Southside to share in jobs bonanza

THE Southside is to benefit from a series of major job announcements made last week, including an additional 1,000 positions created by Amazon.

The global giant has promised to double its growth target that it committed to in 2016, when the company pledged to hire 500 people in two years.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who was at the official opening of AWS (Amazon Web Services) new 170,000sq ft offices on the Burlington Road, said the 1,000 jobs to be created further positioned the country as an innovative digital economy and a global leader for the tech sector.

The new jobs will be in IT specialist roles and technical management for Amazon and Amazon Web Services. As well as being based at Amazon’s new facility in the South City there will be openings in Tallaght as well as in North County Dublin, at Blanchardstown.

And there are 100 more jobs on the way for the South City after digital innovation firm Avanade, which announced the launch of its business in Ireland, revealed that it would be sharing an office with Accenture at Grand Canal Square.

Meanwhile, the London-based Eventist Group said it would be creating 150 seasonal jobs and investing over €500,000 with local suppliers across various industries including hospitality, security and entertainment, when its ‘Best Parties Ever’ concept is introduced here in Ireland in collaboration with Airfield Estate, Dundrum.

The popular Southside amenity will be transformed into a ‘Dream Circus’ for 24 nights during the winter with the new entertainment space expected to attract over 24,000 attendees.

Eventist Group’s ‘Best Parties Ever’ concept says it shies away from the usual Christmas offering of snowflakes, elves and Santa in favour of gravity-defying aerial acrobats, stilt walkers, ballerinas, LED dancers, casino tables and dodgem cars.

Jon Noonan, Group Sales Director at Eventist Group said: “The arrival of ‘Best Parties Ever’ to the Irish entertainment landscape has been much-anticipated.

“Our approach, as with every location we enter, will see us investing heavily in the local area by contracting everything from food production, security handling to local suppliers while also creating 150 seasonal jobs for the hospitality industry’s chefs, waiting staff and more.

“We look forward to the coming months, both collaborating with Airfield and building relationships with Irish suppliers and corporate clients in the lead-up to Christmas 2018 and beyond.”

Head of Sales, Marketing and Communications at Airfield Estate, Shauna Morton said this was an opportunity to showcase the venue to a new audience.

“We’re proud to provide the space to support the group’s noble approach to business here, creating jobs and giving back to our economy,” she said.

“We look forward to supporting Eventist in its first year here and hope that this December will be the first of many Christmases of us working together.”

These developments follow on from the recent announcement by Vodafone that it is recruiting 50 people to join its international digital sales team at its European Sales Centre in Carrickmines. 

The 50 new jobs, created as part of Vodafone’s ongoing strategy to build its digital sales capability, will support its Global Enterprise Accounts covering the US, Northern Europe and Central and Eastern European markets.

Recruitment for the new roles has already begun.

Vodafone Red Edge was officially opened in Carrickmines in July 2015 by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD, creating 200 permanent jobs and committing to investing €60 million over five years.

Separately, 50 jobs are to be created in the next two years in a major business expansion by recruitment firm Sanderson.

Up to a dozen new appointments will also be made this year alone, in Dublin, at the recruitment firm’s new head office on Westland Row in the city.

Client demand is driving the business opportunity, according to Managing Director, Donal O’Donoghue.

“Turnover is growing at around 30 per cent as the industry increasingly relies on professional recruitment,” he said.