Author: Marisa Byrnes.

Is 2017 your year to get back to work and develop exciting career opportunites?

Over the last number of years since the recession in Ireland there have been a number of progressive and very successful educational initiatives aimed at re skilling or up skilling people from right across spectrums who have found themselves without a job for in the most case, reasons beyond their control.

These educational programmes were aimed at providing key skilled and accredited talent for industries which are struggling to find staff with the necessary skills to fill key roles in their organisations.

The ICT industry sector in the Limerick region is a prime example. Over the last number of years ICT based companies in the Limerick area have struggled to fill roles in their organisations. This is despite the fact that thousands of very capable and experienced people were at the same time out of work. However the vast majority of these Job Seekers were not IT skilled and therefore were not a match for the open roles in these companies.

The opportunity was there to bridge the gap between the open roles and the people looking for new jobs and indeed careers. The SOLAS Momentum initiative was put in place right around the country to address skills gaps such as the ICT one in the Limerick region.

Since 2011 numerous Job Seekers in the Limerick region have not only been able to transform their skills and capabilities through the SOLAS Momentum programmes but indeed they have been able to transform their lives as the new ICT skills they have gained have enabled them to take up high value, high quality jobs in leading Irish and multi-national companies.

Future People have been central to making this life transforming experience possible for large numbers of Job Seekers during that time. We have delivered very successful leading edge Momentum programs which have enabled people who had hit rock bottom to take up exciting, well paid, lasting jobs and careers in some of the leading and most prosperous companies in the Limerick region.

These Momentum programs were restricted to a specific category of people looking to get back into the workforce and develop new careers. If people didn’t fall into this category then they could not avail of the opportunity.

In February 2017 Future People will launch and kick off a really exciting and progressive Role Specific Training program in Limerick City Centre which will cater for groups of people from right across the spectrum. This training program is supported by the Limerick for IT group of companies. The content has been designed in consultation with companies in the Limerick for IT group who will be hiring during 2017. The idea being that graduates from the program will have the basic necessary skills to take up some of these roles later in the year.

One such group we are really looking to work with is women who have taken career breaks and now wish to return to the work force and develop meaningful and lasting careers. More often than not, women who have taken career breaks cannot avail of initiatives aimed at getting people re skilled or up skilled.

So Future People are determined that the program we are launching at the end of this month will give women in the Limerick region who have taken career breaks the opportunity to gain leading edge ICT skills which will enable them to re- enter the workforce later this year in very exciting ICT roles in some of the most progressive companies in the Limerick region.

If you are a woman who has taken a career break and see 2017 as your year to get back to work and start the journey to developing exciting career opportunities then please contact the Future People team who will be more than happy to meet with you and take you through the training program and the opportunities that exist in the companies we are working with in the Limerick for IT group.