Finding work and ways to find work in Ireland

• It is so much easier if you come to Ireland and do the leg-work here: getting on the ground, seeing the areas and businesses and types of environments, making contacts from Day1 and you can attend interviews in person.
• You may want to consider a LSD trip before moving? Look, See, Decide. Get a feel for Ireland, make sure it’s your cup of tea, see areas and decide where you want to go.
  
• You may decide to send the Irish/EU/British member on before the rest of the family to find work and set up home. You may choose to come together. But the SA members cannot come to Ireland before the Irish/EU/British members- if you do want to do that, that person will need a work permit.
• You will be better off if you choose to look in advance, give an indication on your coverletter the exact date you will be arriving in Ireland, this will give the Employer some degree of certainty of your arrival. Remember they may been let down last week by someone who said they were coming and didn’t arrive so they may worried you too will let them down.
• You would be better off applying for jobs just 6-8 weeks before that date of arrival or again you may be wasting the Employers time because they have a gap now in their business and may not hold onto that job for you when you may or may not arrive in 3 months
• Apply for literally any job you choose without restriction. You can spend 6 months wasting savings on living expenses trying to find the “perfect” job or you can take “any” job and look for the “perfect” job later or while you’re doing the “for now” job.
• You can use this time to reinvent yourself, explore a new career, try something new. Remember there are no Jones’s next door to impress in Ireland. No one cares if you’re cleaning bathrooms or a Doctor or working at the local pub or the cashier or the Accountant or the high flying IT guy.
• All you need to do is start where you can in a new country. Consider yourself 18years again and starting life over. Only a few specialist careers and qualified people walk right into the same job or better than what they had in SA from Day1. Most have to have a slice or 2 of humble pie and work their way up again. Be willing to eat that humble pie.
  
• Reduce your outgoings to as low as possible, adjust your spending habits and do what you need to do for your SA dependants to remain in Ireland. Short term cost for a long-term gain… later you can fly again. Be willing!

(read more below after the work permits for tips for ALL passport types)

(This is where the whole family are on SA passports and are looking for work for a work permit)

Step 1 is checking if your career is Eligible  (if your career is ineligible, sadly despite a job offer you cannot get a work permit to come to Ireland so this check must be done first)

• Make sure the job description from ONS tool, your SOC code and job responsibilities are in your CV and/or cover note, the more this is matching the higher the chance of approval on finding a job offer! Look up the SOC codes on the ONS tool, where it describes your job include that in your cover letter or correspondence with the company.

• Give the company you are applying to the links to the ineligible list to show this SOC code is not ineligible and has a high chance of approval by DETE.

• Apply for work only in the field you are qualified in. This may sound completely obvious, but just because there is a job in similar spec to what you “can” do, does not mean you will be able to get a work permit for that job!

• Make sure the job offer the employer sends, includes most of the description and list of tasks/responsibilities of the SOC code description and responsibilities. If the SOC code description = your job offer… less chance of being refused!

• Don’t rush about and randomly applying for jobs… read and learn the work permit process

• Know the application process inside out, so that during any correspondence or online interview, you can explain the process thoroughly. This company may never have done a work permit application and may be concerned about the process. You do not want to lose a job for one simple detail.

• The company may be one who does many work permit applications and showing your knowledge of the process can only be in your advantage in an interview.

• With a hesitant new company who has never done the work permit process before, perhaps offer to pay the work permit fees (EUR1000) and offer to do the work permit application yourself if you choose to.

• You may choose to use an Agent to submit your work permit for you. They are usually very expensive. Like anything, you can do things yourself step-by-step or you can pay someone to do it for you. That choice is yours. Be conscious that an Agent cannot get a work permit approved for you, they can submit the paperwork for you, but they cannot guarantee approval.

• Encourage the company employing you, if they are regularly going to be doing work permit applications, to register as a Trusted Partner to help the work permit to be processed quicker. This will also facilitate faster applications and shorter application forms for subsequent Non-EU staff they hope to employ HERE

• If they are going to do the work permit application show them how simple the EPOS system is to use HERE

• Show them the current processing dates and let them know how soon it will be processed and how soon you can start work. HERE

• Tell them how many South Africans are employed on Work permits each year in Ireland HERE

• Also look at these lists by Company that issued a work permit, to see what companies in your field of work have already done the work permit process! Very helpful information at the application/ job search process!

In 2019:

In 2020:

In 2021:

In 2022:

In 2023:

• Make each job application specific to the job they are advertising and explain why YOU are the candidate for the job despite the work permit requirement. Make sure your cover note includes information relevant to THAT job advertised and you have spent time on the application and researching the company.

• You have about 7-10 seconds to catch the reader’s attention

• Perhaps contact companies in your field directly and not through advertised jobs only. Show a company how YOU can add value to their company. This is where LinkedIn and Registration to Bodies could come in handy, by networking before applying for work can show your willingness to get to know the company, their business and that you have researched not a random CV drop.

• Show them you are registered with any required body in Ireland.

• Show them how your education is applicable and accepted in Ireland. 

Recruiters are great if you manage to find the right person looking specifically for your skills. There are a list of specific skills below.

However, on the whole, a Recruiter wants quick turnaround. They would ideally like someone on an Irish/EU/British passport who is currently in the country, and ready to start work ASAP. This is ideal work for them.

But a recruiter might be convinced by a HOT CV and a knowledge person with info right there front and foremost showing that YOU are the perfect person (despite not being in the country and possibly needing a work permit)

So should I ONLY use Recruiters… NO!

You need to FIND the companies that operate in YOUR field…

The first link below in the table is for Golden pages- GO FIND IRELAND’s equivalent companies in your field

One of the most valuable tools to update is your LinkedIn Profile. This is a place where you can give yourself a brand, and advertise that brand. Make connections with other people and seek out work in a particular field. Its well worth getting a professional photograph, or one that reflects your personality in a professional way. Noisy backgrounds or bad lighting will not show you off in a good way. If you cant get a good photo, get a professional editor! But do not upload a bad pic, and more profiles are viewed with pics than without pics.

Keep your profile current and up to date! Changed jobs? add something new? check in regularly! Update your headline! include relevant keywords!

Ask people for recommendations from people you know or have have dealt with you in business or through work. But also, add some flavour with your interests and hobbies and people who know you through some of the joys in your life. You want to make an overall good impression of you as a person, not only what work you do.

Match your keywords to the skills required in the work you are looking for! So don’t just use any keywords, spend some time looking at the keywords or catchphrases that potential employers may be looking for.

Clean up your pictures and shares on FACEBOOK! Its really easy to pop from one social media platform to another and seek you out. If you want to be seen as a sunny clean living good employee, don’t be sharing those drunken nights out! If you want to move country, don’t be running down your home country. You want to portray your move as a positive choice, not running from hell and this is the only place that will take me!

Delete those strong political stand-points! log out of your social media and search yourself on google or facebook, and see what the world sees about you! Is this image what you wish a future employer to see. This is true of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all others that may be out there!

Clean up your social media siliconrepublic.com HERE

Social Hire.com Why social media may harm your job search HERE