Recruitment expected to grow by 10% in Cork
A 10% growth in recruitment opportunities has been predicted for Cork this year.
The sectors anticipated to see the strongest growth will be IT, healthcare, industrial as well as agribusiness. Nationally, IT, healthcare, commercial, industrial, life sciences, agribusiness and construction are expected to see significant growth.
This is FRS Recruitment’s forecast for 2025 and on a national basis they also expect to see a 10% increase in recruitment around the country. According to FRS Recruitment, the expectation of increased job opportunities locally and nationally comes with several positive factors likely to influence recruitment across the economy in 2025.
These include the anticipated reduction in interest rates, the recovery of the IT sector, more employers seeking to grow their teams after consolidating in 2024, more flexibility in the market with candidates seeking out new opportunities and the removal of the public sector hiring freeze in healthcare.
Speaking about their outlook for the market, Lynne McCormack, General Manager of FRS Recruitment said: “We certainly think there will be an increase in recruitment opportunities coming to market in Cork and around the country this year. There is more optimism in the market from employers and candidates alike. We saw this start to come through at the end of 2024 and our full expectation is that will continue locally and nationally throughout 2025.
“For example we already have a significant number of employers in Cork who either have openings available or are preparing to bring them to market in the near future. They are making plans to grow their teams and we fully expect to see quite a bit of movement locally, especially in sectors like IT, healthcare, industrial and agribusiness.”
A wide range of positions are expected to be available in Cork in 2025, across the growing sectors and also in other industries. Some of the specific roles FRS Recruitment is expecting to see become available locally include openings for nurses, general operatives, production operatives and managers, administrators as well as health and safety personnel.
FRS Recruitment said they noted significant growth in roles coming to market in the last quarter of 2024 in Cork and other parts of the country, with employers already signalling a strong pipeline of demand for new staff for the year ahead.
Ms McCormack said: “This comes after a very challenging year for recruitment in 2024, both in Cork and beyond. There was certainly a strong degree of caution in the marketplace last year as employers decided to concentrate on maintaining their existing teams and asking their staff to do more in light of wider economic concerns, high interest rates, cost of business challenges and other considerations.
“Qualified candidates were also taking a similar outlook, with many potential candidates seeking to enhance their terms and conditions with their existing employers rather than pursuing fresh opportunities. Candidates were primarily playing it safe.”
She added: “However we can already see that perspective has shifted. We’ve had a range of highly qualified candidates reach out to us either side of Christmas expressing their desire to be considered should new opportunities become available this year. There is also a strong pipeline of recruitment activity coming from employers locally.
“All things considered, we expect this will lead to a rise in recruitment activity in Cork and around the country throughout 2025 and there will be a lot more opportunities both coming to market and being successfully filled this year,” Ms McCormack concluded.