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A state-of-the-art jobs website will help match jobseekers and employers, the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton T.D., has said.

The Tánaiste today (Friday, 18 September 2015) announced that the contract for the development and operation of the new JobsIreland.ie website has been awarded to BDO Ireland in partnership with an Irish tech start-up - The Hire Lab based in Carrigaline, Co. Cork.

The contract which is valued at some €4.5m will lead to the creation of up to 25 high skilled jobs in The Hire Lab and will deliver a free, cutting-edge recruitment and employment website for use by jobseekers and employers throughout Ireland. 

The announcement was made in the  President's Council Room at University College Cork, in the presence of UCC Vice President, Caroline Fennell.

The existing JobsIreland.ie website, first developed in the late 1990s, is the largest such website in use in Ireland with almost 100,000 jobs advertised in 2014. Its replacement will improve services for jobseekers and employers alike in several important ways, including:

· Enabling jobseekers to submit CVs and apply for jobs on-line.
· Enabling both employers and jobseekers to search for each other using competencies and skillsets.  
· Operating in the background to automatically match candidate CVs to job specifications posted by employers, and notifying candidates and the employer when such a match is found.
· Integrating with the Department of Social Protection’s Intreo service in support of programmes such as Community Employment and Tús.

The Tánaiste said: “Today is about unlocking potential - about transforming JobsIreland.ie into a cutting-edge service that will benefit both jobseekers and employers alike as we speed up progress in tackling unemployment.  It’s about unlocking the potential of every person on the Live Register to return to work and build a better financial future for themselves, and their families, over time. The Government is driving a jobs-led recovery that is now adding 1,300 jobs a week, and unemployment has fallen by a third since its crisis peak. But we’ve more to do. And BDO Ireland and The Hire Lab will help us do that through this very important contract.”

Commenting on the project, Derry Gray from BDO Ireland stated his delight that the innovative approach proposed by the collaboration of BDO and The Hire Lab, was selected as the preferred bidder.  “The strategic alliance of BDO and The Hire Lab, is a collaboration of two indigenous Irish businesses, who will provide the Department with a 21st Century solution to their jobs and recruitment platform. Being awarded this contract is a positive endorsement of Irish innovation in this exciting area.  Our team looks forward to delivering on our promise to provide the Department with a solution that not only satisfies but exceeds its technology and business needs.” 

Maurice Buckley, CEO of The Hire Lab commented, "We are delighted to be working with the Department of Social Protection on such a strategic project and we look forward to deploying our innovative technology solutions in support of the departments' jobs matching and vacancy service. Securing a project like this, allows us to create 25 highly skilled positions doubling our workforce in Cork over the next few years."
 
ENDS


Note for Editors

About JobsIreland and the New Service
Www.jobsireland.ie is a  free online jobs site developed in the late 1990s that enables employers to post job opportunities and jobseekers to search and apply for these opportunities online. It is the largest such website in use in Ireland with over 25,000 jobs available at any one time.

The new service, which is scheduled to go live by the end of March 2016,  will upgrade the existing JobsIreland.ie service and will introduce advanced functionality to the benefit of jobseekers and employers. The current jobsireland.ie service enables jobseekers to search for job opportunities based on job type, location and salary. Employers however cannot search for suitable jobseekers – they have to rely on candidates finding and applying for their job from among the many thousands hosted on the system.  The new service will enable both employers and jobseekers to search for each other using competencies and skillsets as well as the traditional job type classifications.   It will also operate in the background to automatically match candidate CVs to job specifications posted by employers and notify candidates and the employer when a match is found. The system will also enable jobseekers to submit CVs and apply for jobs on-line and will integrate with the Department of Social Protection’s Intreo service in support of programmes such as Community Employment, Tús and JobBridge,  and will allow the Department’s Case Workers to track and support jobseeker employment search activity.

About BDO
BDO Ireland is a member of the international BDO network, the world’s fifth largest business advisory network.  Globally the BDO network of companies employs 60,000 people in 1,328 offices in 151 countries.  In Ireland the firm is over 30 years old and has offices in Dublin, Limerick and Belfast, employing over 500 staff. 

BDO’s Consulting Team, led by Derry Gray, will be assuming responsibility for the conduct of this assignment on behalf of the Department of Social Protection.

About The Hire Lab
The Hire Lab is one of Ireland’s fastest growing technology companies developing recruitment and talent management software solutions. Founded in 2013 by Maurice Buckley and Lorraine Scroope with offices in Cork and London and supported by Enterprise Ireland, The Hire Lab is now powering some of the largest recruitment drives across Ireland and the UK.  Clients of The Hire Lab include government organisations such as Enterprise Ireland, the Educational Training Board's and the NHS (UK) as well as industry leaders such as Ibec, CPL Recruitment, Sigmar Recruitment, Dairygold and Topaz.