historically an industrial economy with a focus on shipbuilding and textiles the Northern Irish economy is undergoing a major overhaul and the focus is now on growing and developing sectors such as IT, tourism, renewables and business and financial services.

In the past few years a number of software development companies and IT support centres have set up shop in Northern Ireland and it is estimated that there are 900 such companies operating in NI at the moment.  Oracle, Citi the CME group all have offices in Belfast as do NYSE Technologies and all are major IT recruiters in Northern Ireland.

The financial services industry in Northern Ireland is another big employer in the Northern Irish job market.  Around 23,000 people work in the sector and there are now around 1,200 international financial services firms operating out of NI. 

New comers such as Augentius which recently opened in Belfast has plans to create up to 160 new jobs. While companies like the Allstate Corporation have been operating in Northern Ireland since 1999.  Allstate employs 1,800 people across Northern Ireland with ofices in Belfast, Derry and Strabane

One sector which stagnated during the troubles but is now undergoing a revival is tourism.  Hotel and Catering jobs in Northern Ireland are expanding as hotels, bars and restaurants all benefit from the “peace dividend”.   Hotel companies such as Andras House, the local and family owned The Henderson Group and the Wine Inn group which runs bars, restaurants and off licences across Northern Ireland are all regular recruiters on NIjobs.com
 

In recent years the North has seen a growth in nursing homes and homecare services and with that growth has come a corresponding jump in the number of jobs within the Healthcare sector.

The Macklin Group runs the Ratheane Nursing Home in Coleraine, the Leabank Nursing home in Ballycastle as well as the Arlington Nursing Home in Belfast and the Parkmanor in Dunmurry.   While the Care Circle Group has homes in Dunmurry, Ballymena, Kells and Cookstown in which provide care for people with a variety of needs.  While the Priory Group has homes in Londonderry, Down and Antrim.

If you are looking for a job in Northern Ireland the odds are you will end up with a job in Belfast or a job around Belfast. Belfast City council say that almost a third (28%) of all the jobs in Northern Ireland are to be found in Belfast and this figure rises to nearly half (46%) if you add in the Belfast metropolitan area.

However there are big recruiters outside Belfast, if you are looking for a job in Tyrone for example then it is worth looking at Terex especially if you are engineer or have an engineering background.  While anybody with a pharma qualification looking for a job in Newry should take a look Norbrook labs.  While job seekers looking for a job in Fermanagh could look at these jobs with BT. 

Peter McMonagle, the general manager of NIjobs.com says “there has never been a better time for people to look for work in Northern Ireland. The IT sector is thriving, our tourism sector is coming into its own and our healthcare sector is growing.  Northern Ireland is an exciting and vibrant place to work but still friendly and accessible.   I would advise any job seeker to take a look at what we have to offer!”

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