​Brexit is a complete mess at the moment and as it feels like the politicians don’t seem to know what’s going on, I’m not going to try and attempt to make any conclusions. However, there is a lot of talk about how this will impact Ireland and the pro’s and con’s that will come with whatever Brexit looks like. Being the ultimate optimist, I wanted to share a few facts on finance professionals in Ireland, which is very relevant to a large part of Mason Alexander’s client base, and is very encouraging.

• Currently there are 85,000 finance professionals in Ireland. 57% of those are male and 43% are female.
• Over the last year, that headcount has increased by 10%.
• The main countries we are attracting talent from are London, Sydney and New York (which would indicate a large portion of this is Irish diaspora returning home).
• All three of these cities have a positive inward movement to Ireland and interestingly, there is a ration of 2:1 between Ireland and the UK, in Ireland’s favour.
• 19,000 people in the finance sector have changed jobs in the past year in Ireland
• The average tenure is 1.6 years (compared to 1.4 years in London).

 
The research we undertook was unsurprising as we have seen a strong flow of FDI in the financial services sector over the past year and it doesn’t look like it will slow down. We are currently in conversations with a number of firms who are looking at Ireland to expand their operations. There are also a number of firms looking at setting up data hubs here, another new trend that is exciting, not only for the financial services industry but also for technology professionals.

Given that we might be the only English speaking country in the EU very soon, we are likely to see more jobs which in-turn will see a higher influx of candidates into Ireland.

A number of global firms are setting up operations here and are looking at a fast growing talent base. It’s an exciting time to be working in the financial sector in Ireland at the moment!

______________________

Andrew Lynch
CEO
Mason Alexander

Want to learn more? Contact us today!